Academic Building V Breaks Ground

Construction is under way for Academic Building V, which will be Sam Houston State University's largest academic facility. Participating in the groundbreaking ceremony were, from left, John de Castro, dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences; Tricia Pollard, member of the SHSU board of regents; Jim Gaertner, SHSU president; Charles R. Matthews, chancellor of the Texas State University System; Magdalena Manzano, student regent and SHSU student; and David Payne, provost and vice president for academic affairs.

The College of Humanities and Social Sciences, along with administrators, faculty and staff members, and students, celebrated the groundbreaking of Academic Building V and its prospect in the future of Sam Houston State University on Friday (June 8) morning.

“Beautiful buildings like this one we break ground on today are catalysts for the realization of dreams,” said Texas State University System chancellor Charles R. Matthews. “They enable us to move beyond all boundaries into a bright future.

“Today we celebrate the groundbreaking of a new building, but more importantly, we celebrate the physical home for an exciting intellectual endeavor to provide the future leaders of our great state of Texas.”

The tentatively-named Academic Building V is a part of an over $200 million construction program that has taken place at Sam Houston State over the past five years.

When complete, ABV will be the largest academic building on campus, with almost 150,000 square feet of classroom, faculty office, student support and administrative space.

The 13 classrooms will provide 1,434 seats in small seminar rooms for graduate programs and two large auditoriums, according to university president Jim Gaertner.

“I’m fairly certain that it was Winston Churchill who said that ‘We shape our buildings and then they shape us,’” he said.

“I do believe that this building was shaped and designed largely in congruence with the values that we hold dear at this grand old university,” he said. “Values such as academics first, a genuine and deep-felt care for the welfare of our students and a desire to provide the best support systems possible for our faculty, our staff and our students.”

More than 10,000 square feet in the building will be devoted to a new Student Advising and Mentoring Center, almost doubling its current space in Academic Building IV.

“Our nationally-award winning SAM Center has undoubtedly been a tremendously important component of a campus-wide effort that has resulted in our freshman-to-sophomore retention rate increasing by 10 percent over the past 5 years,” Gaertner said. “We throw out that 10 percent number pretty easily, but we have about 4,000 students in our freshman classes, and if we retain an additional 10 percent each year, that’s an additional 400 students year after year after year.”

In addition, the building will house a new Teaching Enhancement Center that will provide innovative programs for faculty and students and will be equipped to allow distance technology, “with one very special classroom on the first floor that has been designed as a model for the future in this regard,” according to Gaertner.

“This is a dream come true for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences,” said CHSS dean John de Castro. “This building will encapsulate all the components that go into making a great university.”

“Nelson Mandela once said that “’education is the most powerful weapon which we can use to change the world,’” de Castro said. “In this new building, we will be arming the next generation.”

Also relocating to ABV will be the departments of political science, psychology, and sociology and the college dean’s suite, as well as Accounts Payable, the Business Office, Human Resources, Payroll and Purchasing.

The building, designed by WHR Architects, Inc., and to be constructed by SpawGlass Construction Corp., has a budget of $30 million. It is scheduled to be completed in the fall of 2008.

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SHSU Media Contact: Jennifer Gauntt
June 8, 2007
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