Maite Paez Rodriguez | Contributing Writer
Published May 23, 2015; 9:00 p.m.
Construction for the new Library and Academic Resources Center officially started on Thursday, May 21, after President James Evans and other Lindenwood officials shoveled dirt.
In the groundbreaking for the LARC, Library Services Dean Elizabeth MacDonald opened the ceremony to a crowd of more than 100 officials, professors, alumni and students and said it was a “truly historic event.”
The project, called Doors to the Future, arose from the combined efforts of the staff of Butler Library, Career Services, the Writing Center, Students and Academic Support Services, Office of International Students and Scholars, English as a Second Language, and Lindenwood Online as a means to “provide a great experience for our students,” said MacDonald.
She said that they still had homework to do even after the project was approved by Evans, involving field trips to other universities so officials could see physically and conceptually how it was done.
Evans said the LARC will be a “bench mark” for the university, the “academic and spiritual jewel of Lindenwood University.” Student Government Association President Samuel Rudloff said that the center will give the students the opportunity to advance personally.
Provost Jann Weitzel said the new generation expects and needs high technology classes and spaces and the LARC will be able to achieve that. Weitzel said the center will “truly be the heart” of the university with its multiple classrooms, 24/7 coffee shop, theater, library, writing center, multimedia lab and offices.
