It’s not just the sparkling dining facility – with its individual stations offering meal choices to suit every taste – that makes the newly opened University Center special.
It’s not just the meeting rooms, the student-centered office space, the Jamba Juice and Qdoba restaurants, or the comfortably furnished living room, all encompassed in 108,000 square feet over four floors.
What best defines the University Center, at the heart of campus overlooking Ball Circle, is its universal purpose. It’s everybody’s.
Vice President for Student Affairs Juliette Landphair reminded those assembled for the center’s dedication Sept. 17 that Mary Washington was founded on democratic principles, to prepare women to teach in public schools. As the single-sex teachers’ college expanded, integrated, became coeducational, and transformed into a premier liberal arts and sciences university, UMW’s democratic mission has strengthened.
The new building “continues the important institutional theme of democratic purpose,” Landphair said.
President Richard V. Hurley expanded on that thought. The University Center “will not only serve as a ‘home’ where students can relax, gather, and dine, but it will foster greater levels of student engagement, a broader range of activities, and support for career development and planning,” he said. “We can all be proud of what the University Center represents – the heart of UMW.”
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- The University Center is at the heart of campus, overlooking Ball Circle.
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- Students can dine or socialize al fresco at the UC patio.
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- Most students skip the elevator and take the stairs to the fourth-floor dining facility.
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- The building provides plenty of space for studying between classes.
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- Students walk past the University seal in the lobby.
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- The retail restaurants are popular choices.