Centre News

The College’s Campus Center has been honored by Heart of
Danville with a 2011 Downtown Revitalization Award.

The Campus Center was designed to incorporate and complement
many of the design features and styles of historic buildings on
campus, such as Old Centre with its Classic Revival architecture.

Centre College’s Campus Center has been honored by Heart of Danville (an organization promoting community development) with a 2011 Downtown Revitalization Award.

Centre was awarded the Heart of Gold Downtown Investment Award for the remarkable investment made in downtown Danville with the construction of the Campus Center, which opened in 2009.

The Campus Center serves as a meeting place, hanging-out space, living room, kitchen and dining room for Centre’s students, 98 percent of whom live on campus (making Centre one of the most residential colleges in the country). The 50,000-square foot building offers four meeting rooms, providing space for student, faculty and staff gatherings from two to more than 100. A game room provides a pool table, foosball and ping-pong, as well as Wii gaming and other entertainment options on two flat-screen televisions. It also serves as the home of the College’s Student Life administrative offices.

Though primarily designed to meet the needs of the campus community, the College is pleased that Cowan Dining Commons (the Campus Center’s main dining hall) and Everyday Café (coffee house and snack bar) are being enjoyed by many members of the larger Danville-Boyle County community, affording students the opportunity to mix and mingle with a variety of individuals and families.

Construction of the Campus Center began in the summer of 2008, and the facility opened in October 2009. Although a new facility, the Campus Center was designed to incorporate and complement many of the historic traits and styles of other historic buildings on campus, such as Old Centre’s Greek Revival architecture.

In February 2011, the Campus Center was granted Silver LEED certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC). The Campus Center joins Pearl Hall in recognition of its sustainable construction. Pearl Hall, which opened in August 2008, has Gold LEED certification and won the 2009 Downtown Investment Award from the Heart of Danville.

Construction of the Campus Center was made possible through the Trustee Challenge, an initiative announced in spring of 2007 that also included the expansion of and addition to the Young Hall science and laboratory facility and a renovation and refurbishment of the College’s Norton Center for the Arts. The new 40,000-square-foot addition to Young Hall was completed in August 2010, and the old section of Young is currently undergoing renovation. The entire project should be finished by mid-March 2011. The renovation and refurbishment of the Norton Center was completed in July 2009.