Grad students get own home

Graduate students across disciplines at UNC now have a place to learn and socialize together under one roof.

The Graduate Student Center, which opened Thursday, will provide the University’s graduate student community with a spot to meet, work and share research ideas with students from other departments.

“It will give them an identity and hopefully a place to expand opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange,” said Linda Dykstra, dean of the graduate school. “In addition to expanding academic opportunities, there are chances for social opportunities that weren’t there before.”

She said the center acknowledges the important role graduate students play on campus.

Graduate students said they are grateful for the center, even though they can use it on a reservation-only basis — a constraint many hope will be removed.

Kate Shallcross, a senator in the Graduate and Professional Student Federation, said she sees a lot of potential for the space.

“I hope there is some form of community created so students in different departments can socialize together,” she said.

The center is partly a response to recommendations of the University’s Academic Plan by integrating interdisciplinary research and education, as well as incorporating graduate and professional students more fully in University life.

“We need more spaces for seminars and informal intellectual exchanges,” Dykstra said. “It will meet their needs for extra space for class.”

She said about eight interdisciplinary groups of fellows will hold their meetings at the center. The graduate school also will use the facility to host interdisciplinary programs like global studies, computational sciences and urban livability.

The center, located on Franklin Street above the Carolina Coffee Shop, held an open house from 3 p.m. until 7 p.m. Thursday.

The location used to belong to the Upward Bound program, which moved to the Sonja Haynes Stone Center for Black Culture and History.

Steve Allred, executive associate provost, said he took advantage of the vacancy to secure the center’s spot.

Allred said he hopes to find a more suitable space for the center within the next few years. As campus construction progresses, Allred said he anticipates a vacancy in the basement of Bynum Hall and hopes the center can be placed there as early as 2007.

Henry Dearman, former dean of the graduate school and member of the Graduate Education Advancement Board, proposed the idea for the center to the board about three years ago.

He said graduate students deserve an establishment devoted to fostering unity and conversation similar to the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence.

“The idea wasn’t really profound,” Dearman said. “It was common sense and a matter of need.”

Contact the University Editor at udesk@unc.edu.