YEAR IN REVIEW Gonzaga successfully hosted the first two rounds of the NCAA women’s basketball tournament in the McCarthey Athletic Center.
V - A FOOTPRINT FOR THE FUTURE
on benefactors’ timing and support. In preparation, the University
Gonzaga’s leaders have begun to imagine and plan a new
has broken ground across the street from the COG parking lot on a
University Center to transform the University during this
four-story parking garage entailing a retail center on the ground
fascinating and fast-paced 21st century. Think of an academic,
floor. During the center’s construction, the parking garage’s
social and faith-filled crossroads that will serve students’ needs
ground floor will serve as an interim dining hall. The city of
in a future not yet defined. Think of a hub at the heart of campus
Spokane required new parking as a condition of permitting
where students want to be and where they interact with one
the University Center; the garage is funded partially through
another and their professors. Imagine a series of flexible spaces,
benefaction.
studios or tinker boxes for research partners, spaces intimate
Tomorrow’s technology will animate the University Center,
or spacious, for groups large and small, formal and informal,
streaming life and learning from across the world onto a
to discuss, perform, reflect, converse and make community. A
window-wall that may plunge Gonzaga students onto the
building that teaches engineering students how buildings function.
streets and universities of Calcutta, Seoul, Beijing, Cairo.
Places to enjoy the arts. Places to watch and learn. Conference
Interactive global learning will be an integral part of Gonzaga
spaces. A multi-faith prayer chapel; a powerful city of learning;
students’ daily experience. Digital media spaces will connect
a window on the world; a global portal on campus. A magnet for
students to learning in and outside of classrooms, anywhere
students and faculty alike.
in the world. The learning and interactive capacities of the
With such a University Center, “We have the chance to change the
University Center should exceed or be equal to any of Gonzaga’s
look and feel of this campus for the next 100 years,” said David
peer institutions.
Lindsay, student activities director.
Students surveyed about their perceptions of space needs on
The new University Center will replace Gonzaga’s COG, the
campus made clear that Gonzaga’s mission and faith ought to
58-year-old dining center, which is by now completely outgrown,
be obvious upon entering the University Center. A chapel for
and the COG’s parking lot. The beginning of construction depends
prayer and reflection ought to welcome all faiths. University Ministry will be located in the center with a strong presence.
14
Law School’s 2012 Linden Cup
Monsieree de Castro (’14)