North Quad: When can you see it?
The campus community and general public will be invited to an open house March 31, 2011. At that time most programs and spaces will be moved in and functioning. Watch the Record and Record Update for more information later on the special event.
Now that Ryan Burdock is settled in North Quad, the junior from Brighton, England, says he appreciates the international energy at the new residence hall and academic complex.
“I like that you have people from all over the world here,” said Burdock, an American Literature major, during a housewarming to celebrate the opening of the new building. “There are so many people I would have never met. It’s a new building and everybody is in the same boat. You can make friends real easily.”
Students, faculty and staff gather in North Quad’s new dining hall during a housewarming for the new residential and academic home.
The North Quad Residential and Academic Complex opened this month as a residence hall for 450 upper-level undergraduate students and a new hub for learning and collaboration. The red brick and stone complex, which features Art Deco lighting, archways and hardwood accents throughout, also is home to the School of Information and four academic units of LSA: Screen Arts and Cultures, Communications Studies, the Language Resource Center and the Gayle Morris Sweetland Center for Writing.
The Sept. 15 housewarming was billed as a time for students, faculty and staff, who are making North Quad their residential and academic home, to celebrate their place in history. North Quad is the first residence hall built at U-M since 1967, and its approach to living and learning is unique.
“The promise and potential of this spectacular facility is really quite limitless,” President Mary Sue Coleman said to the crowd of students, faculty and staff gathered in the hall’s new dining facility. “I think all of us are eager to see what unfolds in the upcoming months and years … in the classrooms, media labs, residence rooms and study spaces.”
Provost Phil Hanlon highlighted the building’s distinctive attributes: an upper class residence hall, spaces shared by academic programs from two colleges, the inclusion of two often-used academic support programs, and advanced technology throughout the building.
“The promise and potential of this spectacular facility is really quite limitless,” President Mary Sue Coleman said about North Quad. Below, Kyle Acuncius, a performance graduate student in the School of Music, Theatre & Dance, plays the marimba during the North Quad celebration. Photos by Paul Jaronski, U-M Photo Services.
“So what will you build with these pieces and this glue,” Hanlon asked? “What magical learning experiences, what unimagined programs and what innovative collaborations will you create in this space?”
Housing Director Linda Newman served as emcee for the brief program, and Vice President for Student Affairs E. Royster Harper welcomed participants to the event, including Regent Andrew Richner.
In her opening remarks, Harper talked about North Quad as a keystone of the university’s Residential Life Initiatives — a comprehensive plan to improve and expand the residential experience for U-M students, and to strengthen the connection between living and learning on campus.
“North Quad manifests that vision. It is designed to nurture the intellectual and social development of students beyond traditional classrooms and community spaces, and even beyond the boundaries of campus,” Harper said. “Here, we anticipate a seamless occurrence of deliberate and coincidental experiences that will advance students’ knowledge and appreciation of a diverse, multicultural world and prepare them for their roles as citizens in a global community.”
North Quad resident Tanya Zora, a senior and resident advisor in the Global Scholars Program, also spoke, calling North Quad the best place she has lived in her academic career. Like Burdock, Zora remarked that there are no strangers in this new, very friendly residence hall.
Emily Zylstra, a Perth, Australia, junior, says she, too, appreciates that she easily can meet new people at North Quad.
“Everyone is very friendly,” says Zylstra, who is majoring in law and political science. “All the study areas are great and it’s very social. There’s also Global Scholars. The students are older and they’re on the way to filling their degrees; they can help you out.”
Several students in attendance commented on the on-site state-of-the-art facilities.
“They have film production facilities downstairs and I’m a film production major so it’s cool to have that here,” says Ben Duchan, a Huntington Woods junior and film major.
The complex provides a focal point for international and intercultural programming.
Zach Ballert, a Commerce Township junior and LSA student, spends a lot of time at The Max Kade House, a U-M learning community for all students interested in German language and culture.
“I’m in the Max Kade (German residence) program, on the fourth floor. We have dinner together and we only speak German, and a coffee hour,” Ballert says. “We also watch (German) films.”
The Global Scholars Program is Dan DeLongchamp’s favorite part of living at North Quad.
“Students discuss issues of global imperative, I’m just amazed by the diversity,” says DeLongchamp, a LSA junior from Henley, Mich. “I also like the top-quality organic food, and the lounges.”
Many students at the reception said they are impressed with their living quarters.
“I like the rooms,” says Anna Krayushkina, a Bloomfield junior and LSA student. “There’s a lot of room organization, with the two double suites with a shared living area. It’s a beautiful building.”
There are many students who don’t live at North Quad, but like to study there.
“It’s real close to our houses,” says Matt Gilles, junior from Chicago and LSA major. “We like that there’s high-speed Internet. It’s scenic.”
Naples, Fla., junior Alan Gao, an actuarial mathematics major, agrees.
“It’s up to date, it’s classy. My dorm was really cluttered,” Gao says. “I really like the study areas here, and the outside areas.”
— Kevin Brown contributed to this report.
