A New life for Hetzel Hall

’90s alum has special role in reimagining one of her favorite places on campus

Any question as to how deep the connection runs between Kristin (Wallace) Carpenter ’92 and UNH’s Hetzel Hall can be answered by a group messaging thread her children share with their friends.

Carpenter met her husband, Kevan ’94, in Hetzel when she was an RA in the 1990s, and both had long careers on campus — Kristin in Housing & Residential Life, and Kevan in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. As undergrads, the pair met a group of what would become lifelong friends while living in the dorm — friends they still get together with multiple times a year.

Like Kristin and Kevan, many of those friends have started families, and their kids have grown close over the years, staying connected through a group text thread affectionately titled “Children of Hetzel.”

“It’s a pretty long backstory,” Kristin says, regarding her decades-long ties to the building.

Thanks to a full-scale renovation that allowed Hetzel to reopen for the first time since the COVID-19 pandemic, incoming Wildcats now have the opportunity to author similar personal stories.

The interior overhaul, completed last year, was the first significant renovation in the building’s 100-year history. The building now features more single bedrooms and private bathrooms, as well as a kitchen space near a lounge area to encourage gatherings among residents. The building now also features an elevator and air conditioning. Current students were interviewed to get their feedback. According to Katie Bartholomew, director of residential life, “It was all about … figuring out the things they want to see in their UNH experience and how they want to live and experience their life here.”

While the exterior of Hetzel Hall received a new roof and new windows, all of the upgrades were made with every effort to maintain the historical look and feel that people have come to associate with a building considered a “cornerstone of UNH’s campus,” says Andy Petters, director of housing.

Carpenter — who retired from her role as associate director of residential life last spring, wrapping up a 30-year career at UNH — was involved at various stages in the planning of the overhaul and was able to tour the newly renovated building with many of the friends she’d made during her time at UNH. And although things certainly looked different than they did in 1990, when she first moved in, she was thrilled to see the building with some new life.

“If anything, that experience I had with my friend group, I would want that building to be able to provide that for future generations,” Carpenter says.