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IWU plans to open new welcome center in the fall
BLOOMINGTON -- A building touted as a new gateway to Illinois Wesleyan University is taking shape, and campus leaders hope to open it by next fall. The university’s $6 million welcome center, a two-story structure on the corner of Park and Graham streets, brings IWU’s admissions office and its Hart Career Center under one roof. Currently, admissions staff is in Holmes Hall, and the career center is in Gulick Hall. The center “is designed to be the front door of the university,” said Dick Wilson, Illinois Wesleyan president. Its location, less than a block off Empire Street, gives potential students and their families an easy starting point for a campus visit, he said. With the career center, the spot also will be a first stop for representatives from businesses and other organizations recruiting IWU students for jobs, internships or graduate school programs. The 19,000-square-foot building will be named in honor of late IWU president Minor Myers Jr. The building is between IWU’s presidential house and Evelyn Chapel. Construction on the facility — at the site of the former United Methodist Conference Center — began with its May demolition. “It’s coming along on schedule,” said Bud Jorgenson, director of IWU’s physical plant. “Right now, they’re working on the exterior brick and stone.” General contractor Felmley-Dickerson should finish this summer, with IWU planning to move the two offices and staff into the building by the start of fall classes, Jorgenson said. Wilson said a formal dedication will be part of October homecoming festivities. The structure’s architectural design is beginning the reflect that of nearby Presser Hall, and to a lesser degree Evelyn Chapel. The welcome center marks the first major IWU construction project since 2002, when the campus opened its $25.7 million Ames Library and unveiled an $8.1 million renovation of what now is the Hansen Student Center. The welcome center is funded entirely through private donations, said Wilson. A fund-raising campaign for the welcome center began just months after Myers’ 2003 death. Alumnus Kent Wallace, who graduated in 1962, and his wife Sue donated $500,000 to the project and challenged others to contribute. Since then, all but a tiny fraction of the $6 million has been raised, said Wilson. “There have been a large number of gifts,” he said, noting the Wallace contribution was one of the largest. Many alumni and other friends of Illinois Wesleyan are committed to enhancing the first campus experience for visitors, said Wilson. He said a building funded through many gifts, and not just a single donor, also stands as “a tribute to how people felt about Minor.” Myers led the campus for nearly 15 years. E-mail this story | Print this story | Search archives | RSS Show comments |  Hide comments | Hide comments on all stories |
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