Separated by a brisk ten-minute walk, LSU Career Service’s two sometimes-hard-to-find locations will soon move into one centralized venue in the heart of campus.
The Olinde Career Center, scheduled to open in fall 2013, will occupy most of the former bookstore on the Student Union’s first and second floors, merging the physically divided organization into one building for the first time in its more than 25-year existence.
Currently, Career Services operates out of two locations: the first floor of Patrick F. Taylor Hall and the basement of Coates Hall.
“Students have described the Coates Hall location as a
dungeon, and employees have expressed a tremendous need for improved facilities,” said Career Services Director Mary Feduccia.
For years, architects have fine-tuned designs for the career center. Now that the bookstore has moved across the street, construction will begin shortly after the contracting bids go out in early February, Feduccia said.
“The Union is considered the living room of campus,” she said. “Right now there are more than 15,000 visitors in the Union every day — virtually every one of those [visitors] will be seeing the career center.”
Most of the student and employment services, as well as administrative offices, will move into the first floor, and at least 20 interview rooms, a smart classroom and several conference rooms will fill in the second floor space.
Apparel design and merchandising students will draft plans for a more dynamic “Dress For Success” display than the current one located in Patrick F. Taylor Hall, Feduccia said.
Student fees did not rise to fund the $8.6 million project, and Career Services has almost fulfilled its $3.35 million funding obligation, mostly thanks to the Olinde family who contributed $1.5 million.
The remaining funds will come out of the Student Union’s budget, including additional funding for several retail stores, as well as relocating Campus Federal and moving the third floor computer lab to the first floor for improved student access, said Kurt Caillouet, facilities director for Auxiliary Services.
In a separate project, the Union’s southwest plaza, located across the street from Howe-Russell Geoscience Complex, will receive crescent-shaped brick walls with built-in benches and some landscaping work, said Dennis Mitchell, landscape design manager for Facility Services.
Merritt McDonald Construction, Inc. placed the low bid of $57,000 for the project.
Landscaping and construction should begin in about a month and finish up by the end of the spring semester, Mitchell said.
