Students living on campus have more options for unique learning environments than before as the University establishes two new residential colleges.
As part of Residential Life’s Master Plan, the new building complex under construction in the former location of North and South Graham halls will house the new global studies and business residential colleges.
The Graham Complex will also house a new freshman residential college replacing the one housed in Herget Hall. Herget will revert back to an all-female residence hall.
Steve Waller, Res Life associate director of facilities maintenance, said the Graham project is the “flagship of the Master Plan.”
“The new buildings will allow us to consolidate residential colleges in a state-of-the-art setting,” he said.
The former Graham complex, which was demolished in September 2004, consisted of two connected halls built in the 1960s.
“When we did our evaluations for the Master Plan,” Waller said, “[Graham was] not viable to spend money to upgrade to meet current-day standards and requirements. The decision was made to demolish them and build this college.”
The construction consists of two phases, totaling $42 million in costs, Waller said. The first phase will oversee the buildings that will house the business and global studies colleges, and the second phase will encompass the new freshman residential college and a faculty and residents administration building.
Waller said construction on the first phase will be completed by fall 2007 and the second by 2009.
Mimi LaValle, communications manager for Res Life, said students may begin enrolling in the global studies residential college for the upcoming fall semester.
“It’s really about coming a part of the global community,” LaValle said. “Like with all other residential colleges, you are exposed to people in various fields at LSU or in the community who are engaged in the theme of that college.”
Leonard Ray, director of the global studies college, said the program will allow students to internationalize.
“It’s going to offer them a unique living and learning environment focused on international events communication, and we intend to expose students to a wide variety of international experiences,” he said. “We’ll have a small number of courses specifically for students in the hall and co-curricular courses that will reinforce the curriculum.”
Ray said he is expecting 75 students to live in the college next year, including 25 international students. He said recruiting as many international students as possible is a goal for the college.
“This is a very exciting opportunity to be an innovative part of the effort to internationalize LSU,” he said.
LaValle said students participating in the global studies college can be any major.
While the global studies college will soon be up and running, the business college is still in the planning stages.
Kelli Wildman, undergraduate adviser for the E. J. Ourso College of Business, said nothing about the college has been “set in stone.”
“It’s at the very beginning stages for developing requirements, courses and the program,” she said. “We’re hoping to give students an opportunity to develop professionally through guest speakers and [Business Administration] 1000 classes for incoming freshmen who are beginning in the fall.”
The business residential college, Wildman said, will prepare students for the working world.
“We’re hoping to help our students make a smooth transition from academia to the work force,” she said. “It will give our students an edge when they graduate. We’ll develop skills through lecture series and relationships with academic programs abroad because we are in a global economy.”
Wildman also said the residential college will help students better connect with the Ourso College by taking classes usually held in the Quad and moving them closer to CEBA.
 
Contact Parker Wishik at pwishik@lsureveille.com