Our Campus

The safety and wellness of our students and community are at the core of Our Campus commitment where we have invested in excess of $100 million in facility, technology, and safety upgrades while expanding resources for mental health - much of it during a global pandemic.

Anaisha Mauricio stands in front of a blue and white bear she painted.

Sam Cushman holds a paint container and sponge while sitting in front of a partially completed mural in an underpass.

'Bearing' Her Soul

For Anaisha Mauricio, ’24, art is the best way to express her feelings. It’s the medium in which she is most comfortable communicating. At BSU, art became a platform to share a message with thousands of students walking across campus every day.

Anaisha is one of several students commissioned by BSU in recent years to complete outdoor public art installations. She painted one of the bear statues dotting the landscape in blue and green hues, creating a design that raises awareness about deforestation and how pollution affects real bears.

"I never thought I could do something like this as a college student."

Tunnel of Art

Sam Cushman, ’19, G’23, left her mark on the BSU landscape in two ways.

First, as a graduate art student, she painted a bear statue, drawing inspiration from the array of native plants in Massachusetts. Sam worked in black and white as a nod to printmaking, which is her artistic medium of choice.

She added color to her palette when she returned to campus as an alumna to create a mural in the tunnel underneath the railroad tracks. This work pays homage to her journey as a Bear, from overnights in the art building finishing projects to quiet, reflective moments enjoying the campus’ beauty.

“It makes me feel so proud to be able to do this, to have my work featured at a place I spent so much time at. It’s very validating and surreal.”

Safe Transition to New Reality

BSU’s sweeping response to the COVID-19 pandemic strengthened the ethos of our campus as we further committed to meeting students where they are – one student at a time – by deploying $25 million in federal funds directly to them.

At the start of the pandemic, our focus quickly became our faculty for professional development to enhance their fully online classes in addition to our Division of Information Technology to facilitate remote teaching and learning. At the same time, we transitioned almost the entire staff to work online, and adroitly managed federal and state financial resources to protect the job of every employee, avoiding layoffs or furloughs.

We were among the first institutions of higher education to safely return our students to their residence halls in the first year of the pandemic. We did so by developing an inclusive infrastructure for gathering and evaluating our own health data, making decisions that aligned with the best available public health information, and implementing sound public health protocols.

As we continued our transition to a post-COVID campus, we significantly expanded mental health resources available to our students and employees by investing in online resources, offered mental health first aid training and certification to our employees, and expanded wellness offerings to everyone on campus. Our website, www.bridgew.edu, features a one-stop crisis information section for our students seeking help for themselves, a friend, or a classmate.

A student wearing a mask holds a sign directing people to “New Bear T-Shirt Pickup.”

Wearing masks, a chorus sings on steps in front of Boyden Hall.

Wearing masks, two students carry clothes and a suitcase next to a residence hall.

Standing in a lobby, a student and police officer look at a phone screen.

On a campus sidewalk, a police officer guides a dog while a student pets it.

National recognition for safety

Major investments in increasing the safety of our community have led to Bridgewater State University being named the 3rd Safest Campus in the United States while the Town of Bridgewater has been named the 25th safest college town in the nation and the fifth safest in Massachusetts.

Our efforts have included deploying more than a hundred surveillance cameras across campus, launching the RAVE Guardian mobile app for personal safety, implementing a “one button” mass notification system in the event of an emergency, becoming the first university in the nation to establish a public-access Narcan program, and pioneering a racially just policing policy as part of the President’s Racial Justice Task Force recommendations.

Additionally, in 2021 and 2022, our Police Department welcomed two four-legged companions to the force. Black labs Zach and Mikey quickly became campus celebrities who are always eager for a petting and snuggling session with students feeling stressed or depressed. Zach is also trained to detect explosive material while Mikey helps calm down individual community members facing crises.

Millions in upgrades

For nearly a decade, BSU has invested more than $60 million in state and university funds in capital renewal (see below), in addition to securing $32 million from the state to fully renovate Burnell Hall as the new home of the College of Education and Health Sciences. That project will include 15 general-purpose classrooms, five specialty instruction spaces, 65 faculty offices, four conference/meeting/huddle rooms, and a speech clinic.

