The grassy area where commencement was held at Oregon State University-Cascades in June is a circle of calm in a turbulent sea of construction.

Excavators are digging up dirt from the former landfill on the Bend campus where it is expanding, while other crews are working on a future student success center building, putting up drywall and painting walls.

The campus’ student success center, funded by both student fees and the state Legislature, is five months from completion. Land remediation efforts on the rest of the former landfill and pumice mine continue apace.

The student success center will serve as a place for students to relax, receive academic counseling and health services, connect with student government and more. The expansion overall is set to become an innovation district for the university.

“We’ve moved probably a million cubic yards of waste and soil in order to take that area of campus and make it clean so we can actually build something there,” said Jarrod Penttila, associate director for capital planning and construction for the university.

Cozying up by the fire

The student success center will embody the Danish and Norwegian concept of hygge, or coziness, contentment and friendliness, said Penttila.

The two-story center will have student life offices, a pantry for student use, a cafe, student disability offices, academic advising, veterans support, an event space and more.

“They’re finishing putting drywall on walls and starting to paint walls,” said Penttila. “We’re heading toward a January 7th ribbon cutting. By November, it should be largely done and we’re putting the final little touches on.”

The project cost between $20 million to $22 million, with $14 million in support coming from the state Legislature and $5 million from student fees, said Penttila. It broke ground in October.

Students voted in 2017 to begin raising student fees so they could raise money for the center.

“The dining hall has been one of the only student-focused spaces that we’ve had on campus,” he said, noting that the new center will be another space for students to congregate and relax.

Penttila is also excited that the center will have a lounge commons downstairs and a study commons upstairs, so students can work together on group projects. Students have given a lot of feedback throughout the process, he said.

“It’ll also have a fireplace in there, and students are here through some of the colder months, and (we) really thought that was a key element,” he said. “Fire…really helps people open up and make bonds.”

The current land remediation project is the second for the university overall, though the first for the future innovation district. Dug-up waste was moved to the northwest corner of campus, which will be turned into parking lots, recreation and sports fields.

The university will seek support from the state Legislature during the next legislative session for the next phase of remediation, which would prepare land for the health and recreation center and a new residence hall. The project is projected to cost $84 million.

“(The health and recreation center) is kind of one of the last key parts of campus that’s missing right now,” he said.

Engaged in the campus

Katie Wilson, associate dean of student life, is pleased all of her staff will be working in the same building instead of scattered around campus. The academic advising staff will also be in the center. Overall, Wilson said the center will improve the student experience.

“Cascades is small enough that we all work very collaboratively all the time, and I think being under one roof accelerates that even more,” said Wilson.

The center will include several offices for clubs and activities to get students involved on campus, as well as support services for underrepresented students. There will also be a kitchenette for student use.

Students who are engaged in a student organization, get internships and generally participate in the life of the university graduate at higher rates and gain more of the skills employers want, said Wilson.

“(I hope) that it facilitates an easier process of getting to know other students, feeling like you’re part of the community, feeling like they belong,” said Wilson. “This space is designed to bring a lot of that stuff together.”

Raising funds

Whitney McFarlane, incoming student government president, said watching the construction on campus has made students excited for the new center.

“I think a lot of students really appreciate that they were involved in making some of the decisions for this building, including exploring different designs,” she said. “We had a couple events that were completely based on students’ opinions towards the building.”

McFarlane, 20, is studying political science and social science. She joined the student government, the Associated Students of Cascades Campus, because she was interested in law and government when in high school.

She’s looking forward to being able to expand services into a new space that is meant for students. One aspect of that is moving and expanding the student food pantry into a room that is solely for the pantry.

“I think this is going to allow us to have a space that will be super accessible for students to come shop for all the food items they need, and it’s going to allow us to expand our inventory and our being able to offer more food supplies going forward,” said McFarlane.

McFarlane is grateful for past students who contributed fees to the center.

“Their efforts made it super possible for us to secure this funding for the building, even though it was still kind of a far look into the future for them,” she said. “Being able to contribute to something that you as a student in 2017 wouldn’t even be able to experience until after graduating is a really incredible commitment.”

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