![\"Student](\"http:\/\/webapp2.wright.edu\/web1\/newsroom\/files\/2015\/08\/student-success-center-16096-2532.jpg\")
<\/a>Wright State\u2019s new Student Success Center features high-tech, active-learning classrooms, writing and math support labs and an outdoor rain garden.<\/p><\/div>\n
More than 90 percent of the classrooms were in use from 9 a.m. to 6:30 p.m., forcing some classes to be scheduled as early as 8 a.m. and as late as 8 p.m. And 50-student classes were sometimes held in rooms that seated 100, destroying the intimate setting that fosters learning.<\/p>\n
In addition, academic support such as advising, writing and math services were scattered all over campus, making it inconvenient for students and less likely that the services would be used.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe idea was to build one building that would house gateway freshman classes and have all of the academic support for them at the same place,\u201d said Sudkamp. \u201cThat became the vision for the building. It made sense to me. I don\u2019t know of any other institutions that have done this.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 67,000-square-foot building features oceans of open study space, including broad-shouldered hallways and corners populated with whiteboards as well as comfortable chairs and benches. Students who want to meet with team members following classes can slip into \u201chuddle\u201d spaces \u2014 small glass-enclosed rooms outfitted with tables and chairs.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are going to be a lot of students in here at one time,\u201d said Brad Bubp, senior facilities planner. \u201cSo these hallways are an extended learning space. The meandering corridor gives you all kinds of nooks and crannies, and that\u2019s on purpose.\u201d<\/p>\n
The front entrance is designed to be a hangout spot for students. It features limestone benches, planters and a switchback wheelchair ramp.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the first impression of Wright State a lot of students are going to have,\u201d said Bubp.<\/p>\n
Designing the center was Annette Miller Architects, a Dayton firm that has designed numerous Wright State buildings and has also done projects at The Ohio State University, Miami University and the University of Cincinnati.<\/p>\n
\u201cI tip my hat to the architects. They have done an excellent job in creating that comfortable atmosphere for students to be able to congregate and study,\u201d said Sudkamp. \u201cWherever you are in the building, you have lots of natural light.\u201d<\/p>\n
The architects used 3-D modeling to position the building at an angle that maximizes its exposure to sunlight. The structure features shading fins and about 1,200 exterior glass units. There is extra insulation in the roof, which is white to reflect heat.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Wright State will dedicate the Student Success Center with a ceremony on Friday, Oct. 9, at 1 p.m.<\/p><\/div>\n
Inside, the building features a 220-seat auditorium and four active-learning classrooms \u2014 two seating 108 each, one seating 126 and one seating 180.<\/p>\n
The classrooms are honeycombed with large circular desks outfitted with computer stations \u2014 more than 700 laptops in all. Fist-gripping the walls are whiteboards and video screens.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe faculty are changing the curricula to generate more active student participation, and this will get students more engaged in their classes, which is going to help them through the challenging freshman-year courses,\u201d said Sudkamp.<\/p>\n
When the instructor projects a problem on the screens, the teams of students will huddle at the desks \u2014 discussing, arguing, analyzing, tearing into it with an intensity not normally seen in conventional passive-learning classrooms.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the only building in the state that is totally dedicated to active-learning pedagogy,\u201d said Sudkamp.<\/p>\n
The classrooms have card scanners so that attendance is automatically taken when students \u201cswipe in.\u201d And the building, which can accommodate up to 2,000 students at a time, has 84 wireless hotspots, designed to support each student with a laptop, tablet and smartphone.<\/p>\n
The building\u2019s walls and floors are bristling with electrical outlets so students can recharge their electronic devices. The water fountains feature water bottle-filling stations, and extra space was built into the restrooms for wheelchair turns.<\/p>\n
The floors are polished concrete. Walls are clad in porcelain ceramic tile. A majority of the materials came from within a 500-mile radius, and about 75 percent of the construction waste was diverted from landfills to recycling and efficient construction methods.<\/p>\n
The building\u2019s top floor offers a sweeping view of central campus. Down below, a tunnel connects the building to University Hall. There is a vending area next to an inviting outdoor courtyard with tables and umbrellas.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe courtyard is one of those places that is outside but still feels like a room,\u201d said Tim Littell, assistant dean for programming at University College<\/a>. \u201cTo me, it\u2019s another one of those informal spaces that students, faculty and staff can gather.\u201d<\/p>\n The Math Learning Center helps prepare students for required math courses with tutoring and online learning resources. An estimated 1,500 students will use the center\u2019s Math Studio this fall, many of them taking classes and tests.<\/p>\n At the Writing Center, staffers help students who are working on papers organize their thoughts and provide writing tips. The center features computers and tables with yellow, acrylic-type surfaces that can be written on.<\/p>\n More than 350 students are hired each term to tutor students or help them with writing and math.<\/p>\n \u201cThey are very good at what they do,\u201d Littell said. \u201cThey get the students excited and over the hump.\u201d<\/p>\n The building is open to all students. For example, the Writing Center serves everyone from freshmen working on class papers to graduate students working on Ph.D. dissertations.<\/p>\n Said Littell, \u201cSome of them come into the Math Learning Center and say, \u2018I don\u2019t know if I need any help right now, but I\u2019m comfortable with doing homework right here. So I\u2019m just going to sit here and do my homework. If I need something, I\u2019ll raise my hand.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Vinyl wraps bring the walls to life with abstract kaleidoscopic images created from photos of campus buildings such as the Joshi Center, the Student Union and Dunbar Library.<\/p>\n \u201cThe idea was to make an interactive type of thing that you don\u2019t immediately recognize and have to figure out,\u201d said Stephen Rumbaugh, Wright State graphic design strategist. \u201cThe other point of it was to bring campus indoors.\u201d<\/p>\n Students seem to like being in the building, which is a stone\u2019s throw from the Student Union, the social hub of the campus.<\/p>\n On one day, students Chelsea Judd and Emily Martin were sitting in chairs in a hallway study space tucked into one corner of the building. On the table they shared, soft-drink cups and sandwich wrappers snuggled up to their laptops.<\/p>\n \u201cI like it,\u201d said Judd, a social work major from Dayton. \u201cIt\u2019s very fresh, clean and all brand new. I feel like it creates a good environment. It\u2019s very inviting. I would choose this over other buildings to study.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cI like the different study areas,\u201d added Martin, a nursing major from Dayton. \u201cThey seem open. And I like being able to see outside.\u201d<\/p>\n Sudkamp hopes the Student Success Center and campus-wide initiatives to assist students making the transition to college will help boost second-year retention by as much as 10 percent within a few years.<\/p>\n Littell said the center is a hub for student success that creates an exciting culture of learning.<\/p>\n \u201cI like the idea that students will be in a building in which they are pursuing an education that will serve them for a lifetime, that will sustain them in the same way this building was built to sustain the environment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Wright State\u2019s new Student Success Center features high-tech, active-learning classrooms, writing and math support labs and an outdoor rain garden that underscores the building\u2019s environmental embrace. Continue reading