The new Student Life Center celebrated its grand opening
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The new Student Life Center celebrated its grand opening in a celebration lasting from March 30 - April 2.
The celebration included a Global Food Fair, Career Center Open House and culminated with Accolade in the new Commodore Ballroom.
The building boasts 18,000 square feet of event space, cost a mere $11.4 million and houses the Career Center, Study Abroad offices, Office of Honor Scholarships, ENGAGE and Pre-Health Professions Advisory Office.
According to Chancellor Gee, "The project is a direct response to the wishes of our students ... they have told us that their No. 1 priority is the development of a large social space on campus."
Whether or not social space was the top priority is debatable. The Center is not designed for use by students on a daily basis. It features a mere 2-3 meeting rooms in the basement and little to no study space.
The majority of the structure is devoted to administrative offices and the Commodore Ballroom.
The main entrance to the Center (across from the new Studio Art building) has a welcome desk and limited seating in one of the more student-friendly parts of the building. When the Art building is complete, students will look out over a grassy commons between the buildings.
The Board of Trust room features six Salvadore Dali paintings and can be utilized in a variety of ways, including for conferences, lectures, banquets or receptions. Formerly the Branscomb South Dining Room, the modern and renovated room at the center of campus will earn its title by hosting the Board of Trust meetings that take place several times throughout the course of the academic year.
This mobile by Los Angeles-based sculptor Bruce Gray is entitled "Mobile, Alabama" and hangs above the Prefunction room. It was donated by Chi Omega sorority in honor of the sorority's 50th anniversary on campus and is constructed of painted steel.
The Center features 34 objects from the Vanderbilt University Art collection. The pieces range from traditional to modern and were selected by Joseph Mella, the Fine Arts Gallery Director and curator of the Vanderbilt collection. The works, according to Mella, "look great in the building and add visual vitality in what may not normally be an exciting space."