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The Smith University Center (UC) on the FMU campus has been undergoing renovations over the past year, but finally, for the Spring 2024 semester, it has been opened back up for students.
Originally constructed in 1973, the UC has undergone minor refreshes over the years, but has mostly stayed the same core building. Quickly, it became a hub for Student Life and athletics and has remained as such even through the construction.
When the Griffin Athletic Complex opened in 2012, student athletes were given a space dedicated to them, leaving the UC primarily to Student Life. Following the construction, plans were created to start a renovation project to fully renovate the iconic FMU landmark that is the UC.
“We started looking at the University Center then, around 11 or 12 years ago, when we started thinking we need to update the facilities for student athletes and since it is the center of student life we wanted to really provide and update amenities for our students,” Darryl Bridges, executive vice president, said. “We started working on it in earnest in 2019, then COVID hit and delayed the construction, but once we figured out it wasn’t insurmountable, we went ahead with the state process.”
Sticking to its 1970s design, the UC has not changed too much over the decades. Housing an indoor pool, two fitness gyms and the Patriot Bookstore among other amenities, administrative staff realized the need to update the facilities.
“It was a 50-year-old building with no substantial changes to it, so we looked at the needs of the student body and the desires there,” Bridges said. “The commons area was used a lot for activities and events, so we knew we needed to refresh the commons area.”
After the renovations, the UC has adopted a whole new look. The main lobby has forgone its ‘70s aesthetic and has adopted a more modern, bright and open look. The walls have been painted white with red paint on the display cases and blue accents around the staircases.
Also, on either side of the staircases are large flatscreen televisions for students to watch sports games or display electronic advertisements of the event going on around campus. The UC also boasts new tables and chairs for students to relax and study with. Bathrooms on the first floor have also been completely renovated and renewed.
While the look is entirely new, the layout of the UC has not changed. With the exception of a few spaces, the UC is still the same functionality-wise. Along with renovating the building’s look, there were also plans to update the facilities not just for functionality but also based on students’ needs and desires. One such big change was to the old indoor pool.
“We also looked at what to do with the big space where the pool was,” Bridges said. “The usage of the pool had diminished so much over the decades. There were literally only a handful of students who utilized the pool the past few years.”
According to Bridges, numbers showed just under 200 students had utilized the indoor pool in the last few years. This number is “unduplicated,” meaning that it counts each time it is utilized by a student and not necessarily the individual students who used it. Costing between $80,000 and $100,000 to operate, the administrative staff saw it better to put more money from their $5.8 million budget towards more utilized facilities.
“We’d seen an increased usage in the fitness facilities,” Bridges said. “We had the opportunity to fill the pool in and create a state-of-the-art fitness center that meets the needs of the entire student body. It can compete with any fitness center in the region.”
The new gym is not only updated with its equipment, but it is also a larger space that can accommodate more students than either of the previous gyms in the UC. The old gym rooms have been converted as well; the first-floor gym has been converted into a concession stand for sports games and student organizations to utilize and the second-floor gym has been converted into a game room with pool tables and ping pong. This new game room will also feature televisions, tables and outlet hubs after small renovations taking place during the month of February.
On top of the equipment being renovated, the locker rooms have also been completely redone. Whereas they used to be open and outdated, now the showers are closed off and updated. The plethora of upgrades to the athletic facilities in the UC also means that FMU is now in alignment with the NCAA requirements for athletic training.
As the School of Business and Education building is still under construction, FMU has already slated multiple construction and renovation projects for the next two to three years. That building in particular is scheduled for completion this summer, with courses already being planned out for the Fall 2024 semester in the School of Business and Education building.
Following the School of Business and Education will be the construction of a Forestry and Environmental Science building as well as a SLED agency in the area behind the current Baptist Collegiate Ministry building.
There are also a multitude of renovations planned for the coming years. Once the School of Business and Education building is complete, the first to be renovated will be Founders Hall (FH) and the Cauthen Educational Media Center (CEMC).
“You’re going to see a lot happen in the next two years,” Bridges said. “We have funds in place from the state to renovate the Founders Hall and CEMC. We have about $9 million to do that.”
Along with FH and CEMC, the administrative staff is seeking funding for renovations to the science buildings and will start on housing renovations this summer.
“[We will be] starting this summer with renovations to the Village Apartments,” Bridges said. “We’ve renovated the exteriors about five years ago. We’re going to renovate some of the interiors this summer and do some more next semester and then shift over to the residence halls. We have students living there so we have to try and consolidate it into certain timeframes.”
The summer of 2024 will also see the roads being repaved and the entrance gates being fixed. In the wooded area between the Grille and parking lot F, there will be a new engineering workshop built this summer for engineering students to work on their projects.
Buildings across campus take a certain process to get underway. One of the most important first steps is getting the financial backing of the state in the form of grants. Receiving funding this way makes it so that every building is paid for and fees for students do not increase.
“Things such as the School of Business and Education building and the Honors Center were all paid for before we ever stuck a shovel in the dirt,” Bridges said. “That means that our tuition hasn’t increased in six years.”
All of these renovations and new constructions are to update the whole campus environment. Administrative staff has placed an emphasis on the environment and the effects it has on students.
“We know that the environment in which students learn is important,” Bridges said. “Having not just functional facilities but facilities that create that sense of academics and learning and collegiality and collaboration with faculty and peers is all important. We’re trying to accomplish that through new construction and renovation.”
Bridges hopes to see more Student Life events and student organizations take advantage of the UC and its newly updated facilities.
“Our hopes and expectations are that students will be more comfortable hanging out and gathering in the University Center, whether it’s informal hanging out, or more formal studying or grabbing a bite to eat,” Bridges said. “We’re excited for the renovation of the University Center and the fact it is providing updated amenities to our student population. We know that environment matters and we want to provide the best environment possible to our students that lends to their success. This project is beneficial to the entire student body.”