Graham Center prepares for expansion with renovations

Alexander Suarez/ Contributing Writer

The Graham Center is moving on up.

With retention rates in mind, Ruth Hamilton, executive director of the Graham Center, hopes to create an environment that will help students feel at home.

According to the Office of Planning & Institutional Research, the University enrolled 47,968 students in the fall of 2011. Hamilton said the “expanding enrollment” makes the continued renovations and building of GC pivotal “for the quality of the education students receive.”

There have been reports, according to Hamilton, of students wondering if Fresh Food Company was a newly added restaurant, not knowing it existed before the recently renovated entrance.

Other changes have included the relocation of Einstein’s Bagels next to the GC Ballrooms, making the neighboring outdoor tables part of the restaurant and adding several umbrella covered tables outside the bookstore in the Betty Chapman Plaza.

The Office of Orientation and Parent Programs was also moved to the west side of GC, the former location of the University Credit Union, along with additional “pantherizing” of the building.

According to Hamilton, there are also plans to renovate the piano room by providing new furniture that will accommodate more students as well as their study needs.

“We also want to begin expanding upward to provide more rooms,” Hamilton said.

Amidst current economic hardship, Hamilton believes that continued planning to renovate and build is important.

“The money we receive comes from the Capital Improvement Trust Fund. This money cannot be used for anything else except facilities,” Hamilton said. “If we don’t have a plan [to build and renovate] then we don’t need the money.”

Currently, a $6.76 per credit hour is the fee taken out of students’ tuition to fund the CITF.

“[These renovations] are being done in phases,” Hamilton said. “Our goal is to enhance the building to be welcoming to anyone who walks in.”