OSAL Office Space Ribbon Cutting on Thursday, Feb. 4
The spacious new Webb Center headquarters for Old Dominion University's Office of Student Activities and Leadership (OSAL) will have its grand opening on Thursday, Feb. 4.
A ribbon-cutting at 12:30 p.m. will mark the official opening of the 8,000-square-foot space for OSAL and other ODU student organizations.
The $1 million renovation and relocation was sorely needed for ODU's increasingly active student life.
"We work with over 200 student organizations and have done 373 events in the past year, including Homecoming, weekend events and leadership activities" said OSAL director Nicole Kiger.
The new space includes offices for campus radio station WODU, the Mace & Crown student newspaper, Student Government Association, Student Activities Council, Center for Service and Civic Engagement, sororities and fraternities, and ODU Out.
The space also includes a conference room, sign-making facilities, a large common area/work room for student organizations and a kitchenette.
The ribbon-cutting will take place in front of the new OSAL headquarters, the site of the former University Bookstore. Once inside, Kiger will talk briefly about the offices in the new student hub, which will then have quick individual ribbon-cuttings. These will be followed by a balloon drop and an open house.
Webb Center is an invaluable resource for all at ODU, but the original building is almost 50 years old, said facility director Sue Mitchell. "The amount of services and programming being offered has grown exponentially since then," she noted.
The campus also has grown in many ways, through new residence hall construction, the University Village and the new Student Recreation Center, but Webb Center remains the hub of campus life, and therefore was the logical place for the OSAL offices to be consolidated, according to Mitchell.
"We work really hard to try to accommodate all the demands that are placed on Webb Center," Mitchell said. "But at the end of the day, it's easy to remember that student fees support this building. Webb Center is all we've got, and it has to meet all these demands."