Investments in improving our campus technology infrastructure and services have digitally transformed the campus by implementing collaboration technologies including Office 365, Microsoft Teams, Zoom, our new intranet BridgeNet, and electronic signatures and digital workflows.

We have invested more than $6 million in network and system upgrades and cybersecurity improvements and migrated our data center to the Markley Group in Boston through dedicated and redundant BSU fiber optic cabling. By expanding our communication channels by 200 percent, we have reimagined student engagement through the launch of the BSU Mobile app and the EngageBSU platform.

In the cyber range, three students work at computer monitors.

In a dorm room, a student uses a laptop while sitting at a desk while another student uses a laptop while sitting on a bed.

An aerial view of campus showing buildings, roads, sidewalks and landscaping.

Campus Improvements

Projects funded by BSU and our state and federal partners have made our campus a more comfortable, engaging and accessible place to study, work, and live.

Art Center

The Art Center has fulfilled many roles at Bridgewater including a gymnasium and library. Today, it is a venue for students to express their creativity through a plethora of mediums. Thanks to new historically appropriate windows (supported by a $200,000 Massachusetts Cultural Council grant) and heating and ventilation repairs, artists have a more comfortable environment in which to work and learn.

Tillinghast Hall

Tillinghast Hall is another historic building that received new windows. Formerly a residence hall, today it houses faculty offices, a renovated Flynn Dining Commons and a new Humanities Lounge where students and faculty collaborate. We recently renovated restrooms and installed an elevator.

Rondileau Student Union

The RSU is more student-centered than ever before. Interior renovations include upgrades to the Career Services and Internship Office, which is conveniently located off of a special corridor that visually highlights student success. New lounges offer the perfect spot for commuter and resident students alike to study and connect with peers. We also replaced windows and renovated the Center for Student Engagement, Bear's Den cafeteria, and Student Government Association offices. WBIM, BSU's student-run radio station, has a new, more prominent home.

Dana Mohler-Faria Center for Science and Mathematics

With new cybersecurity programs launching in fall 2024, we developed and built a 1,830-square foot, state-of-the art cyber range. This training space allows students as well as users from municipalities, nonprofit organizations and private industry to experience simulated cyberattacks, data breaches and other cybercrimes.

In support of a new major in photonics and optical engineering, we constructed 990-square foot state-of-the art labs. Photonics harnesses the power of particles of light called photons to improve technology in telecommunication, automotive, gaming and other industries.

Maxwell Library

Ongoing projects will make this hub for learning a more comfortable and accessible place for students, faculty, librarians and staff. Workers are significantly renovating two entries including installing new doors, improving handicapped accessibility, and building new exterior stairs and a sidewalk. In a separate project, contractors are upgrading HVAC equipment – including dehumidification – with more efficient units that will improve air flow in the library while reducing energy costs.

A newly renovated entry to the library.

A newly renovated entry to the library.

BSU Foundation projects

Thanks to private philanthropy, the BSU Foundation purchased and renovated several former homes along the edge of the campus. These projects bring increased visibility to organizations such as the Martin Richard Institute for Social Justice, College of Graduate Studies, and Office of Alumni and Development. Foundation purchases allow for a new unified greenspace along Park Terrace.

Martin Richard Institute for Social Justice

Martin Richard Institute for Social Justice

Burnell Hall

Thanks to $32 million in state funding, we are preparing for a major project to transform Burnell Hall into a unified home for the College of Education and Health Sciences. New laboratories, classrooms, offices and collaborative spaces will help prepare students for the high-tech schools and health facilities in which they will work. In elementary and middle/high school think-tank rooms, students, teachers and school district partners will explore the newest approaches to teaching.

Athletics upgrades

Our student-athletes have much to cheer about thanks to a series of athletics capital projects. We replaced synthetic fields, improved the baseball and softball diamond and replaced outdoor basketball courts. Located next to Mazzaferro Field, the new 4,255-square-foot Bear Paw Pavilion features lockers that rival those found at higher-division schools and an athletic training area.

Residence halls

Approximately 30 percent of our students live on campus, and we've worked to create a comfortable environment in which they can live, study and connect with peers. Miles, DiNardo, Shea and Durgin halls have newly renovated restrooms while new amenities in lounges across campus provide opportunities to socialize and play games.