The downstairs area of the Campus Center is saying goodbye to the bowling alley and hello to ACU’s newest stomping grounds where students will be able to go and socialize with fellow Wildcats.
“The bowling alley wasn’t the most used place on campus, so we thought what if we repurposed that space and made all of that Student Life,” said Kevin Roberts, vice president of operations.
Along with a new common area for students, the downstairs basement will be transformed into office space for Student Life offices to move in to.
“It’s really a two-fold process,” said Chris Riley, vice president of Student Life. “One is offices for all the staff that currently office in McKinzie. In addition, there will be some kind of new office space for Students’ Association and also some kind of shared lobby space for other people to use across campus.”
Student Life is still kicking around ideas for the official name of the new common area.
“We’re trying to decide the best way to use that space, like some vending machines and what kind of furniture makes sense,” Riley said. “Just a common space that students can use to study or hang out, have meetings or things like that.”
The construction originally started from the need to empty Chambers Hall so it could be torn down for ACU’s Vision in Action construction plan.
The Department of Language and Literature offices that once resided in Chambers Hall will now move into the Hardin Administration building while the Department of Psychology will make its new home in McKinzie Hall.
“It made a lot of sense for psychology to move in McKinzie because that’s where their clinic is, and it also makes sense for Student Life to be in the Campus Center and not over in McKenzie,” Roberts said.
In addition to the new offices and common area, a new elevator will be installed.
“One of the things we had the opportunity to do while we were doing all of that is address the elevator that we had,” Roberts said. “We’re so much better than the old elevator, that’s not who we want to be. By putting in a proper elevator, students and any of our guests who have mobility concerns will be able to get around in a much better elevator.”
The new elevator will be centrally located in the lobby of the Campus Center and will provide more convenient access compared to the old one, Roberts said.
The construction is on schedule as Student Life gets ready to move into their new offices by the second week of December.
