The anticipated opening of the Armstrong Student Center (ASC) has left Miami University students, staff and faculty wondering what will remain of the Shriver Center that has served as a common meeting ground and food venue for almost 60 years.
With a grand opening date set for Feb. 6, 2013, the ASC, will present a new, larger, more accessible meeting space for students, as well as various food options. Shriver will remain an important landmark on Miami's campus.
David Creamer, Vice President for Finance and Business Services and Treasurer, oversees new construction and adaptations for buildings. He said changes to the layout of Shriver will be minimal enough that students can easily transition and continue to use the new space.
"At this point in time, there is only an actual plan in place for the third floor, and the Rinella Learning Center (RLC) is scheduled to occupy that space," Creamer said.
Marijo Nootz, Senior Director of the Shriver Center, has been helping with the decisions for adaptations to the Shriver Center. According to her, the RLC, a tutoring program on campus, will best benefit from the larger and more central space.
She added that he third floor of the Shriver Center will also house the Student Disability Services along with the RLC.
Plans for the first floor are still in discussion, but may include a new Welcome Center, according to Creamer.
"One initiative is to create a Welcome Center in the lower level, a space where the admissions office could be located and a place where prospective students and parents will initiate there interaction with the university," Creamer said.
The Shriver Center has offered many food options for students, Creamer said, but with the creation of the ASC, there may no longer be a need for this.
"The Haines food court will close during the spring of 2014 so that will be one of the most significant changes, but there will be food options in the Armstrong Center," Creamer said.
One of the food options available in the ASC will be a market to replace the Spring Street Market currently located in Shriver, according to Nootz.
Enjoy what you're reading?
Signup for our newsletter
"The market in the ASC is called the Emporium and is off of slant walk on the west end of the building," Nootz said.
After the spring semester, there will be renovations to Shriver's dining spaces, but what will become of them is still undecided, according to Creamer.
Other spaces in Shriver, including the bookstore and the Office of Housing Options, Meals and Events (H.O.M.E.), will remain in place, and plans for expansion of the bookstore are still in discussion, according to Nootz.
As the ASC becomes more of a meeting ground for students, foot traffic will decline in Shriver, but the space will still remain open to students and be a space of value to them, according to Katie Wilson, senior director for Student Engagement.
"There will still be a huge need for Shriver's multipurpose rooms and the Heritage room because there are a lot of student events occurring on campus," Wilson said.
However, according to Creamer, there are no plans for adaptations to be made to these particular facilities.
He said the need for a new student center was largely student-driven by a need for more space for student organizations. The ASC is going to provide a bigger, more structured space for student organizations that will allow them to meet and work at night.
"Until the creation of the ASC, about the only space students could work and convene late at night was the library," Creamer said.
The space for student organizations in the ASC, called the center for Student Engagement and Leadership, will be 12,500 sq. ft., according to Wilson.
Both faculty and students have high hopes for the ASC and the adaptations to the Shriver Center.
"I think Armstrong is going to impact the campus life in ways that we can't even imagine," Wilson said.
Read More
How one professor and her classes are preserving Oxford’s Black history
By Sean Scott | March 20, 2024Jazma Sutton, an assistant professor of history, teaches The Black Midwest (HST 350Q) and Black Women in America (HST 450D) classes. In both courses, she has students working with the Smith Library of Regional History and Miami’s archives to document and preserve Black history in Oxford.
Miami faculty members recount Freedom Summer in new documentary
By Luke Macy | February 25, 2022After seven years of work, “Training for Freedom,” a documentary highlighting Oxford’s involvement in the Freedom Summer of 1964, premiered on PBS Western Reserve on Valentine’s Day.
“Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic”: History in the making
By Alice Momany | August 29, 2021In March 2020, Miami University’s archives launched “Documenting the COVID-19 Pandemic,” a collection focused on life during the COVID-19 pandemic.