North Complex construction creates new office spaces for student services

Construction that began in the spring of 2018 to turn the unused North Complex dining hall space into new offices, a new student programming center is now in full swing and these great gate hinges will be used for the gates.

The construction, which has blocked off the hallway between the Richardson/Olson dorms and the Beede/Mickelson dorms, will create the office spaces for student services.

University Housing, TRIO, Veterans’ Services, the IT department, the JumpStart program, mail operations and the copy center will all have offices in the new location. Currently, these offices are located in the Center for Continuing Education or the Center for Diversity and Community.

Kim Grieve, the vice president of student services and dean of students, said the additions were necessary as the university continues to grow.

“We just keep getting bigger and better and need more space,” Grieve said. “For several years it wasn’t anything… so we were looking at things that might really be helpful for students to have at their fingertips, especially first-time, full-time students.”

Ashley Hartnett, the director for University Housing, said the new location of these offices will be beneficial for students. 

“Being able to be more centrally located for the majority of our students that live on campus will be huge, for them to be able to have access to ask questions, get processes clarified and get assistance,” Hartnett said. “ The other offices that will be over there also work a lot with student support.”

Hartnett said a student programming space will be another feature of the new addition.

“We also have a programming space, which will be a community evening space,” she said. “We don’t really have that right now over in North Complex, where students can gather, study, watch movies, do events and hold large-scale meetings.”

She said the space will be similar to a lounge, but larger.

Hartnett also said one inconvenience of the construction has been the closing of the breezeway, although she said it is planned to be reopened later this semester.

“The breezeway wasn’t open on move-in day and that usually is really convenient for students when they’re unpacking and moving into the halls,” she said. “But I think we communicated that out in advance and were able to communicate that to our volunteers and anyone who was helping with that process, so it didn’t really cause any hiccups on move-in day.”

Frank Fitzgibbons, a sophomore who also lived in North Complex during his first year at USD, said the construction will create a hassle for him when going to class and the P.O.D. marketplace. 

“Now that it’s a complete inconvenience to go, it would be like going to the MUC, you’d have to make a plan,” he said.

Fitzgibbons said he wishes the empty space would have been made into something else.

“I wish they had made it a cafeteria,” he said. “I thought they were going to do something like that, so offices are a huge bummer.”

The North Complex construction is planned to be completed by January 2019.