Southwestern University opened new admissions building Jan. 21

Southwestern University opened new admissions building Jan. 21

By Community Impact Newspaper Staff Tuesday, 20 January 2009

The new Wilhelmina Cullen Admission Building, which will be the first green building at Southwestern, opened Jan. 21.

The one-story, 9,602 sq. ft. building will house all of Southwestern's Enrollment Management staff, including admission counselors and financial assistance staff.

The $3.3 million building was funded by a gift from the Cullen Trust for Higher Education. Wilhelmina Cullen is the daughter of Roy and Lillie Cullen, for whom Southwestern's existing Cullen Building is named.

Tom Oliver, vice president for enrollment management services, said the new building will enable his staff to better host the growing number of visitors to campus with three to four times the reception space of the old office on the first floor of the original Cullen Building. Computers for public use will also be available.

A data processing area, where the staff keeps all the applications that come in, is twice the size of the office's former space. Between 2,400 and 2,500 applications are expected to come in before the Feb. 1 deadline for fall 2009 admission.

The parking lot near the new admission building was recently rebuilt, and will offer more parking spaces that are accessible for persons with disabilities.

In all, Oliver said the new building will enable Southwestern to host prospective students and their families in a facility that better exemplifies the university.

"The admission office is where first impressions are made," Oliver said in a press release. "We want to show prospective students and their families that this is a place where there are a lot of possibilities and opportunities."

A formal dedication of the building is scheduled for Feb. 21 during Family Days. Oliver said his staff plans to have an open house before that to showcase the new building to the campus community.

Southwestern has applied for the building to become certified under the U.S. Green Building Council's LEED program. The building was designed with the goal of Gold LEED certification, the second highest possible certification. If Southwestern earns LEED certification for the building, it will be the first university in Central Texas to have a LEED-certified building.

Features that make the building "green" include a bamboo floor in the lobby area, skylights in the center of the building, waterless urinals, solar-powered sink faucets and reflective roof shingles. At least 20 percent of the materials used in the building were extracted and manufactured within 500 miles of the project site. The building also is surrounded by landscaping that uses native plants.

Southwestern plans to turn the area in the original Cullen Building formerly occupied by the Admission Office into a museum as part of a complete renovation of the historic building. Work on that project is expected to start after construction is completed on the new Prothro Center for Lifelong Learning.

See more information on what makes this building "green.