After months of brainstorming, negotiating and designing, solid plans are in the works

Since the year 2004, after the final renovations of Old Main were nearly completed, Gustavus began planning to make way for a brand new academic building, as well as a complete renovation of the A.H. Anderson Social Science Center (SSC). Although plans have yet to be finalized, construction of the building is tentatively scheduled for a reason.

SSC served as Gustavus’ library from 1948 until 1972, when the Folke Bernadotte Memorial Library we know today was completed. The SSC currently houses the departments of Psychology, History, sociology and Anthropology and economics and managing.

“The planning for this project began in earnest in the fall of 2004 as the renovation plans for Old Main were being finalized,” Warren Wunderlich, the of the physical plant said. According to Wunderlich, then-Dean John Mosbo assembled a committee consisting of the 10 academic chairs who chose the five departments that would occupy the new academic building: economics and management, history, psychology, sociology and anthropology and communication studies.

“In the fall of 2007, another committee selected architects and engineers to design the building and worked with the designers over the next two years planning the building,” Wunderlich said.

The committees have come a long way in the last six years in preparing for the completion of this new building.

“At this time, the administration is preparing an application to the State of Minnesota’s Higher Education Facilities Authority for a low-interest bond. At the same time, we are working with our contractor on getting ready for ground breaking this spring,” Wunderlich said.

The committee is hoping to improve upon the past SSC by creating a plan that maximizes space, sustainability, and technology. Such improvements are necessary to remain in keeping with modern times. “I don’t think future Gusties want just adequate or average academic buildings,” Sophomore History Major Rikka Holiday said.

The SSC is currently the highest density building on campus, as it is home to one of the largest departments on campus, economics and management. Because the building was originally designed to house the library, it can often be a confusing building to venture into. Many students and faculty who learn and work within the SSC agree with Wunderlich that the classrooms are “overcrowded and inflexible.”

“The SSC building is way too confusing,” First-year Psychology Major Lyra Anderson said, “It’s really hard to figure out where you are most of the time so hopefully the new academic building will be more organized and nicer.”

As a part of Commission Gustavus 150, which was enacted by President Jack Ohle, “the funding and construction of the ‘New Academic Building’” was listed as one of the highest priorities under “Tangible Resources” on the Gustavus website indicating that this new academic building is very important to the college in maintaining a reputation of being technologically progressive.

The new academic building is currently without a name, which, according to Wunderlich is in keeping with tradition. “If you looked at the construction drawings for most of the college’s buildings, they would say something like ‘New Men’s Residence Hall’ or ‘Gymnasium’ (Johnson Student Union), so ‘New Academic Building’ is not unusual,” said Wunderlich, “They usually get named by the time they are dedicated, although Norelius Hall is still called ‘Co-Ed’ by a generation or so of alums, and the predecessor to the Jackson Campus Center waited about 40 years to shake ‘Food Service Building,’” Wunderlich said.