Gov Rell To Lead Celebration For New WestConn Campus Center

DANBURY — Governor M. Jodi Rell is scheduled to join other dignitaries at 3:30 pm on Tuesday, January 23, to cut the ribbon at Western Connecticut State University’s newest building, a student center on the westside campus.

The Campus Center will for the first time provide food service in a community setting on the westside campus, where more than 1,000 students live in three residence halls. The center also will offer a game room, cardio fitness center, multipurpose meeting and conference rooms, student activity space, lounge areas, and other facilities to enhance campus life.

The 49,000-square-foot building, which cost $17.8 million, is designed for students, and the opening celebrations will offer a variety of student activities and coordinate with WestConn men’s and women’s basketball games on January 23 against rival Eastern Connecticut State.

The Association of College Unions International describes the ideal campus center, or student union, as the community center of the university, serving students, faculty, staff, alumni, and guests. WestConn’s Campus Center is designed to offer a variety of programs, activities, services, and facilities that represent a well-considered plan for the community life of the university.

Also scheduled to attend the ribbon-cutting ceremony are James T. Fleming, the commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Public Works; Lawrence D. McHugh, chairman of the board of directors of the Connecticut State University System (CSUS), Dr David G. Carter, CSUS chancellor; and several local officials.

The building is only the latest in a round of new construction at WestConn.

The WCSU Science Building, a state-of-the-art, 122,000-square-foot facility, was completed in 2005. It houses the biology, chemistry, physics, astronomy, and meteorology departments. The facility includes classrooms, lecture auditoria, a greenhouse, an observatory, the WCSU Weather Center, and research laboratories, including the Boehringer Ingelheim Biochemistry Lab.

The new structure is the first state-funded building project to obtain Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) Silver certification from the US Green Building Council. And the science building was among 40 projects in the tri-state area selected for “Best of 2006” honors by a panel of experts for an annual awards program conducted by New York construction magazine.

A $17.5 million, 215,000-square-foot garage providing 800 student parking spaces on four levels came online in fall 2006. Paid for by student fees, the Midtown campus student garage features two entrances, dual stairwells, a closed-circuit monitoring system connected to the WestConn Police Department, and several code blue emergency phones.

The next expected construction project on campus is the facility to house the new School of Visual and Performing Arts, tentatively scheduled to open on the Westside campus during the 2010-2011 school year.