About the Student Center

Square feet: 84,000

Meeting Rooms: 8

Building Staff: 4 Professional Staff, 3 Graduate Interns, 3 clerical staff, one maintainer and 70 student employees.

Year built: 1964, Additions/Renovations in 1972, 1993, 2000, 2019/20 (Devils Den Refresh). Satellite additions to the Student Center are Tranquility Center, Southwest Study Hall and the Esports Center.

Floors: 3

Offices/Departments: Student Center Operations, Student Activities/Leadership Development, WFCS Radio Station, Women’s Center, Mosaic Lounge, LGBT Center, Student Government Association, Central Activities Network, Graphic Design Office and approximately 27 club or staff offices.

Retail Space: Barnes & Noble Campus Bookstore, Sodexo Food Service - SubConnection, The Fresh Grille, Tres Habaneros, Natural!, Pizza! Pasta!

Programming Space: Alumni Complex (large multi-purpose ballroom and annex), Semesters (cafe area), Seven Centuries Courtyard

Recent Renovations: Building (2004), LGBT Center (2009), Alumni Hall lighting system (2010), Breakers Game Room (electronic gaming additions and updates 2011, 2015 and 2019; billiard tables 2020), Esports Center 2019, Southwest Study Lounge 2019, Devils Den Refresh 2019, 2020.

• We are home to the Milton R. Bellin collection of WPA era murals from the 1930s that were once decorated the walls of our administration building Davidson Hall. The murals were rescued in 1984 and the paintings were then cleaned, framed and then hung in the Student Center’s Bellin Gallery.
• During the late 60’s and early 70’s it was the place to gather to protest and “sit in.”
• Otis Day and the Knights played to a sold-out crowd in the Ballroom, which is now Alumni Hall, in Spring 1985. Huey Lewis and the News and Billy Idol also performed at Central during the 1984-1985 academic year.
• In the 90’s we met town meeting style to decide what to do to learn from the Rodney King beating and from that came the MOSAIC Center.
• Ben Affleck visited the Student Center on Nov. 3, 2006 to promote U.S. Senator of Connecticut Chris Murphy’s campaign.
• The mural “Roots of the Caribbean” formally displayed in the Latin American, Latino and Caribbean Center is now displayed in the Student Center (June 2020).

Several aspects of the Student Center really appeal to our commuter students. The Devil’s Den and Semesters dining area have various dining options and seating for those grabbing a bite between classes.

Couches and other lounge furniture are scattered around the Student Center, creating that “living room” feel we strive for. In certain lounge spaces, advertising and postering are prohibited so that students have a less distracting environment in which to study or meet with others.

Other great resources for Central students in the Student Center include a full mail room, the Mosaic Lounge, the LGBT Center and the Women’s Center.

• An ellipse pattern is found throughout the building in the carpet, mezzanines, staircases and the copper drum.
• A copper drum ties the building in with the rest of the copper clad roofs on other campus buildings.
• All recent space additions are either in the drum, or in angled window curtain spaces on the exterior of the building.
• Many interior locations were opened to the second floor to create a large open feeling in the building.
• Numerous large windows allow for best use of natural lighting in the building.
• Old windows from the original building were used in interior office walls and new windows were added to the exterior of the building reflecting the design of the old windows.
• The windows in the Devil’s Den and Semesters dining areas have a subtle blue tint, utilizing school colors and showcasing Blue Devil spirit!
• Blue Devil spirit is also evident in the appearance of an anatomically correct blue devil statue in the Devil’s Den.
• Scattered around the Student Center are pieces of artwork and sculptures. The Student Center is owner to the first piece of art on campus grounds!
• Guests enter the building through castle-like entry ways.

The department of The Student Center is under the umbrella of Student Affairs, of which we report to the Vice President of Student Affairs. Our department is comprised of a Director, an Associate Director, two Assistant Directors (one currently vacant — Fall 2020), a Technical Support Assistant, an Administrative Assistant, Business Manager and one maintainer. The Central Reservations Office is staffed by two Processing Technicians (one currently vacant – FY21), as well as two student Cooperative Education employees (one currently vacant – Fall 2020). In addition, the Central Reservations Office employs three University Assistants to support campus-wide reservation services. Our three Graduate Interns are also an important part of our team, and oversee our student employees and managers, and coordinate the students’ training opportunities.

Our main function is to be service friendly and accommodating to all of our patrons and we do so mainly with the support of our student employee leadership and management program. Our student employees are evaluated under the STAR model, where we focus on teaching them Service, Team, Autonomy, Responsibility, Leadership and Management skills.

Student Center Areas:

• Accountability Office
• Breakers Game Room
• University Operator Phone/Call Center
• Center Managers
• Campus Assistants
• Central Reservations Office
• Esports Center Attendants
• Graphic Design
• Information Desk/CENtix Box Office
• Tech Services

We also oversee the Central Reservations Office, which is a “one stop shop” for student organizations, campus departments and outside clients requesting space across campus, have a liaison role with food services and custodial, and play many roles around campus including serving on various committees etc.

Our philosophy in The Student Center is that it is just that - student centered. Any program that takes place in the building is to have a connection with the University mission. Our Central Reservations Office (CRO) plays a pivotal role in this and has a very close relationship with our student organizations, allowing them first priority to reserve space 3 years out for their major events. Major University events, such as Orientation and Open House can reserve space 5 years in advance. Campus departments can also reserve major events three years out, leaving external groups, who only make up 8% of our yearly reservations, the ability to reserve space 1 year out.

Our major large programming space is Alumni Hall, a large banquet facility where we host our formal cultural balls, conferences, dinners and recognition programs. Bellin Gallery, a smaller room attached to Alumni Hall is great for workshops, lectures and small banquet lunches and dinners. Semesters, which was once a pub, is a dining area where students typically eat lunch during the day and can sit back and listen to an acoustic performer. In the evening, we have used that space for poetry expos, debates, concerts, our weekly late-night program – Devils Den @ 10PM, and more. We also have eight meeting rooms of various sizes and styles, and some outdoor space as well.

• Semesters Cafe, a programming and dining retail space, was at one point, the campus pub! Central’s pub was the leading alcohol seller in New Britain! Times have definitely changed!
• The 1849 room (our only second floor meeting room) has had some mysterious “happenings”! Student employees have shared stories of chairs being scattered around the room at random times (keep in mind, rooms are locked when not in use), footsteps have been heard in the stairwell leading up to that room, a cell phone was missing and mysteriously re-appeared in the room, and one of the tables (which is stationary and does not get moved by our crew) was found in the hall outside the room! The ironic thing is that this is our nicest meeting room, and it is in high demand, so our employees find themselves having some fun with the eerie things that they’ve encountered!