The University of New Haven has new dormitory plans that will be ready and finished in fall 2014. With plans to house 350 to 400 students, this hall will be located on the southwest corner of UNH’s main campus near the Soundview Residence Hall and Kayo field.
“We know our students want to live on the main campus and that it’s important to them. So we want to meet the needs of students and the population. We want a new state of the art residence hall. This is important. Food, housing and safety are the things that students think about when looking at a school,” stated Rebecca Johnson, Dean of Students.
This hall is going to be a suite style building, designed so living-learning communities can function successfully. Some classrooms, a dining facility, practice rooms and student activity space are also being incorporated in the building. The first floor of the building will be for residents and the other parts are where the dining facility and classrooms will be. It is also planned to have an outdoor green space and outdoor sitting space.
James McCoy, the Vice President for enrollment management said, “The University of New Haven has become a resident campus and needs to provide quality housing for our students. This new residence hall is designed to house more students on campus. This has been a desire of ours for some time and we look forward to the ground breaking for the project. As any student who is interested in housing on campus knows we have a lottery system for the availability of rooms and at times everyone who wishes to live on campus can’t get a room. This new hall we will help more students achieve their desire to live on campus for their time at the university.”
When asked if students would ever want to live in this new residence hall, responses were positive. Sophomore Dana Suffolk, a communications major, said, “Yes I would love to live in the new building, but unfortunately by the time it will be finished, I will be starting my senior year, so I would probably want to live off campus. But I really like the idea of the outdoor green sitting space. The campus definitely needs more of that.”
It seems that the outdoor sitting space is a huge factor in attracting students to this new hall. Regarding all the residence halls that are already on campus, none of them have attractive greenery surrounding them. This will add a nice touch to campus, and will definitely attract more students.
The groundbreaking ceremony is planned for spring 2013. The goal is that there will be small communities within the larger communities, since it will be such a big hall. The University of New Haven is going for living-learning communities so the students can function successfully and prosper.
