News Release

CHAPEL HILL -- University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill graduate students, who make up one-third of the total student population, now have a place to call their very own, and an open house is scheduled for Thursday (Jan. 27) to officially acquaint them with their new facility.

The new Graduate Student Center opens Thursday at 140 ½ E. Franklin St. (on the second floor, above the Carolina Coffee Shop). The open house will be from 3 p.m. to 7 p.m.

The center will provide UNC-Chapel Hill’s graduate student community with a place where students from all disciplines and departments on campus may meet, work or share research ideas. The center is equipped with computer portals and an LCD projector. Conference room space also is available at the center for graduate, professional and postdoctoral student groups and graduate education events.

The Graduate School will maintain the center. Initially, the center will provide meeting space on a reservation basis; officials hope the center will, ultimately, open for more informal, drop-in use.

The center will foster a stronger sense of community among graduate and professional students, said Jen Bushman, president of UNC-Chapel Hill’s Graduate and Professional Student Federation.

"With the great diversity of graduate and professional programs at UNC-Chapel Hill, it has always been a challenge to bring students together across disciplines," she said. "The new graduate student center provides a wonderful opportunity to connect graduate students with their peers both academically and socially and will certainly strengthen their sense of community."

The center is a visible way in which UNC-Chapel Hill is reaching out to the graduate and professional student community, said Dr. Robert Shelton, executive vice chancellor and provost.

"Graduate and professional students are central contributors to Carolina’s excellence in research, teaching and public service. The new center provides a venue for cross-disciplinary discussions and socializing that will form life-long friendships among colleagues. I am grateful to the many people whose vision and tenacity made this center a reality."

The Franklin Street location is meant to be a temporary home for the center, said Dr. Linda Dykstra, dean of The Graduate School, who shepherded the center concept through the university. Long-term plans call for a permanent space to be located in a more central campus location, possibly on the lower level of Bynum Hall.

The idea of a center especially for graduate and professional students began with the Graduate Education Advancement Board, the external advisory board of The Graduate School; the board worked with Dykstra to promote the project.

Undergraduates at UNC-Chapel Hill have a center where they may meet and share ideas: the James M. Johnston Center for Undergraduate Excellence, located in Graham Memorial.

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Graduate School contacts: Stephanie Schmitt, (919) 962-6306 or sschmitt@email.unc.edu; or Deborah Makemson, (919) 843-3494 or makemson@email.unc.edu