Paul Terzino accepts position as the Bernhard Center’s new director

Ted Yoakum
Western Herald

The Bernhard Center has a new director at its helm, bringing with him over 20 years of student center experience and a student centric approach to managing the facilities’ operations.

Paul Terzino, who most recently worked as the director of university centers at the University of California San Diego, took the lead of the Bernhard Center earlier this month, on June 20. Terzino is replacing Ted Petropoulos as director, who retired earlier last year.

“Western Michigan is good school with a real positive trajectory,” Terzino said. “I found the people that work at WMU to be really genuine and sincere.”

Terzino has been involved with management and operations of student facilities for nearly his entire career, starting with his first job as an undergrad at Indiana University. Terzino served as a student building manager for the university’s campus center, working at the position through graduate school.

“[Indiana has] the biggest campus center in the country, so it was a cool place to learn about the profession,” Terzino said.

Since then, Terzino has managed a number of high profile student centers across the country. In his most recent stint at the University of California San Diego, he helped oversee an expansion of the school’s Price Center, doubling both the size of the center from 175,000 square feet to 350,000.

“It was a real successful center,” Terzino said. “The students loved it, the campus community loved it.”

In addition, Terzino was responsible for managing the construction the McCormick Tribune Campus Center at the Illinois Institute of Technology, which was designed by reknowned architect Rem Koolhaas.

Growing up in Laporte, Ind., the directorship of the Bernhard Center allowed Terzino to return to Midwest, which had been one his family’s goals after spending five years living in California, he said.

“When this position opened up, it seemed like it would possibly be a really good fit for me, and I can tell after my first week working here it will be a really good for [my family and I] to be,” Terzino said. “Kalamazoo is a really great city, we’ve already fallen in love with it.”

Although he has spent most of last week getting aquainted with the ins-and-outs of his new position, Terzino already has made a few observations about possible improvements to the Bernhard Center facilities, most notably to the Bronco Mall and the second floor meeting rooms.

However, one thing Terzino has yet to do is speak with students, which he has been making strides to accomplish, he said. On Friday, he plans to meet with Western Student Organization President Erin Kaplan and a number of her cabinet members to seek input on what areas students want to see improved about the building.

“I’ve really been student focused in my 20 year [career],” Terzino said.

In terms of long term goals, Terzino wants to shape the Bernhard Center into a facility that helps recruit new students, encourage students to remain with the university, and create strong memories for alumni to look back upon.

“I’d like it to be a place that supports the whole cycle,” Terzino said. “I envision it even more so that way in the coming years if we can make some nice improvements to it.”

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Posted by HeraldAdmin on Jul 1 2011. Filed under Breaking, News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response or trackback to this entry

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