UNF Breaks Ground on Student Success Center
UNF President Moez Limayem, Florida House Speaker Designate Sam Garrison and others delivered remarks.
“UNF’s newest expansion project is strategically designed with student success at its core,” said UNF President Moez Limayem. “The Student Success Center reflects UNF’s commitment to providing every Osprey with the advising and support resources they need to thrive academically and personally.”
UNF is grateful for the tireless effort from Speaker Designate Garrison, Senator Clay Yarborough, Representative Wyman Duggan and others for sponsoring the bill to fund the building and for the continued legislative support.
The Student Success Center will be positioned at the heart of UNF’s campus, between the Thomas G. Carpenter Library and Fine Arts Center. The three-story, 60,000-square-foot building will enhance student success by bringing essential academic services and vibrant study spaces together under one roof.
By consolidating the existing learning and advising centers into one location on campus, the Student Success Center will create a flexible, synergistic learning and studying environment that will encourage shared collaborative space among students and faculty. The building will house services including academic advising, student success, career services, tutoring, supplemental instruction, help centers such as the Writing and Math labs, collaborative study spaces, lounge areas and a full-sized Chick-fil-A. The former locations of these services will be repurposed.
The building exterior borrows from existing campus elements using University branding as well as extending the modern stone aesthetic along the western edge of campus and adjacent to the Carpenter Library. The interior design reflects unique materials and spatial moments reflective of an osprey nest and wing to reinforce the unique biodiversity and wetland habitat of campus.
The building is designed by Schenkel Shultz, a Central Florida architectural and interior design studio with deep collegiate design experience, and built by Ajax Building Company, the same company that built Osprey Ridge residence hall and Skinner-Jones Hall.
“This project presents an incredible opportunity to positively impact the student experience at UNF,” said Desai, design lead and partner at Schenkel Shultz. “We are excited to collaborate with the university to create a showcase space that fosters creativity, collaboration and personal growth among students.”
The project was made possible by PECO funding from the state legislature.