UNC Asheville Dedicates Highsmith University Union Oct. 14;
First Campus Building Completed with Higher Education Bonds

The new Highsmith University Union

The UNC Asheville campus community will celebrate the long-awaited transformation of Highsmith University Union with a formal dedication at 12:15 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 14. University of North Carolina President Molly Corbett Broad will join UNC Asheville Chancellor Jim Mullen and Student Government Association President Porscha Yount for the ribbon-cutting ceremony. 

The dedication will be held at University Commons, on the ground floor of Highsmith University Union, located next to the campus dining hall. The public is welcome to attend the ribbon-cutting and take self-guided tours of the new facility.

Plans to renovate and expand Highsmith Center, built in 1982, had been under way since the mid-1990s, but it wasn't until passage of the 2000 Higher Education Bond Referendum that the project became a reality. Of the $15.5 project cost, $11.5 million was funded through the referendum. Construction began in May 2002 and the building was ready for the start of classes in August 2004. Highsmith is the first of five bond-funded capital projects to be completed on campus. 

"The new Highsmith University Union is for and about our students and providing the best possible college education for the people of our region, our state and nation," said Chancellor Mullen. "We are grateful to the citizens of North Carolina who approved the referendum in 2000, demonstrating their foresight and belief in the importance of higher education." 

The Highsmith University Union serves as a hub of campus activity for students. 
Inside the sleek three-story structure are a host of offices for students organizations, modern work space for the student newspaper and Web-based radio station, meeting rooms and lounge areas, performance spaces, an expanded bookstore, a food court, an art gallery that exhibits student work, a game room, and a student-staffed bike repair shop. The building also houses an expanded Career Center and offices for Multicultural Student Programs and the Student Activities staff. The building size has more than doubled, going from 35,000 to 74,000 square feet. 

"The building is just amazing. Watching the new Highsmith University Union grow from the ground up has been well worth the wait," said SGA President Porscha Yount of Hickory, who had a front-row view of construction from her residence hall room the past two years and now has a new office in the building. "Highsmith is a wonderful architectural statement. Even from the outside, it looks like a place you want to be on campus, and inside it feels even better. The students at UNC Asheville can only benefit from this new addition to our campus and our community." 

Dr. William E. Highsmith

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. Through his leadership, the institution expanded from a small, two-year college to one of the 16 senior institutions in The University of North Carolina. Highsmith's wife, Allene, will attend the dedication with their two sons, Dr. John Highsmith of Clyde and Dr. William Edward Highsmith Jr. of Rochester, Minn. 

The original Highsmith Center was designed for campus needs in 1982, when UNC Asheville had 400 residential students, two dozen student organizations, and a total enrollment of 2,500. UNC Asheville's residential students now number over 1,000, student organizations top 90, and enrollment is 3,488. 

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, will be 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. 

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. 

Sidebars

• William E. Highsmith: Visionary for UNC Asheville
• Bond-Funded Construction at UNC Asheville

Media Contact:

• Merianne Epstein, UNCA Public Information Director, 828/251-6676