The Campus Center: A Symbol of MHU’s Student-Centric Mission Q and A with President Tony Floyd According to President Tony Floyd, the construction of a new campus center on the Blackwell Hall site is a strategic decision that will bring everyone together in the heart of the campus and will invigorate student life and the student experience on the Hill. Floyd sees it as a powerful symbolic gesture that will convert administrative space into a vibrant, supportive, student–centric area. It will always serve as a reminder that students are at the very center of the university’s mission. Why did university leadership see the campus center as an important project to move forward with? The need for a campus center has been a primary concern in the minds of trustees, alumni, faculty, and staff for a long time. Dr. [Dan] Lunsford had worked with architects and engineers during his administration to consider renovating Wren. Later, our leadership considered an addition onto McConnell. The renovation of Wren became one of the funding objectives of the last capital campaign. After I became president, we continued looking into the costs of renovating Wren, but realized that Wren needed so much work that the cost would be prohibitive and it still would not be an optimal, stateof-the-art campus center. We abandoned the idea of Wren renovations as a campus center when cost estimates exceeded $14 million. But we didn’t give up on the building entirely: we worked with Chartwells Dining Services to 10 Mars Hill, the Magazine | Spring 2022
upgrade the Lions Den facility; we built new esports lounges; and we recently renovated the Blue Lounge. In 2019, we hired a higher education architectural firm to conduct studies and offer suggestions on the location and design of the campus center. It was a very comprehensive process which included students, staff, and faculty conversations, and we considered a number of options. A foot traffic study done by the group was a deciding factor in showing us that from Day Hall down to Renfro Library, and then from Blackwell Hall, across Highway 213 to Pittman Dining Hall is the “student interstate” on campus. Blackwell Hall is at the very crossroads of that student traffic, so this location made a lot of sense. So was the location of Blackwell Hall the primary driver of its choice as the site of the new campus center? Having a central location was certainly a driver. We also realized that we did not want to add buildings to the campus and that we wanted to be good stewards and invest in an existing structure in a way that made sense. Blackwell was already in need of a new HVAC system and some renovation. We will therefore realize a lot of savings by renovating it rather than building a completely new building. You already have the walls, floors, steel, roof, balconies, etc., and you’re just adding to it, not starting from scratch. The centrality of it, the convenience of it, is significant, and it’s
