Ellie Sophocleous, a junior at Miami University, has passed the ongoing construction on Spring Street dozens of times throughout the year, but has never really given it a second thought. Sitting in a quiet study room in King Library that is illuminated only by the day’s last sunlight shining through, Ellie says that she knows a new student center is being built, but she has no idea what will be in it, or when it will be complete.
Like its name suggests, the Armstrong Student Center is being built to serve the needs of Miami’s students. Besides a well structured website dedicated to the Armstrong Center to provide people with information, this article will serve as a road map for students like Ellie who are interested in knowing what the center will offer them when its doors open come January 2014.
As students enter the first phase of Armstrong, they will be inside the renovation of Gaskill and Rowan Halls. Students will be able to enter through a western entrance that will place them on the second floor of the center. They will travel down a slant walk that will be naturally lit by an overhead skylight, and will enter into the Bicentennial Rotunda, the heart of the student center.
If students choose to stay on the second floor, they can spend some time in the Cultural Center, attending cultural seminars and workshops, and can learn about the Miami tribe in the Wikkiami Room.
If students are simply passing through, they can relax in the community lounge and kitchen within the Cultural Center to hang out with friends, study, and perhaps cook up something tasty. Every collegiette could use a cookie or brownie fix while working on homework, right?
If cooking is not of interest, the second floor will host the Bob and Doris Pulley Diner, a 24-hour diner that will serve every meal of the day and all those meals in between, so students can take a break from studying and eat whenever they want.
Through a spiral staircase in the Bicentennial Rotunda, students can travel to the third floor and spend time in the roof garden and terrace, or relax with friends and family on the Pavilion.
Students coming down the staircase or entering the center from the Spring Street entrance will be able to enter the Shade Family Room. On cold winter nights, students can sit around a warm fire as they socialize with friends and work on group projects. Students can find entertainment in the 500-seat theater that will also be on the first floor, and can grab a bite after a movie or performance at the Latin Flavors restaurant or Miami’s own Panera style restaurant, Boulangerie.
Dean of Students Susan Mosley-Howard likes the way Armstrong’s three levels have been designed.
“The student center will truly be the family room of the campus,” Mosley-Howard says, excited about the center’s opening next spring.
The center’s three floors will also house offices and meeting rooms for most of Miami’s 400 student organizations, and will provide many more study rooms so students will have a quiet atmosphere to study in.
In the second phase of the student center – revisions of Culler and Kreger Halls – students can eat and watch Miami sporting events in the campus’s first ever sports bar and grille. The completion date of phase two has yet to be determined.
Since Shriver Center opened in 1957, the student body at Miami has grown from 6,000 students to 16,000. By 2002, student body presidents realized that Shriver Center could no longer support the student body. However, it was not until 2008 that the new student center was approved, and construction did not begin until last year.
Susie Sadler, the Senior Director of Development for the Armstrong Center explains that Miami is “way behind the ball compared to other universities” in building a student center. However, Mosley-Howard does not see the center’s long overdue development as a benefit to Miami and its students.
“The advantage of being the last is we could learn from everyone else’s mistakes,” Mosley-Howard explains.
While some universities like Ohio have a university center that attempts to meet the needs of students, faculty, and visitors, Mosley-Howard says that Miami decided to go a different direction, choosing to focus on Miami’s student body only.
“When you have a university center, you have these competing needs and competing priorities,” she says.
To prevent such conflicts, Sadler explains that the study rooms, lounge areas and every other part of Armstrong are designed specifically for Miami students, not the faculty.
“Instead of you being behind the faculty and staff and getting spaces on campus, we’re going to be behind you guys,” Sadler emphasizes. “This is your building, you get priority on it.”
Although Ellie will only have a semester or two to enjoy the Armstrong Student Center when it opens, she feels that it will be a strong tool for current students, and may even sway prospective students who are deciding between Miami and another school.
“When you are in that MU mindset, you can’t ever really leave it.”