What’s going on with the old library?

During the summer, construction began on the old library located in the Losee Center in order to transform it into the future headquarters for Student Services. The building will be renamed the Losee Center for Student Success.

Services that will be moving to the new center will be the General Advisement Office, Prospective Student Office, career and academic counseling, UV Mentors, volunteer and service learning, and the leadership and honors programs.

These groups advise students, helping them to realize their goals in education and to focus in the right direction toward their future careers.

According to Cory Duckworth, vice president of student affairs, UVU loses 50 percent of its first year students. They are hoping with the new student success center that retention will increase to 75 percent.

With all the student services in one common area, it will be easier for students to find help easily. “The idea behind the Center of Student Success is to bring several of the programs on campus that work on this issue of retention rate together into one physical location,” said Duckworth. He is also hoping the center will be able to hire more faculty and inspire more students to finish their degree at UVU.

Along with student services moving to the building, it will have other features as well. A student commons area and a food service station are planned to be at the fourth level near the hallway of the Computer Science Building. There will also be a career library on the same floor.

A hosting room for new students and their parents to come and learn about the school is being built along with interview rooms for employers interviewing students on campus.

On the third floor, accessibility services will be available. Also, the old elevators will be taken out and replaced with one new elevator that will go through all four floors and meet ADA standards.

The leftover space from Career and Academic Counseling when they move to their new area will be used to expand the Multicultural and International Student Center.

Construction will end around March or April 2009. In the meantime, the building will be completely closed off. Students will have to use the outside walkways or the hallways in the Business Building to the Sparks Automotive Building to walk through the east side of campus.