Description
The James V. Carmichael Student Center is a major hub of Kennesaw State University's Kennesaw campus. The Carmichael Student Center serves as a multifaceted resource for students and faculty, as it contains the University bookstore, meeting rooms, multipurpose university rooms, student life offices, lounge space, various dining options, and administrative offices.
Although it may be difficult to imagine the Kennesaw campus without the Carmichael Student Center, this building was not a part of the original Kennesaw Junior College campus. Originally, the KJC campus had eight buildings. The five major buildings were the library science building, the physical education building, a warehouse, the administrative office building, and the student activities building. The student activities building housed the bookstore, food services, a lounge, and meeting space (See The Sentinel, October 3, 1966 http://hdl.handle.net/11360/1178).
It did not take long for the 12-000-square-foot student activities building to become spatially inadequate for the major growth taking place at KJC in the late 1960s. By 1969, President Horace Sturgis and other administrators at KJC were considering the development of a new student center. In 1971, the Board of Regents approved the construction of a new 40,000-square-foot student center. The construction of the new center would cost $1.2 million (See The Sentinel, July 2, 1971 http://hdl.handle.net/11360/1330).
In 1975, the new James V. Carmichael Student Center opened. It was the first building to be named after an individual. For more information about the dedication of the Carmichael Student Center, see chapter two of Kennesaw State University: The First Fifty Years, 1963 – 2013 by Thomas Allan Scott. A copy of this book is available in the Kennesaw State University Archives.
Citation
Correspondence Regarding Proposed Student Center, April 7, 1970, Facilities Planning & Design Building Plans, 1965-1998, KSU/18/02, Box 3, Folder 1, Kennesaw State University Archives
