On Friday, University of Central Arkansas President Lu Hardin unveiled preliminary plans for a new four-story residence hall that will house approximately 250 students in two, three and four-bedroom suites.
The new residence hall (which Hardin jokingly referred to as New, New Hall) will be located south of UCA?s New Hall and west of Mashburn Hall on Farris Road. Construction is set to begin early this summer.
The plans were unveiled at the Honor?s College annual Parent?s Day luncheon because the new residence hall, along with the existing New Hall, house Honors College students once construction is completed in the fall of 2005.
Honors College Director Rick Scott also announced that the two residence halls would be part of a planned Honors College Village, which may eventually include classroom space in a renovated Mashburn Hall.
?The administration is raising funds for a new facility for the College of Education,? Scott said. ?How quickly that will occur, I don?t know.?
Scott also confirmed rumors of a proposal for a newly constructed meeting hall that would be part of the village.
?There has been a suggestion of a meeting hall,? Scott said. ?A Norbert O. Schedler Meeting Hall. But we?d just call it ?The Sched.?
According to Scott, plans for the facility are currently being developed, but he speculated that it could be around 3,500 square feet and possibly a couple of stories tall.
?It would be the perfect place for some of our meetings including High Table, Soapbox,? he said. ?It would be the focal point of the village; a place where landmark events took place.?
-Jennifer Boyett
