Communication Program Plans Move to Cox Visual Arts Center

Photo provided by Rampage student photographer Malique Gordon.

Have you ever ventured to the southwest corner of campus? If you have, you may have stumbled upon the Cox Visual Arts Center and wondered, “Why have I never been here before?”

The Cox Visual Arts Center once hosted a large variety of classes, but now is, for lack of a better term, collecting dust. Aside from an occasional yoga class, the building has not received much love, but 2025 has brought in the winds of change with new administration and potential plans to revitalize the center into a hub of creativity.

Along with the new administration, Bluefield University’s Communication Department has grown and developed not only new students, but new technologies, as well. This growth has caused issues for the department, which currently does not have the adequate space for the new technologies and tools.

The department has been brainstorming and creating plans to move the program and its classes into the Cox Visual Arts Center. Currently, the department is scattered around campus. Communication professors have offices in Lansdell, while many of the classes meet in Rish Hall or in the Mac Lab in the Science Center.

One of the more recent developments for the department is its podcasting equipment, which currently is being stored and used in Easley Library. The department hopes to condense and create a hub for communication and art facilities by using the Cox Visual Arts Center.

“Having everything be in one place for students, giving Communication students a home on campus, maybe it builds camaraderie and fellowship between students.”

– Allen Roberts, assistant professor of graphic communication

Aside from cosmetics, the Cox Visual Arts Center, more commonly known as the art building, already possessed most of the facilities to house Communication Arts. One accommodation stood in its way: internet access.

In the past, the art building’s location prevented it from receiving optimal internet connectivity. This was a big hurdle for the department to jump if this plan was to work. Thankfully, with Bluefield’s internet being improved over the course of several semesters, the Cox Visual Arts Center is no longer off the grid.

This new and improved internet access has opened the door for classrooms and labs to be placed inside, which would allow communication classes to take place in one centralized area. Not only would communication students have a hub for classes, but the entire student body would be able to use the building as a hub for creativity. The podcasting and 3-D printing technology would have a home and would be much more accessible to the student body as a whole.

“I love that part of campus. In the couple of years since art died out, I think there has been a little bit of a stigma about hanging out around there. It’s not a very inviting place to go to work or to do things. We want to change that and make it a vibrant, active part of campus. Hopefully, Communication Arts can do that. I’m grateful for the leadership that shares this vision and has given us that freedom to do something with this space.”

– Allen Roberts, assistant professor of graphic communication

Innovation, creativity, and passion, all ideas the department hopes to fulfill and instill within the campus through the Cox Visual Arts Center. Things seem to be looking up for the once-forgotten and lonely building tucked away in the southwest corner of campus.