The Center for Student Engagement is in the planning stages of a move from offices in various locations within the Union Building to a unified location in the old bookstore. However, the move has been delayed due to other ongoing campus projects.
The Center for Student Engagement is charged with helping students manage career exploration, international studies and civic engagement. Kate Knaul, director of global opportunities, said that she wants to see these three aspects better utilized by the students to help develop within themselves a diverse set of skills that will tell their story.
"[The move] will better support students and collaborative endeavors between students and staff," Knaul said.
Plans for the new offices began with Allan and Kathryn Hubbard's $5 million donation in November to fund a new center for student engagement, experiential learning and career planning.
Knaul said that the project is still in its planning stages because the university needs to learn how to manage this change in the context of other ongoing renovation projects on campus.
Plans for the construction of a new dinning hall, in particular, complicate long-term decisions for the new center for student engagement office.
"At the moment we have to get through the hurdles of how [the new offices] fit into other construction projects in a way that limits the disruption to staff and students," Knaul said.
After three years of being scattered throughout the Union Building, the old bookstore space will allow the Center for Student Engagement to have one unified location. The new location will provide the staff with a more effective environment to work in while catering to students.
"We're still in the Union Building and still in the center of campus, but in the (old) bookstore the staff will work better together," Knaul said.
Dean of Experiential Learning and Career Planning Raj Bellani sees the new move to the bookstore as a place that will be a central destination to provide students with life coaching.
"[The new space] will allow us to provide the best advice so students can make best decisions for their future," Bellani said.
Senior Maggie Cohen has made many visits to the Center for Student Engagement's Civic Global and Professional Oppertunities kiosk throughout the past year and thinks the move will be a positive change.
"Everyone who works in the career services offices is always willing to help students out no matter what their question is," Cohen said. "Their move to the bookstore will make it more accessible for students to get the most out of the staff."
Staff and administration are still deliberating when they will be moving into the space.
- Megan Carter contributed to this article