Southern University Establishes New Welcome Center on Main Campus

Southern University has made great additions to its main campus, with the most recent addition being the new Global Innovation and Welcome Center. Located near the security checkpoint on Harding Boulevard, this building would allow for a much easier process of welcoming guests and new students to campus. And with the opening of the building coming soon on the horizon, Mr. Huey Lawson, the Program Director of Title III Program Administration, provided insight on the purpose of the project.

“The Welcome Center is phase one of a two-part project, and it was paid for 100% by grants. No state funding, no student fees, or anything. It is totally funded through grants from the U.S. Department of Education. The welcome center will consist of two major entities. One includes a working space for the Department of Traffic and Parking. The other one is a large auditorium with meeting spaces and two working lobbies. The auditorium space for this building is scheduled to seat about 750 people. We don’t have a facility that size on campus. That’s larger than the Student Union and the Student Event Center, but smaller than the F.G. Clark Activities Center”, Lawson explains.

Students seem to be excited about the new renovations that are happening on campus, but expressed concerns about how well other students know what is going on.

“I like that we’re still adding to campus. I think it’s important to keep renovating and keeping it up to date,” said Freshman Civil Engineering major Keimisha Follie. Follie continued to express that “they should do more newsletters on those types of things. It has to be all over because some people don’t read their emails, or some people use Instagram.“

Biology Pre-Med major Layla Hemphill also expressed similar sentiments, saying, “It’s great to keep up with the times and add new buildings. We are tired of the same buildings. […] But they should tell us more about what it’s going to be. They don’t usually tell us things until the day of.”

Lawson goes on to explain that phase 2 of the facility is currently still under design, but would include a multi-story office and meeting room space. He says those spaces would house the Office of International Affairs, the Title 3 program, and possibly Mass Communications. When asked when this phase would be completed, Lawson says, “We hope that they have a design finished by late summer and groundbreaking shortly thereafter.”