Established 2010 Location Valdosta, Georgia, USA Type of business Student Union | Director Robin Vickery Founded 2010 | |
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The Student Union of Valdosta State University serves as the social center of VSU and offers students a food court, bookstore, theater, game room, lounge space, and student organization offices.
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History
The original University Union, built in 1966, contained the University snack bar, book store, radio station WVVS, mail services, a swimming pool, the offices of the University Union Board, Student Government Association, the yearbook, and newspaper editorial offices. The school book store was latter relocated to a larger structure between S. Walter Martin Hall and the Special Education and Communication Disorders Building on the southern portion of the campus. A committee of students, faculty, and staff was formed in 2004 to study the possibility of opening a new Student Union. It was determined that the original facility was inadequate to serve Valdosta State University's growing student enrollment.
In 2008, after years of planning, construction began on a new facility to replace the outdated Union to better accommodate the growing student population of VSU. The construction of the facility was paid for through student fees. The old 35,000-square-foot (3,300 m2) Student Union and the old gymnasium were demolished to allow room for the construction of the 113,000-square-foot (10,500 m2), three story building. The facility opened on January 7, 2010 and a ribbon cutting ceremony was held January 19.
Facility Details
Features
The Student Union features a 305-seat theater with Dolby surround sound, a 10x17' movie screen, and convenience area outside the theater. A two-story, 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) VSU Bookstore is located inside the Student Union that features a technology shop and text books on the first floor and university merchandise on the second. A game room that offers pool tables, table tennis, board and card games, and video gaming systems is on the bottom floor. On the second floor is a food court that contains a Nathan’s Famous Hot-dogs, Starbucks Coffee, and a Chick-fil-A and features indoor and outside seating. On the third floor is a multi-Purpose Room with seating capacity for 540 persons and lecture seating capacity for 850 persons. The space can also be divided into three smaller rooms to host multiple events. A glass-walled, two-story rotunda serves as a lounge space with computer kiosks for students. The windows give students a view of Hopper Hall, Converse Hall and Odum Library. The Student Union also features space for student organizations with 24 suites that will accommodate student groups, and 6 meeting rooms.