New student union vision is taking shape

As surely every UIS student knows,  we're going to build a new Student Union at UIS and this week, with the architects on campus,  the excitement has been visible everywhere.  There were 28 architectural firms that submitted proposals in response to the announcement of the UIS Student Union project and we are thrilled to have selected the partnership of Dewberry Architects (from Peoria, Illinois) and Workshop Architects (from Milwaukee, Wisconsin).   Jan van den Kieboom is the design principal for our project and he and his team are bringing a wealth of creativity, talent and experience to what will be the social heart of our campus and an architectural landmark for the Springfield community.  This week,  Jan and other team members spent many hours interviewing individual students and leading various groups of students, faculty and staff through an exciting series of planning exercises.  During the next several weeks,  they'll meld all of our ideas and needs into a coherent plan for the student union and then bring it back to campus for further refinement.  We're expecting to have architectural drawings by early Fall.  Thanks to all the members of our campus community who have participated in the Student Union planning process this week!