The newly renovated Sill Center will open with a series of celebratory activities.
Renovations for the center — home to the Office of Undergraduate Studies— to include more office spaces, as well as lounges and study areas for students, began in 2014.
The grand opening event begins at 11:30 a.m. on Sept. 29, with activities inside and outside the center. There will be tours, presentations by various undergraduate programs and a panel of former tenants who lived in the center when it was a living learning community, where residents were taught to keep house.
The building opened in 1952 as the Sterling W. Sill Family Home Living Center. The original architectural style and decor was retained to preserve the ambiance of the building, but new conference rooms will have improved technology, and windows were updated to be more energy efficient.
Collaboration among departments was a primary goal, with more offices added to consolidate as many undergraduate programs as possible into one building.
Erica Marken, director of undergraduate advancement, said a highlight of the renovation is the sense of “pride in bringing … programs together.”
Amy Bergerson, Ph.D., director of the student success and empowerment initiative, sees this as having a positive effect on students as well.
“Just being able to have more of the undergraduate studies offices and departments in the same space … will help us be more in touch with students,” Bergerson said.
The focus of the project also shifted the center to be more student-oriented. Study spaces and lounges were added to attract undergraduates to the facility. Marken believes that the appeal of the center has already had a large impact.
Though the renovation was made with students in mind, they will not be required to pay for it. According to Bergerson, the projected was funded by donors.
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