Several projects to renovate and update Talley Student Center have been passed by the Student Centers Board of Directors as the center awaits the finalized Student Life Master Plan, Vice President and Chair of the Facilities Committee Adam Compton said.
Student Centers president Diana Douglas and Evelyn Reiman, associate vice chancellor of student affairs, finalized carpeting that will be installed wall to wall on the first floor of Talley in their meeting Monday.
Douglas, a senior in business management said the carpet, which will replace the exsisting tile throughout the first floor of Talley, will “match really well with the new furniture.”
The first floor renovations could also include pendant lamps above the new tables in the center and may include a remodeling of the first floor dining area to include an espresso bar, according to Douglas.
Compton, a senior in agricultural business management, also said short-term projects could include a new informaton desk in the lobby area and a yet-to-be-determined project chosen by the Board of Directors and funded by the a 50-cent allotment from the Student Centers student fee — approximately $4,000 to 5,000 total.
“We’re getting student input to figure out what students want,” he said.
The Board of Directors has chosen to channel some of their energy and funds into smaller projects as they work out the details of the Student Life Master Plan, which may take around five years to implement, Douglas said.
Compton agreed with the Board’s decisions.
“They saw that nothing was going to happen to Talley for a few years,” he said. “[But] we know that our student center is behind the times.”
Douglas echoed the reasoning for tackling smaller projects in the interim of the larger Master Plan.
“We don’t want to put 100 percent of our energy into the Student Life Master Plan, because we have a lot of people coming into our University from day to day,” she said. “It’s important to us to still pay attention to Talley for students now.”
Members of the Student Centers BOD met Friday in a “grand finale meeting” to finalize ideas for the Master Plan, according to Douglas.
Although she said she was unable to attend, Douglas said plans were made to visit several East Coast universities that have recently renovated or recontructed their student centers, including James Madison University, Penn State, Virginia Tech and George Mason University.
According to Douglas, Talley Student Center, under the preliminary plans, would outsource administrative jobs, incorporate the University Career Center and possibly relocate the Student Government offices to the premises.
Along with the “huge, all-encompasing student center,” Douglas said the plan was “also looking to provide what the architectures called WolfPacks,” which are four to five smaller centers equipped with student lounges and eatery places evenly dispersed throughout the campuses.
A huge pedestrian bridge in the vicinity of Reynolds Coliseum was also highly advised — something Douglas said could become a landmark of the University in years to come.
Other issues that still remain up in the air for the Student Life plan are timing and funding, Compton, former Student Body Treasurer, said.
“They’re trying to figure out exactly when to do everything,” he said. “It’s going to hit the backs of students and they are working to find a way to do this so that is not going to hit students so hard.”
