Campus Growth

Southeastern’s College of Business and Legal Studies and College of Education will have a new home in the fall of 2008

In November 2007, Southeastern began renovating the 37-year old Graves Center, whose first floor used to house the main campus restaurant. The renovated, two-story Graves Center will include about 32,000 square feet of classroom, administrative, and faculty office space for the College of Business and Legal Studies and the College of Education.

This $5.5 million renovation will take 10 months to complete and include the following:

The renovation also will include a new addition to the building: an elevator.

In addition to remodeling the interior of the building, Southeastern will overhaul the exterior of Graves to match the Mediterranean-styled architecture of the rest of campus.

Southeastern has hired the Lakeland-based firm Furr & Wegman Architects to renovate Graves, which was built in 1970.

New campus restaurant, Tuscana Ristorante, opened in August 2007

Southeastern's new dining facility, Tuscana Ristorante, opened on August 18, in time for the 2007-2008 academic year. Not only does it top the old Graves Center facility by 10,000 square feet and seat 350 more diners, it offers students, staff, and visitors a different dining experience.

While the serving stations in the Graves Center restaurant—with the exception of the salad bar—were lined up along walls, the serving stations in the new facility are islands spread throughout the restaurant. This setup facilitates a “marché” style of food service.

“Marché” is French for “market.” Marché-style serving is a popular concept in the university food service industry, says John Kautz, Southeastern’s vice president for finance and administration.

Food stations at the new restaurant include a meat-carving station, a salad bar, a deli bar, a station for deluxe entrees, a grill for hamburgers and other quick American fare, and a pizza/pasta station—where brick-oven pizza is made. The restaurant also has a breakfast station, a dessert station, and two beverage stations.

The marché-style setup is just one feature of the new, 25,000-square-foot, $7 million dining facility that Southeastern built to keep up with student growth at the university. The new restaurant, which sits between Bethany and Aventura residence halls, seats 750 people and replaces the old, 400-seat dining hall in Graves Center. Another 70 people can dine on the patio of the new restaurant. The old dining hall in Graves, which was built in 1970, will be converted into faculty offices and classroom space, Kautz said.

In addition to having more space for general dining, the new facility contains 200 seats of banquet space, which the public can rent for community and private events. The banquet space can be converted into three rooms that serve 80, 170, or 200 people. The new building also features a presidential dining room that seats 30 people.

The one-story, steel and concrete block-construction facility has a Mediterranean design that meshes with the existing buildings on campus. The design includes a ceiling that reaches 20 feet.

"Divine Servant" sculpture and Lambert Plaza

Southeastern University officials, staff, students and guests dedicated Lambert Plaza featuring the "Divine Servant" statue in 2006.

The plaza’s 1,250-pound, 3.5-foot by 6.5-foot by 5-foot centerpiece sculpture, by Texas artist Max Greiner Jr., depicts Jesus washing the feet of his disciple Peter. Southeastern officials chose the sculpture because it symbolizes Southeastern's mission of training men and women to serve in the spirit of Christ. School officials say Vaudie Lambert, for whom the plaza is named, exemplified such servant leadership through his 14 years as the chairman of Southeastern's Board of Administration, 22 years as the Alabama district superintendent for the Assemblies of God, and 22 years as a pastor.

In addition to the sculpture and the multi-level, travertine marble tile fountain upon which the sculpture is mounted, the 1,000-square-foot plaza features terra cotta cobblestone paving, eight large columns, lights, and landscaping.

Other new plazas, speakers, and Bush Chapel renovation

Southeastern added a sitting area—with benches and landscaping—in front of Bolin Hall. The new Bolin sitting space, called Hennesy Plaza, was dedicated to Dr. James and Margie Hennesy in the spring of 2005. Dr. Hennesy was Southeastern’s president before Dr. Mark Rutland took the helm. Margie, his wife, served as Director of College Relations and Communications at Southeastern.

In addition to Hennesy Plaza and the extension of El Prado, Southeastern has installed a network of 40 round, green, 7-inch high speakers that stretch from Bauer Hall, past Graves Center and Bolin Hall to Addison Hall. The computer-controlled sound system is zoned and broadcasts music and information for campus events. The system was inspired by a similar network at Disney World. The enhancements of lampposts, music, palm trees, flowering bushes and benches to El Prado are creating gathering places to serve students and create venues for school activities.

Towards the center of campus, a walkway leads into the southern side of the quad and forms a mini cul-de-sac that blossoms up into a multi-tiered, stone water fountain. Plant and flower beds line the grass around the fountain. A black wrought-iron fence surrounds the quad. Plants with long, green blades, delicate bushes with small, lavender flowers, and plants with orangey red and yellowish leaves populate the mulched beds. Fifty yards northwest of the fountain sits a new plaza named after former Southeastern president Dr. James A. Brown, who led Southeastern from 1968 to 1970.

On the edge of the quad, university workers and subcontractors revamped the outside walls and roof of Bush Chapel to match the other Mediterranean-styled buildings on campus. Southeastern removed the chapel steeple and replaced it with a cupola that houses electronic chimes. A bronze cross now sits upon the top of the cupola. Workers resurfaced the outside walls of the chapel with stucco and painted them a yellow hue that complements the colors of the other recently-renovated buildings at Southeastern. Inside the chapel, workers raised the ceiling of the lobby and enlarged the bathrooms, adding handicap-accessible stalls.

Destino Hall

Southeastern's new 58,000-square-foot, 258-bed residence hall on the south side of campus is called Destino Hall. The rooms of this women's residence hall are configured the same way as apartment-styled units in Esperanza and Aventura residence halls. Rooms in the central part of the $6.9 million-building have four bedrooms that share a living room and large bathroom. Rooms on the far wings of the building contain two bedrooms joined by a bathroom.

In addition to Destino and other projects, Southeastern has built, expanded or renovated many facilities on campus since 2000. They include: Esperanza and Aventura residence halls, Addison and Bolin halls, Valencia, South Pointe, Bethany, and Bauer residence halls, Pansler Alumni-Student Union, the Sportsplex, and Ted A. Broer Stadium.

QUICK FACT
100% of all university-owned student housing is new or has been remodeled within the last 5 years.