The “topping off” event was celebrated by the campus community and dozens of people signed the beam before it was hoisted into place.

The four-story,150,000-square-foot is on track to open fall 2018 and will enhance learning and provide academic and career services to students. It will primarily serve undergraduate students on the Belknap Campus and will feature more than two dozen classrooms, as well as science labs and group study areas, gathering spaces and food service options.

“This building is vital for many reasons,” said Greg Postel, interim president. “It will provide the learning environment and the related services that will help drive our students’ success, both while they are undergraduates and after they have moved on to careers, families and positions of leadership in the community.”

A major part of the new structure will be a program that helps students align their abilities, academic degree and possibilities for future employment as part of their college success. The Career Development Center, open to all university students and housed in a building nearby, will be a partner in the programming for the new building. 

Jim Begany, Vice Provost for Strategic Enrollment Management and Student Success, lauded the planned focus for the building said it will help students “navigate any roadblock on their path to graduation.”

Student Government Association President Vishnu Tirumala said the building is “nothing short of transformative” for students, who want to see more innovative classrooms and labs. 

The Kentucky Legislature approved funding for the building in 2014 to address a significant lack of classroom space at UofL. According to a Kentucky Council on Postsecondary ����ֱ�� study, UofL had the most significant shortage of classroom space among all Kentucky’s public universities.

The new facility is being built on the site that previously housed the Crawford Gym. Built in the 1960s, Crawford once served as the practice facility for the UofL basketball and swimming programs and, later, as home to the College of ����ֱ�� and Human Development’s Department of Health and Sport Sciences. 

Postel thanked employees who have had an especially large role in the ongoing construction of the building including Physical Plant and Planning, Design and Construction.

Video from the ceremony is below: 

Workers are also busy on expanding Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium and building a new eight story pediatrics building in downtown Louisville on the Health Sciences Center campus.

“In total we have almost a quarter billion dollars worth of work that is involved with those four projects” said Jim Sears, associate vice president of facilities management. “And over the course of construction there will probably be the better part of 2,000 construction workers and their families that will benefit from this building investment. It is a very big deal.”

Check out the video below: 

Photo provided by Clyde Paul.

Among the biggest changes are the new construction projects happening around campus. Two new residence halls, University Pointe and The Nine, will begin housing students this semester. The luxury-style apartments will add about 800 beds within a block of campus. In addition, Crawford Gym will be demolished in order to make way for a new academic building, slated to open before the Fall 2018 semester. But perhaps the most ambitious project underway this semester is the renovation of the Student Activity Center, which will add thousands of square feet of meeting space and give the building a face lift in order to convert it into the “living room of campus.”

“Housing and common spaces like the SAC have a big impact on student involvement,” said engineering student Chris Bird. “The new facilities are going to make it much easier for students to come together and get involved on campus.”

Students can also expect to see some changes in how they navigate around the university. Warnock Street, which serves as the southern entrance to campus, has been renamed University Boulevard. The new flyover ramp joining Brook and Iowa Streets on the south end of campus has been christened the Brook Street Connector. In addition, the intersection of Floyd Street and East Brandeis Avenue at the northeast corner of campus has been converted into a roundabout.

Campus dining options have undergone a lineup change as well. With its new dining partner Aramark, UofL now features restaurants such as Greens to Go, Aqua Sushi, Mark’s Feed Store, City Café, Twisted Taco, Panda Express, two Starbucks and four P.O.D. Markets (Provisions on Demand). Papa John’s, McAlister’s, Einstein Bros., Tulip Tree Cafe, Wendy’s, Subway and Chick-fil-A will remain open, with the latter three now offering expanded menus.

In the classroom, students will begin to see more technology being incorporated into lesson plans, thanks to the opening of the Technology Innovation and Learning Lab (TILL) in the Ekstrom library. Run by the Delphi center, the TILL will allow instructors to try out new gadgets and techniques to help bring their teaching styles up to the cutting edge. To complement this, large lecture halls like those in Davidson, Strickler and Sackett have been outfitted with larger student desks featuring power outlets for charging their various devices.

In addition to these new sights around campus, UofL is also welcoming new leadership. Dr. Neville Pinto will serve as acting President of the university, following the departure of James Ramsey last month. Pinto will lead the university until the Board of Trustees selects a permanent president. English professor Dale Billingsley has stepped into Pinto’s former role as interim vice president and provost.

Cardinal Ambassador Rachel Casey is excited to start the school year at the improved Belknap campus. “When it’s all said and done, there’s not going to be another university on Kentucky that looks as good as ours,” she said.

This new chapter in UofL’s story began in late July when medical and dental students returned to the classroom. On Aug. 17, students will descend upon campus for the annual move-in. Undergraduate classes begin Aug. 22.