The new student center will be located at the site of the Cunninghams Residence Halls. According to Susan Sullivan, director of the Student Union & Activities, the Cunninghams will be taken down around May 2014. Since the demolition will take a few months, the construction of the new student center won’t start until fall 2014.
Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for Student Affairs, said, “It will have a lot of the same features that we have in our current Lankford building, but it will be more. There will be more common area space, more lounge space, food service space and more.”
The current building, Lankford Student Union, is about 34,000 square- feet, but Pierson predicts the new building will be about 85,000 square- feet.
Sullivan said this project is going to cost about $30 million.
Recently, Sullivan, a group of vice presidents and architects traveled to schools such as University of North Carolina at Wilmington, Winthrop University and the University of North Carolina at Charlotte to see their student centers. “We tried to get as much information that could be attained from folks who worked in the buildings, people who were associated with the building and the people who financed the building,” Pierson said.
The team took notes on what they liked about the various student centers and what they did not.
“For Longwood, ours will have its own character and its own approach to it," Pierson said. “We took what we learned, but also what we need for our campus is really what’s absolutely critical.”
The student center will have several new features for students. Sullivan stated that they plan on creating a lot of space for student organizations to meet, as well as storage space for their various materials.
There will also be places for students to hang out with friends and to study for classes. Pierson wants the building to have multi-purpose rooms, so students can use them for entertainment or group meetings.
“We are trying to get the best value and use out of this for our students,” Pierson added.
There will still be food in this space, but it may not be the same type of food in the current student union.
According to Sullivan, “Those decisions will probably be made when we are farther along in the process. We will work with Aramark and get student feedback as to what type of food they would like to see down there.”
Sullivan said Einstein Bros Bagels could possibly move over to the new building, but the final decision has not been made yet.
Since the Cunninghams are one of the main residence halls for incoming freshmen, Longwood is trying to push the upperclassmen off campus toward Longwood-managed apartments or other privately owned spaces.
According to Sullivan, Longwood is currently building a new housing option near Lancer Park. These North and South Campus buildings will house around 400 beds and will act as a replacement for the Cunninghams.
Sullivan stated, “Unfortunately they are not staying on campus. They are going off campus, but they are still owned and managed by Longwood.”
When construction begins, the existing Lankford Student Union building will be converted into a Student Success Center with financial aid, the Academic & Career Advising Center, the Office of First Year Experience, tutoring and other services that students may need.
Sullivan said, “They are still working through the details as to what will specifically go in this building [Lankford], but nothing as been determined yet.”
The mailroom will stay where it is in Lankford, said Sullivan.
The new student union is projected to open in the fall of 2016.
According to Pierson, “It is such an important factor for the future of our campus that [Interim] President Connelly has said she wants every vice president to be involved in this and make sure that we are getting this right for Longwood.”
This project will move Longwood closer to the 2020 Vision.
“We are definitely moving forward very swiftly, so I’m really excited,” Sullivan said. “I think it’s going to make a huge impact on the campus, and I think the students are going to love it.”
