As the former business building’s new look takes shape in the heart of Wichita State’s campus, students can expect to visit the Shocker Success Center, formerly known as Clinton Hall, by next summer.
Located between Ablah Library and the Rhatigan Student Center, the Shocker Success Center will tie the two buildings together, creating a centralized hub of student resources. It will unite over 17 different student resources that are scattered across campus.
Dreams of the Shocker Success Center are years in the making. After spring break last year, students and staff found sidewalks and parking lots around Clinton Hall and the RSC closed off for the campus’s latest construction site.
Despite extreme temperatures during the first week of the fall semester, construction is on schedule.
“We’ve been talking about this for quite a while,” Terri Hall, president of student affairs, said. “Buildings take time and especially with this building, we’re not just putting on a new coat of paint (or) changing the flooring, right? We’re doing major renovation of space and really changing the configuration of the inside in particular, and even the outside with the different entrances, so it’s going to take some time.”
Jane Huesemann, project manager for the building’s design team, said many systems had to be replaced in Clinton Hall.
“We’re making a pretty big transformation of it,” Huesemann said. “There’s a lot of work to be done to remove things that are no longer needed and then build all the new components.”
New features include more accessible entrances, large windows and open areas for activity.
“The second floor is going to be opened up, and it has big windows that the building hasn’t had before,” Huesemann said. “We have floor-to-ceiling windows in an entire area that’s for tutoring and student success.”
Funding for the $18.5 million renovation comes from a variety of sources, Hall said. About a third comes through Wichita State University Foundation and Alumni Engagement, another third of the funds are left over from the renovations of Woolsey Hall and the rest comes from student fees.
Huesseman said that walking through the construction site is “fun.”
“We start to see the, you know, views or windows or openings that we have been drawing, and so it’s kind of rewarding to see it as it really takes shape,” she said.
Hall said the construction will transform the heart of campus.
“I’m also really thrilled that we’re having this recommitment to the center of campus,” Hall said.
