GVSU Rededicates new Honors College home

Grand Valley State University will celebrate the re-dedication of the Glenn A. Niemeyer Learning and Living Center at its new location with an event on Thursday, September 11 from 4-5:30 p.m.

The Honors College moved into the new Glenn A. Niemeyer Learning and Living Center on the Allendale Campus. Approximately 450 honors students live and learn in this cutting-edge facility. Administrators call it the optimal environment for motivating students to grow and develop skills on their ways to becoming leaders.

“With its state-of-the-art classroom technology, its premium housing, its convenient suite of faculty offices, and its inviting meeting and study areas, the new Niemeyer Learning and Living Center is an optimal environment for student living and learning, a place that nurtures a genuine academic community,” said Jeff Chamberlain, director of the Honors College.

The new center features 187,000 square feet of residential space and another 41,000 square feet of academic space. It was designed and built meet LEED standards, which call for high performance and sustainability by maintaining standards for water and energy conservation, material selection and indoor environmental quality. It has a 70-seat case room, great room, science demonstration lab, listening room, reading room and two LearnLab classrooms. There are also 16 faculty, staff and clerical offices. Students will take a few classes each year in the Honors College facility.

The facility is named for Glenn A. Niemeyer, who retired from Grand Valley in 2001 after 38 years of service. He was a pioneer faculty member and served as the university’s first provost from 1980-2001. Grand Valley’s former Honors College facility — which was also named for Niemeyer — housed about 250 students. Niemeyer will tour the LEED certified building, visit student residences, enjoy the artwork and watch demonstrations in the Learn Lab

“A living and learning center is unique to any campus,” Niemeyer said. “The spacious newly constructed center at Grand Valley houses the Honors College with faculty offices, classrooms, and residential rooms where students can both take classes and live. It is an honor to have my name on this impressive new facility.”