U of I Board of Trustees approves UIS Student Union project and design

The University of Illinois Board of Trustees gave project and design approval for a proposed student union on the Springfield campus on Jan. 23, 2014. The approval allows officials to continue planning and fundraising for the new facility.

The proposed student union would be the first on the Springfield campus, and is needed to fill a void that officials say has grown since UIS became part of the University of Illinois in 1995. The campus was originally founded in 1969 as Sangamon State University, catering to upperclassmen and graduate-level students, but is now a traditional four-year school that lacks a centerpiece of campus life that student unions provide at most colleges across the nation.

Design plans developed by Dewberry Architects of Peoria and Workshop Architects of Milwaukee propose a two-story, 50,000-square foot student union that would anchor the campus’s south quad. The proposed $21.7 million facility would include restaurants, social and study space, and larger areas for student and campus events.

For more information on the student union, visit www.uis.edu/studentunion/.