Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - KSU to name rec center for former president

KENNESAW — With approval from a state board, Kennesaw State University can get to work on a recreation center that will be named for a longtime school president.

Earlier this week, the University of Georgia System Board of Regents approved construction of the $38.7 million Dr. Betty L. Siegel Student Recreation and Activities Center. The 176,000-square-foot facility, an expansion of an existing 55,000-square-foot recreation center, will be named for Siegel, who served as KSU president from 1981 until 2006.

“Most of the existing one is going to be renovated, and the rest is going to be built around it,” KSU spokesman Robert Godlewski said.

Construction on the new recreation center is expected to begin in early 2013 and looks to be completed in time for the fall 2014 semester. KSU Vice President for Student Success Jerome Ratchford said that naming the building for Siegel was a “collective” idea in line with honoring Siegel’s philosophy of helping students in ways other than just inside the classroom.

“It will enhance our recruitment,” Ratchford said. “It will enhance our retention of students.”

Ratchford said the facility at the campus of 24,100 will serve as a place that will make students feel more like they are at home.

“It will compare very, very favorably, if not in a superior capability, to what other schools have,” he said.

The recreation center will include two swimming pools — one indoor competition pool and one outdoor leisure pool — along with one outdoor and four indoor basketball courts, a weight training area, eight tennis courts, a rock climbing wall, an indoor track and a “multi-activity court” large enough to host indoor soccer play. It will also include racquetball and sand volleyball courts.

Siegel was the first woman to lead a University System of Georgia institution, overseeing KSU’s growth from a campus of 4,000 students offering 15 undergraduate degrees to an 18,000-student university with 55 undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

Since her retirement in 2006, Siegel started a nonprofit foundation for global ethical leadership. In March, she was presented with the Elridge McMillan Award by the University System of Georgia Foundation for her lifetime work in support of higher education.

Siegel was out of the office and could not be reached for comment Thursday. In a statement, she said, “I am deeply honored to have this new facility named for me. For the 25 years I served as president of KSU, I enjoyed the unwavering support of family, the students, staff and administration of KSU, and this extraordinary community. I share this moment with them all.”

Read more: The Marietta Daily Journal - KSU to name rec center for former president

 

ATHENS - The Board of Regents for the University System of Georgia Wednesday approved 17 construction projects at campuses around the state. They include an expansion of UGA’s Terry School of Business and the Marcus Nanotechnology program at Georgia Tech. The Board of Regents signed off on the Terry College of Business Learning Center. Tom Jackson, vice president for public affairs at the University of Georgia, says the building will include faculty offices and classroom space in the heart of campus.

He says “This is the first building in what will be several buildings for a new campus for the Terry College of Business. It’s 35 million dollars. It’s entirely private donations from supporters of Terry College. And we expect to have a groundbreaking on that project in the spring.”

Jackson says private donations were key to several of the projects.

“The state funds some buildings, but most of our projects have internally-generated revenue or private funding as a component. It’s a way to move projects forward in what otherwise is a tough economic time.” he says.

The Board of Regents also approved 12.8 million dollars in renovations to the Health Sciences campus at UGA. And the Board approved renovation of an old Navy barracks into student housing on the Health Sciences campus.

It appointed a construction management firm for the Marcus Nanotechnology program at Georgia Tech.

And the Board also approved expansion of the student recreation and activity center at Kennesaw State University.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports about a dozen students briefly disrupted the Board of Regents meeting. They were protesting a policy that bans illegal immigrants from the state’s top colleges. They also want UGA to stop using a coal-fired boiler.