Source: Athens Banner-Herald 

By Lee Shearer

The University of Georgia now has room for nearly 1,000 more students this fall.

UGA President Jere Morehead and other university officials filled the lobby of 960-bed Russell Hall Wednesday morning to rededicate the 51-year-old Baxter Street high-rise residence hall, which has been home to tens of thousands of UGA first-year students after opening in 1967.

Russell was empty of students last year, though, as workers with Atlanta’s Juneau Construction gave the building an overhaul budgeted at about $44.5 million, all from surplus funds generated by UGA auxiliary services such as housing, meal services, parking and the UGA golf course..

The university staged a ceremonial ribbon-cutting, then gave tours for the crowd of about 100 UGA officials, members of the contracting and architecture firms involved, and others.

Video of new renovations taken by Athens Banner-Herald

Russell is the university’s main residence hall for first-year students, who are required to live on campus at UGA. When classes begin Aug. 13, about one in six of them will be in Russell.

After a record year of students seeking admission, the university once again has its most academically qualified freshman class ever, Morehead said in Wednesday’s brief ceremony.

UGA grew by more than 1,000 students last year. Fall semester enrollment was 37,606, up from 36,574 a year earlier, according to University System of Georgia statistics.

Morehead also spoke of Russell Hall’s increased energy efficiency, new furnishings, and “enhanced” learning and living environments.

With the new “Russell Market” food vending area and library-like study spaces, students won’t have to trek over to the Miller Learning Center, said Katharine Do, who’d lived here as a freshman two years ago and is now coming back as a junior and a resident assistant, employed by the UGA housing department to help the new students negotiate their first year in college.

Another young woman who’d lived here as a freshman two years ago and was returning to live in Russell could hardly believe it was the same place, taking special note of the color schemes differentiating floors.

“It’s really crazy, and I really love it,” she said.

Russell’s dorm rooms are still dorm rooms, though now they come with a small refrigerator and a microwave oven. There’s a door on one end of the room, a window on the other, and on each side a loft bed with a small desk and storage underneath.

But now the building features more inviting areas where the new students can gather in small and larger groups to study, watch TV, cook or wash clothes in brightly lit, open and centrally located spaces.

Such shared spaces build community, said Victor Wilson, UGA vice president for community affairs.

Move-in at Russell and other UGA residence halls begins Sunday.

 

Original Article: Athens Banner-Herald