On a sunny Monday morning that served up the perfect frame for a ribbon cutting al fresco, Robert Morris University officials staged a grand opening that unveiled not one, but four new ventures.

There's a new Education Technology Center in the Franklin Center, where staff was test-driving anti-plagiarism detection software using SmartBoard, a blackboard-like system with computer-based chalk and erasers.

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Robert Morris University President Gregory Dell'Omo speaks at the dedication of Concord Hall, the school's newest dormitory. The building offers apartment-style living with individual bedrooms in multiperson suites. Click photo for larger image.

In the glass-domed Edward A. Nicholson Student Center, a super-size Marketplace was in full swing, as was an expanded Barnes & Noble Bookstore.

But while all three of those venues were abuzz, there was no doubt what the brightest of the four-star ceremony was meant to be: The $10 million, apartment-style Concord Hall, the newest of 12 student residence halls on the main Moon campus on University Boulevard.

Before sharing in ribbon-cutting duties, Provost William Katip called the five-story, two-tone brick home for 150 students the "nicest office space in Moon. ... But don't check the rates, you can't get in unless you're a Robert Morris University student."

It was unclear how Concord Hall qualifies as prime office space per se, but a smiling Moon Manager Greg Smith didn't seem inclined to quibble.

As for the rates, they are among the highest on campus at a list price of $3,680 per semester. But Resident Assistant Ashley Balics said the students who live there weren't about to complain.

She had no doubt that Concord Hall was the first residence hall to be filled, with preference given to upperclassmen and students who were forced to live in off-campus hotel rooms last year.

A business junior and field hockey player from Toronto, she called her four-bedroom apartment the best student housing around because it offers a perfect blend of privacy and community, two bathrooms and two common areas with an eat-in kitchen and lounge.

She found out she was among the lucky ones Aug. 7. That's been more than enough time to give her space the lived-in look, the kind that only a team led by a Pooh bear and Toronto Maple Leafs Carlton bear can provide.

"The buzz on campus," she said, "is that the center of life is Concord Hall."

President Gregory Dell'Omo wasn't about to argue the point, although later he could be seen grabbing a free Smiley cookie from the Mr. Smiley clown in the Marketplace, run by Parkhurst Dining Services, a division of Eat'n Park Hospitality Group.

"What a beautiful day and what a beautiful building," Dr. Dell'Omo told the crowd outside of Concord Hall. On the job since May 2005, he ticked off the new facilities that had opened either right before or during his relatively brief tenure.

Joe Walton Stadium. The John Jay Center. Braddock Hall, which was the newest of the campus' residence halls until this term.

"I have to tell you I could really get used to this," Dr. Dell'Omo said, smiling. "You know what they say about university presidents and our Oedipus complex ... our edifice complex."

	Bob Donaldson, Post-Gazette Robert Morris University junior Ashley Balics, a resident assistant, in the living area of the suite she shares with other students in Concord Hall, the school's newest dormitory. Click photo for larger image.

Dr. Dell'Omo and the other VIPs kept their remarks brief, perhaps so that they could rush across campus to the Nicholson Center, where, he announced, the bookstore was offering 25 percent discount coupons until noon and where Smiley cookies would be free until 1 p.m.

Concord Hall represents the latest phase of construction aimed at meeting housing demands at Robert Morris. Last year, Robert Morris bought and converted a former assisted-living facility near campus to create the 80-student Braddock Hall.

Robert Morris enrolls about 5,000 students, with 3,000 being traditional, full-time undergraduates at its Moon campus on University Boulevard. Of those 3,000, roughly 1,200 live on campus.

Spokesman Michael Rick said the school continued to fight the notion that it is a commuter school. The long-term goal is that the number of students living on campus climbs to 60 percent to 65 percent of the total enrollment.