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Highsmith University Union
The Highsmith University Union, opened in
August 2004, was the first bond project to be completed. The bond
referendum provided $11.5 million toward the $15.5 million
renovation/expansion.
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Highsmith University Union |
The Highsmith University Union serves as
a hub of campus activity for students. Inside the three-story structure
are a host of offices for students organizations, meeting rooms and
lounge areas, performance spaces, an expanded bookstore, a food court,
a student art gallery, a game room, and a
student-staffed bike repair shop. The building also houses an expanded
Career Center and offices for the Academic Affairs staff. The building size has more than doubled, going
from 35,000 to 74,000 square feet. The architects for the project were Lee
Nichols Clark Patterson Design Professionals of Charlotte.
M.B. Kahn of Columbia, S.C. was the
general contractor.
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Highsmith University Union Cafe |
The new student union continues to carry
the Highsmith name, in honor of longtime president and chancellor
William E. Highsmith, who died in 1987. Highsmith was president of
Asheville-Biltmore College, UNC Asheville's predecessor institution,
beginning in 1962 and then chancellor of UNC Asheville from 1969 until
1984.
Prior to renovation, much of the contents of the original Highsmith
Center were harvested for use elsewhere on campus. The Mass
Communication Department's student television studio was re-furbished,
brass drain covers and plumbing fixtures were used in casting classes in
the Art Department, and other items, such as fire alarm panels and water
fountains, were used in other buildings. Other materials went to
seven non-profit organizations in Western North Carolina. Waste
management activities during renovation resulted in a savings of more
than $95,000 by recycling building materials.
Just prior to demolition, Highsmith
Center served as the site for the state's largest terrorism and
structural collapse exercise, organized by the N.C. Department of
Insurance, Office of the State Fire Marshall.
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Operation Highsmith Terrorism
Training Exercises |
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