Published October 13, 2016
MONROE, La. — The University of Louisiana Monroe announced the creation of a new student
event center at a press conference on campus Thursday morning.
Rendering of the ULM Student Event Center
The event center, open to ULM students, faculty, staff and the entire north Louisiana
region, will be renovated from the space currently occupied by the former Lake C.
Oxford Natatorium, which opened in 1978. ULM students are funding the project through
their own student fees, says Interim VP of Student Affairs, Camile Currier.
“A few years ago, we were looking at what options we had with the natatorium. We went
through this process with the students and they felt an event center would be the
best choice. We went to the Student Activity Enhancement Fee committee, made up of
students, faculty, and staff and we proposed this to them. The committee voted unanimously
and committed to funding the $7 million project,” Currier said.
The facility will include a ballroom that will seat 550, a theatre that will seat
83, an outside amphitheater, and a practice area for ULM’s spirit groups. There will
also be a large deck area overlooking beautiful Bayou DeSiard.
Tim Brandon Studios of West Monroe and Traxler Construction of Monroe are responsible
for the architecture and construction, respectively, of the facility.
“This facility will do so much, not just for ULM but for this community. It will provide
a beautiful facility that members of the community can gather, whether it’s for a
wedding or reunion or for a conference, and comfortably seat 550 in here and provide
our teams – our dance team, our cheer squads — a permanent place now where they can
practice,” ULM President Dr. Nick J Bruno said at the press conference.
Kaitlin Neal, ULM Student Government Association (SGA) president, spoke on behalf
of the student body about what this means for them.
“We have kind of outgrown the SUB (Student Union Building). You know this year we
reached over 9,000 students, which we’re so excited about, and that’s a good problem
to have, but we’ve kind of outgrown that. So this facility is going to make it so
easy for us to have big events, have beautiful events,” Neal said.
Construction has already begun and the facility is scheduled to open in fall 2018.
