Melissa Fose

SDSU Facilities and Services will renovate part of the Hilton M. Briggs Library this summer to make a new home for the Honors College.

The college will move from the Old Foundation Building on Medary Avenue to the library’s north window side where there will be a new classroom, resource room and dean and secretary offices waiting on the main floor.

“Instead of just a name, we’re giving [the college] a home,” said Dean Kattelmann, assistant vice president of facilities and services.

Renovations will begin once classes end in May and should be finished before students return in the fall. Honors College Dean Tim Nichols said the project will cost around $25,000 to $35,000.

Nichols said that the move “opens up a lot of exciting opportunities for Honors.” Along with the new office, the move offers “greater presence and visibility,” he said.

“I think the move to the library will make it feel like it’s more on campus,” said Elizabeth King, the president of the Honors College Student Organization.

The junior economics major said she is most excited for a “home-base feeling” for her college.

Nichols said that while a small share of students graduate with honors, about 350 students enroll in an honors course during an average year.

The resource room will be a multi-functional space for students and faculty, according to Nichols. The room will hold a book collection, examples of previous student work and other helpful materials for students and faculty.

Nichols hopes that it will be used as a place to hang out, complete homework and projects, welcome prospective students and host various group meetings, like HCSO. King said it would be nice to hold meetings in the Honors College office instead of at The Union.

“[It is] the first time that we’ve had a classroom for the Honors College,” said Kattelmann.

It will also be the only classroom in the library. Priority for classroom use will be given to honors courses, but Kattelmann said other classes might meet there, too.

Currently, the college shares a conference room and a secretary with other tenets of the Old Foundation Building. It was previously housed in the Administration building.

This project was a collaborative effort that started in the fall of 2008 by Provost and Vice President of Academic Affairs Carol Peterson. Peterson worked with Kattelmann, Nichols and Dean of Libraries David Gleim to develop the idea.

#1.881751:1729400090.jpg:Honors_College_Floor_Plan_Illust_MF.jpg:The SDSU Honors College’s new space will include a classroom, resource room and dean and secretary offices. Remodeling in Briggs Library will take place this summer.:Illustration by Melissa Fose