Western Washington University is putting in a new building on the south side of campus that will serve as a welcome center and student resource facility. Construction started at the beginning of spring quarter and is slated to take 18 months, with completion not expected until fall quarter of 2027.
About $48 million of the funding for the building is coming from state capital appropriations from the state budget, with an additional $6 million coming from different on-campus funding, $2 million of which is student fees.
The building will be near Academic Instructional Center West on south campus, with construction taking over most of the pathway between Academic West and the Wade King Student Recreation Center. Currently, the lack of this pathway means that there is no easy walkway for people with disabilities from the rec center to any of the south campus buildings.
In an email from the facilities development and operations team, they said that they had come up with plans to stay compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act. The Facilities Development and Operations (FDO) outdoor maintenance team is putting in a temporary path so that people can get to and from different parts of campus more easily.
During construction planning, the team worked with the Disability Access Center and the Office of Civil Rights to mitigate accessibility impacts, project manager and architect, Christopher Mead, said. The outdoor maintenance team is currently building a path near the east side of the construction site to bypass the stairs at the southeast corner of Flag Plaza and allow direct ADA access to the academic buildings east of the site from the south.
The new building will be a welcome center for prospective students and families, as well as a wellness center and new food pantry. The plan is to have it be a one-stop shop for everything wellness and welcoming.
The goal in building the Student Development and Success Center is to ease some of the challenges that may lead to students dropping out or having financial insecurity. The school wants to give students a place to look if they are struggling in any way.
At Western, student service spaces are spread across campus, said Brian Ross, director of capital budget and public works procurement at Western. This idea emerged from observing that many comparable universities have centralized welcome and student support centers, which have proven effective in supporting recruitment and retention.
Though it is putting a strain on south campus right now, once completed, the building is going to be a space for many students, families, prospective students and alumni to visit. It will be the first place new students are brought when visiting the campus.
“The building is student-centered, focused on promoting access to higher education and providing services to support a student’s educational and personal journey,” Western communications director, John Thompson, said. “We anticipate that generations of students who choose to attend Western will benefit.”
Gabriel Townsend (he/him) is a first-year journalism student and campus news reporter for The Front this quarter. He spends a lot of his time walking around campus, spending time with friends, or if he gets the time, reading a fun novel. You can reach him at gabetownsend.thefront@gmail.com.
