As a result of a $6,000,000 donation to the arts from Bloomsburg Alumni Steph Pettit and his wife Allie Pettit, along with a twenty-five-thousand-dollar donation from Bloomsburg Alumni Barbara Hudock, the Haas Center for the Arts will undergo a large renovation and renaming in the coming summer. The renovated facility will be renamed “The Steph and Allie Pettit Center for the Arts”.
According to Vice President for Advancement Erik Evans, four of the six million dollars will go to improvements of the building itself, while the additional two million will be put into an endowment within the Bloomsburg University Foundation to provide scholarships and to keep up to date with technology within the facility as time goes on.
The renovation is expected to take place over the summer and be finished in time for the first day of classes in the Fall 2026 Semester and will then be re-dedicated on October 23rd during homecoming. Included in the renovations will be a lobby performance space built using the donation from Hudock. That space for student performers will be named “The Stage: Presented by Hudock Capital Group”.
Bloomsburg Student Sarah Dobson, who works at the Haas Center with the Performing Arts Facilities work study, is excited for the changes, but isn’t so sure about the construction timeline.
“I’m excited to see what it looks like, and I hope that the renovation is done sooner than McCormick was.” said Dobson.
As a graduate of Bloomsburg University, Steph Pettit has donated multiple millions of dollars in the last few years alone.
“Steph and Alley Pettit are our biggest all-time donors to the institution,” said Evans.
In the past, their donations have mostly funded athletics here at Bloomsburg, with the upper campus athletic complex being named in their honor.
In a press release from the university, Steph Pettit said, “Bloomsburg shaped who I am, and it’s an honor to give back to a place that means so much to me.”
Despite all the changes, the legacy of Dr. Francis B. Haas, the 1927-1938 Bloomsburg State Teacher’s College President. For whom the building is currently named, isn’t gone for good. Evans informed the voice that the art gallery within the building will be named in his honor.
