New dorms are on the way

Check out the new dorms being put up! The students living in Dickinson and Newing have woken up to sounds of excavators and dump trucks for over a year now. Right outside their windows the university is putting the finishing touches on the first new dorm building, which will replace Dikinson and Newing. The project has come together at a startling pace and will already be housing students this coming semester. The design of the new housing was influenced by information gained by surveying students who are currently enrolled as well as incoming. “We wanted to validate is our direction correct, are we looking at this thing right?” explained Terry Webb the Director of Residential Life. In addition to being student friendly the new community will be environmentally friendly as well. The Mountainview halls which were completed in 2003 have a LEED silver rating. LEED stands for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. In the new housing project the university is shooting for a LEED gold certification. Buildings achieve different levels of LEED certification by being awarded points in several categories having to do with sustainability and efficiency. Watch the video to see the progress they’ve made so far.