Renovation on the Nugent building finished last week, bringing a welcome new home for the centers for Native American Student Affairs, Multicultural Affairs, Asian Pacific American Student Affairs and parts of the Office of Admissions.
The redone Nugent building will also be home to a new Office of Student Computing Resources computer lab on the ground floor.
Karen Begay, the director of NASA, said her group started moving Thursday from its current place in Old Main to the new location, and it will reopen again tomorrow.
“”Our first priority was to increase the student usage areas. We needed more space for students to come and gather and participate in all the things the centers have to offer,”” Begay said.
NASA will be located upstairs, while the multicultural directors, the APASA center and the computer lab will be on the first floor. The basement will be home to some administrative employees of the Office of Admissions, Begay said.
The director said the Nugent building also comes equipped with a common multipurpose room for workshops or meetings, designed so the organizations won’t have to reserve space in the Student Union Memorial Center or other classroom buildings.
NASA plans to hold a blessing ceremony, meant to bestow harmony and protection on the new building, at 10 a.m. Saturday in the east Nugent courtyard.
Begay said her group was excited to go back to the Nugent building, where it had been prior to its temporary stay in Old Main.
“”It’s always been home for us, so it’s nice to know that we’re going back to our original homeplace,”” Begay said.
Both NASA and APASA operate a joint computer lab in Old Main, which will be dissolved after the move.
Begay said the decision to switch to a university-run lab in the Nugent building was difficult but necessary, because the current lab is such a drain on the groups’ resources.
Limell Lawson, director of OSCR, said she plans for the new computer lab to be up and running in the first week of October.
The Nugent lab will function exactly as every other OSCR lab, except it will not take part in any free-printing promotions.
All of the lab’s computers, mostly Windows-based with some Macintosh, will be completely new. The entire building will also sport a wireless Internet connection, Lawson said.
Our first priority was to increase the student usage areas. We needed more space for students to come and gather and participate in all the things the centers have to offer.
– Karen Begay, director of NASA
While the Nugent building will become a hub for multicultural students, the OSCR lab inside will be open to all students.
“”Any student who walks in will be welcome,”” Lawson said.
Christine Nguyen, a physiology senior, said she has been involved with the APASA center since it had been in the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Student Center, and she believes leaving Old Main will be a positive change.
“”I was not as receptive to the move here as I am to the Nugent one,”” Nguyen said.
Dan Xayaphanh, the coordinator of APASA, said his group will shut down next week and plans to reopen in its new location Sept. 25.
Nguyen said she hopes a location near the middle of campus will help attract new students to APASA as well as encourage those who do currently use the center to keep coming.
Begay said the renovated Nugent is a good place to put any organization’s headquarters.
“”Ideally, any student service is central,”” Begay said.
