Georgia Southern University is making way for a new Interdisciplinary Academic Building, for which University officials broke ground during a ceremony.

University President Jaimie Hebert, Ph.D., emphasized the addition of this new building not only signifies physical growth for the University, but more importantly serves as a means to further student success, and provides a home for Georgia Southern’s teacher scholars, faculty who are active in cutting-edge research but also committed to serving their students in the classroom.

“As with all of our growth, it’s about how to serve students in a more strategic way -- expanding educational access, broadening programs and reinvesting savings into academics to improve student success, expanding our role as an intellectual catalyst for industry, working with companies here and throughout Georgia to promote innovation and growth. We know the mission with which we’re entrusted, and we know this facility will help us accomplish it,” said Hebert.

The multi-purpose, multi-storied building will provide flexible space equipped with state-of-the-art classroom technology. The 110,000-square-foot building will house a variety of academic disciplines including Interior Design, Fashion Merchandising and Apparel Design, History, Foreign Languages, Writing and Linguistics, International Studies and other departments in the College of Health and Human Sciences.

“The classroom spaces will serve as a model for modern pedagogy and will be a facility that encourages student-centered teaching and learning, providing opportunities for collaboration across disciplines on campus,” said University Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Jean Bartels, Ph.D., R.N.

Two temporary classroom structures, located between the Carroll Building and the IT Building, are being removed to allow for the construction of the new classroom building.

“The thing I love about our institution is that our institution is committed to continuous improvement,” said Valencia Warren, executive vice president of the Student Government Association. “This means that for every challenge, there is a resource to ensure that needs are met. Moreover, if that resource is not available, there are action plans already in place to address the need. This new building has just added to our repertoire of resources and makes the navigation through college that much easier and the experience even more enjoyable.”

In 2015, Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal included $33.6 million in funding for the new classroom building in the state’s 2016 Fiscal Year Budget. The building is projected to cost $33.6 million to complete with construction costs of approximately $25.2 million.

“At Georgia Southern, we understand that our future is entwined with Georgia’s future,” said Hebert. “As state generates economic growth and development, our University thrives. And as the University prepares qualified graduates for the workforce, Georgia thrives.”

Construction is expected to be completed by June 2018. The architectural firm is HOK. The construction firm is CPPI in partnership with Lavender.