This summer, the Center of Student Involvement, University Recreation and Student Affairs will all be moved to new locations within the University of West Georgia’s (UWG) Campus Center. The Directors and Vice presidents of each department involved have decided this renovation project. On March 28, Dr. Scot Lingrell, the Vice President of Student Affairs and Student Enrollment spoke about the renovation project.
The Campus Center is a building that is in the middle of UWG’s campus. Many students and staff go there for club meetings, events and recreational activities during the week as well as the weekends. There are three floors to the Campus Center. On the first floor there is the game room where students can go and play various games and gaming consoles. Also, there are several ballrooms that are used for club events and meetings. On the second floor there is the Department of University Recreation (URec) along with the campus gymnasium. URec provides all the staff that work in the recreation areas and places on campus. The campus gym is for students to come in and by simply swiping their identification card they can have all access to the basketball court, exercise equipment and the track.
On the third floor there is the Center of Student Involvement (CSI), which is placed right above the gym. This is where some student organizations have their offices and where Emily Teitelbaum, the Assistant Director of Student Affairs and Programs and CSI staff makes appointments and plans events.
“We are doing construction on the game room and were going to move down there,” said Teitelbaum. “No one can ever find us and since we are the Center of Student Involvement we need to be more visible for the students and visitors so they don’t have to go through the turn styles.”
The renovation project was created so that there can be more ease for CSI to get to their offices without having to walk through the gym and fitness area. CSI will be moved to the current place of the game room on the third floor. The game room will be moved to the café lounge, which is the sitting area next to the current location of the game room. Once CSI and the game room have been relocated, Urec will move to the third floor where CSI is currently located. Lastly, Student Affairs will move from Bonner House to the current location of Urec. That leaves Bonner House vacant for international clubs on campus.
“Essentially, CSI will have most of the old game room, the main third floor entrance and the patio area,” said Lingrell. “They come from an area that is restricted but by moving to the third floor they can do programs right outside on the patio. That gets them closer to their facilities.”
Dr. Lingrell, Dr. Caudell and Dr. Head are all moving into the current Urec office suite on the second floor. Lingrell said this would give the campus a sense of centrality by putting Student Affairs in the Campus Center.
Teitelbaum said that since more people are on the CSI staff this year they need more room for their offices. However, the student organizations that are on the current CSI floor will not move downstairs.
Bonner House will be turned into an international house for international programs from Row Hall. Row Hall will then be taken over by the Counseling Center because they currently don’t have enough space for their department.
In the meeting, Lingrell said that the facilities that URec managed such as fitness areas and the back gym will be closer to the external exits where they have staff parking, recreational vehicles and fields for outdoor recreation.
The concept drawings were discussed in the meeting about the renovation project. Lingrell said these drawings are not finalized and are subject to change. Further information on the renovation project will be discussed in future meetings between all departments involved.
