Beginning after the Paralympics in March the Honors Program is planning to move to Building 619 in the Fort Douglas complex. The Honors Program is currently housed in the Sill Center.
Although the move is not slated for completion until October of 2002, expansion plans are already underway. The new center is to hold a state-of-the-art computer room, classrooms, student lounge, administration offices and counselling offices.
Plans are still underway for development and fund-raising. Although Fort Douglas has seen some major renovations in the past couple of years, the building reserved for the Honors Program has not undergone significant remodeling since its construction in 1875.
The program is starting a campaign to raise the $700,000 needed to start the first phase of renovation. The building needs new plumbing and wiring to comply with the technologies that the Honors Program has planned.
According to Richard Rieke, head of the Honors Program, the center has already received a $12,000 donation to help fund the computer room. This money has been donated in the form of computers, printers and software provided by Intel, to be used by the ACCESS Program. This program gives opportunities to women who are interested in science and mathematics. Professor Sidney Rudolph heads the ACCESS Program.
The new building is located next to the Comadores Conference Center. Rieke believes this will enable students to be a part of important conferences and give the program more space to hold conferences and guest lectures.
Kathie McMillen, honors director of development, hopes that the new center will “give a small liberal arts or Ivy League college feel to the campus.” The Fort Douglas building will be “as accessible as anything else on this campus,” even though it is not as close to the campus center as the Honors Program’s existing office, McMillen said.
“The new center will provide opportunity to residence hall students?together with those who don’t live in residence halls?to come together in a common community,” Rieke said.
“We were looking for ways to put special academic programs in the middle of the Fort Douglas living-learning complex,” said President Bernie Machen of the decision to move, which was made in December.
The new center will provide the space to house and encourage such a community with 5,000 square feet compared to three rooms now occupied in the Sill Center.
“It certainly opens up new opportunities to be close to Honors experiences and different activities that [students] probably wouldn’t have normally gone to,” said Bret Brinkman, Honors Student Advisory Committee member. Brinkman thinks the move will especially affect students living in the dorms, but not necessarily those that live off campus.
As of now the Honors Program will remain in the Sill Center until its proposed move. After the move, the Honors Program will hold a “presence” in the Sill Center but most of the counseling, guidance and activities will be in the new Fort Douglas location.