The John R. Post Center at Reading CollegeTowne is Alvernia’s downtown Reading facility. A $20 million renovation and retrofitting project begun in 2021 has transformed the building into a state-of-the-art, 250,000-square-foot living and learning facility.
Key Features and Offerings
- John and Karen Arnold School of Nursing
Debuting in fall 2023, the John and Karen Arnold School of Nursing and the state-of-the-art, interprofessional Healthcare Simulation Center are the newest additions to the Post Center.
The 55,000-square-foot space has expanded classrooms and laboratories dedicated to interprofessional training, fundamentals skills, health assessment, standardized patient simulations and a specialized resuscitation quality intervention area. Faculty and lab coordinators' offices, dedicated meeting areas and conference rooms are also incorporated throughout the space.- John R. Post School of Engineering
The Post Center houses engineering labs for undergraduate learning, containing millions of dollars of hands-on, real-world equipment and a continuously expanding maker space. Faculty-taught courses feature small class sizes with athlete-friendly scheduling. Regularly scheduled lunch-and-learn presentations feature local industry members looking for summer interns and full-time employees and research faculty presenting their innovative work.
- College of Business, Communication, and Leadership
The Post Center adds new ways for students in the College of Business, Communication, and Leadership to learn, research and engage with the community.
- The facility has been designed to be a superior teaching and learning space with flexible, modular classrooms integrated with the latest technology.
- A trading floor and Bloomberg Terminal, used for a variety of learning experiences over a wide range of upper-level business courses, lends to the growth of the university’s enhanced business majors. The lab supports simulations, research and a wide variety of other business applications to provide students with an enhanced academic and real-world learning experience.
- The expanded Communication major offers leading-edge technologies through both academic coursework and collaboration with Berks Community Television (BCTV), one of the oldest and longest-serving cable access managers in the country. With a new studio and office on-site at 401 Penn, BCTV works closely with Communication Faculty, providing students with insight into the industry and offering hands-on experiences.
- The O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship
Alvernia’s O’Pake Institute for Economic Development and Entrepreneurship and its student fellows work with dozens of local businesses, some of which are on-site in the facility’s business incubator, providing support and services that can elevate aspiring and existing entrepreneurs as well as provide experiential learning opportunities for students and clients. Services are delivered through an integrated network of partners, mentors, staff and student expertise. Fields include accounting, business development, communications, digital design, engineering and marketing.
- Esports Varsity Team
A brand new arena lounge for the university’s esports team has become the hub for competitive gaming and its spectators in the region.
Offering competitive gaming in League of Legends, Overwatch, Rocket League, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Valorant, Alvernia’s esports program allows Alvernia to play a national schedule against teams the university rarely otherwise competes against--including some larger Division I schools without leaving campus.
- Living and Learning
New modern residences provide students with a living-learning experience in the heart of downtown’s thriving Penn corridor. Shuttle service to and from campus runs on a continuous loop for easy access to classes and amenities at both locations.
- Community Hub
Community gathering spaces, lounge areas, and a Starbucks in the lobby are welcoming and open to neighbors and visitors.
