Tuskegee University has been awarded a $75,000 Home Depot Retool Your School Innovation Lounge Grant to support the transformation of a dedicated student-focused space within the historic Kellogg Hotel and Conference Center.
For Tuskegee University, the new Innovation Lounge represents another significant step in the institution’s Renaissance journey, blending the restoration of historic campus assets with forward-looking investments that empower students to learn, collaborate, and prepare to compete in the global economy.
The grant will help convert an approximately 1,000-square-foot suite within the Kellogg Center into a modern Innovation Lounge designed to foster collaboration, academic achievement, career readiness, and entrepreneurship. The project reflects a central theme of Tuskegee’s Renaissance Era: aligning investments in campus facilities with meaningful student development by creating environments that strengthen every aspect of student success where students can study, work on team projects, participate in hybrid meetings, prepare for interviews, and develop digital content.
“Booker T. Washington, our founding principal, viewed the comprehensive purpose of a Tuskegee education as inspiring ‘the head, the hand and the heart’ of every student,” said Dr. A.L. Fleming, Chief Business Officer and Vice President for Development. “This Innovation Lounge is another way we are bringing that guiding principle to life. This funding will accelerate improvements to the Kellogg Center, creating a vibrant hub where students can meet, study, and create, growing in every way toward success.”
The successful grant application was developed and submitted through a partnership between Dr. Fleming because of an enthusiastic recommendation by The Tuskegee National Alumni Association, and Dr. Brandon Toliver, Special Assistant to the President and Vice President for Facilities and Construction.
Dr. Toliver is keenly aware of the heightened responsibility of this, and every project he oversees on Tuskegee’s historic campus, the only HBCU campus designated as a National Historic Site by the National Park Service.
“This project represents more than a renovation,” Dr. Toliver said. “For us, every building sits on hallowed ground. Our campus is not simply a collection of buildings to maintain, each space is an opportunity to, just as Washington did, treat infrastructure and education as part of one system. The Innovation Lounge will be an opportunity to reimagine a smarter, more reliable, beautifully designed space that does what Tuskegee has always done – incubate leaders who change who will be game-changers.”
Currently open to framing, the multi-room suite provides an opportunity for university planners to intentionally design the space with modern student needs in mind. Plans include strategically integrated power and data infrastructure, enhanced acoustics, and technology that supports both individual and collaborative work.
The larger Kellogg Center restoration project will address critical building improvements, including code compliance, life-safety upgrades, HVAC modernization, electrical and lighting enhancements, and updated interior finishes. The Home Depot Innovation Lounge grant will fund many of the features that directly shape the student experience, including:
- Collaboration and presentation technology
- Equipped study and meeting rooms
- Device charging stations
- Writable surfaces and idea boards
- Flexible furniture configurations
- Environmental graphics
- Tuskegee-branded design elements and finishes
The Home Depot Retool Your School Innovation Lounge Grants specifically support the creation of on-campus environments where students can gather for academic work, brainstorm new ideas, explore entrepreneurship opportunities, and prepare for future careers. These spaces also serve as venues for hybrid meetings, webinars, and other technology-driven learning experiences.
The Home Depot’s Retool Your School program was established to help address infrastructure needs at historically Black colleges and universities and under-resourced colleges nationwide that support projects to enhance learning environments. Since its launch in 2009, the program has invested more than $18 million in campus improvements, through the renovation of facilities and development of innovative spaces for students.
