Augustana campus changes include dining updates, new apartments, outdoor classroom

Aug. 21, 2019

This paid piece is sponsored by Augustana University.

From improved dining options to new living opportunities and a cutting-edge outdoor classroom, it has been a year of upgrades throughout the Augustana University campus.

“This is a great campus,” dean of students Mark Blackburn said. “We have a rich history within Sioux Falls, and many of our buildings play an important role in the history and culture of our community. While history and tradition are important, we need to balance that with the modern needs of our campus. We’re looking for innovative ways to marry our traditions with modernity.”

“One of our core values is excellence, and that includes our approach to the physical campus,” he continued. “We’re examining the spaces where the campus community lives, learns and serves to look for improvement opportunities. We continue to honor our core values while we look at ways to enhance the student experience.”

New foundation for living 

At Augustana and across higher education, students are seeking more independent living options and privacy.

While 85 percent of Augustana students are living in traditional residence halls, apartments have become extremely popular over the past five years.

“That’s because students are still able to live within the umbrella of campus-owned facilities,” said Corey Kopp, director of campus life.

In response to the trend, Augustana built two apartment buildings on Summit Avenue over the past three years to complement the first one constructed at 33rd and Summit. The newest apartment building, across the street from the Center for Western Studies, will open this month for incoming juniors and seniors.

“For the most part, this project is very similar architecturally and in terms of finishes to the other two apartment buildings already constructed on Summit Avenue,” Kopp said.

“The primary difference in this building will be total occupancy and the mix of apartments offered.”

The new building will house 40 students, compared with 32 in each of the previous two apartment buildings. Augustana constructed eight two-bedroom apartments in the new building, along with six town house apartments that house four students each.

Dining enhancements

Renovations also have been taking place in Morrison Commons, which is home to dining options, the bookstore and campus safety.

The first phase of renovations was completed earlier this year in The Huddle — a dining area on the first floor that complements the cafeteria on the second floor. The update included a new grill space and sub shop area along with updated soft seating. Starbucks was relocated from The Huddle to the Siverson Lounge at the front of the Commons facing the campus green and is now referred to as Viking Grounds.

The Huddle’s previous renovation was in 2001, and the update makes it more conducive to current student wants and needs.

“Student involvement has been key and has helped us shape these changes to be something consistent with what our students are looking for,” Kopp said.

“This project was brought to us by Sodexo, our food service provider, as a way to reconfigure our space to provide more room as well as enhance flexibility and dining options for students,” Kopp said.

“This project has been percolating for a couple of years as we have been looking for an opportunity to redefine The Huddle, create an opportunity to address wait times during peak hours and to offer ways for students to better control their own dining experience. This project moves us a big step in the right direction and makes an immediate impact while we wait for other, larger projects to unfold.”

Bringing the classroom outside

Augustana students also will be able to take their learning outside the classroom to a campus space more accommodating of it.

A new outdoor classroom will be ready for the fall semester between the Froiland Science Complex and the Madsen Center off Summit Avenue.

Dr. David O’Hara, Augustana’s director of sustainability, is leading the project because of the benefits it can provide to the students and the campus community.

“I have often taught outside,” O’Hara said. “I teach outside whenever I can, where the whole world becomes my classroom. We design spaces architecturally for the uses we imagine for those spaces. By teaching outdoors — whether here in Sioux Falls or in Alaska and Central America — my classes take on the spontaneity of nature. This means we get to experience the delightful things like butterflies and birds flying through our seminar, but it also provides an experiential class in critical thinking and problem solving. When the weather suddenly changes, students have to act quickly and together. They need to come to class prepared for the unexpected, and that means that my students are becoming problem-solving leaders simply by experiencing the outdoors together. I’ve been trying lots of different places around campus to see what works well.”

O’Hara’s dream project was made a reality in 2018 when a sustainability grant was anonymously given to Augustana. Students in O’Hara’s fall 2018 environmental philosophy class jumped right in and helped conceptualize the project.

Augustana senior Lucas Wylie created architectural plans while working as an intern under alum Chase Kramer, a 2008 Augustana graduate and an architect at TSP in Sioux Falls.

“The outdoor classroom can have a variety of uses,” O’Hara said, “including classes, theatrical or music performances, campus visits, religious gatherings and other group meetings.”

The outdoor classroom is built in a semicircular shape with three levels of seating. Each row of seats is made from native South Dakota rock — Sioux quartzite, Black Hills slate and limestone, and Dakota mahogany granite from Milbank — to reflect the geology of the entire state.

The classroom itself is a picture of the geology of South Dakota.

“(Where I teach) in Greece or Guatemala, there are buildings that are thousands of years old that are still functional because they’ve been built in a sustainable way, (with) local stone, almost no maintenance. That’s what we did here,” O’Hara said.

Construction of the outdoor classroom was done by Foster Landscaping Inc., a Sioux Falls landscaping company. The entire project was paid for by the anonymous grant.

“Improving the student experience is an important priority for Augustana,” added Blackburn, the dean of students. “These projects are just one aspect of how we’re investing in sustainable, innovative environments for our students to live and learn.”

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Augustana campus changes include dining updates, new apartments, outdoor classroom

From improved dining options to new living opportunities and a cutting-edge outdoor classroom, it has been a year of upgrades throughout the Augustana University campus.

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