FACILITIES & CAMPUS LIFE

A Vibrant New Campus Center

The fall of 2007 saw the much anticipated opening of UVM's new Dudley H. Davis Center, a new "front door" to the campus and to Burlington that promises to transform many aspects of campus life. The center is named for the late Dudley H. Davis '43, a towering figure in Vermont's business community who began his career as an assistant cashier at Merchants Bank in 1946 and retired in 1994 after a phenomenal 36-year run as its president. Over that time, he provided the financial backing that gave rise to some of Vermont's biggest business success stories, including IDX Systems Corp. and Ben & Jerry's Homemade. He was also a generous benefactor of the University of Vermont.

Dudley Davis died on November 29, 2004, just days after his children announced a $7 million gift from the Davis family and friends to name the University's new student center in their father's honor. Other private giving to the $61 million, 186,000 square-foot facility amounted to approximately $3 million.

The Davis Center is the realization of a longstanding need at UVM for a gathering place for the entire UVM community. The former Billings Library served as the student center from 1963 to 2007 but never adequately met the needs for student and community space and interaction. A 1986 renovation attempted to overcome its inherent limitations as a student center, but soon it became apparent that the beautiful historic structure was simply not meant for the purpose it was being asked to serve. For over a decade, trustees, campus officials, and UVM community members discussed alternatives but never gained the consensus that the time had come to build a brand new facility.

The Need for a Campus Crossroads
Momentum began building when the consistent advocacy of student leaders, championed by President Daniel Mark Fogel and Interim President Edwin I. Colodny before him, led the University to commission a campus life assessment in the summer of 2002 that revealed the strong need for such a facility at UVM. Among its findings were that an overwhelming majority of students indicated that the campus was lacking a central gathering space and that only 29 percent of the campus population was entering the Billings student space daily, compared with the 84 percent experienced by student centers at peer institutions.

Trustees evaluated the proposed project carefully, weighing the expected benefits against cost and indebtedness, and gave their approval in the fall of 2004 to go ahead with construction of the largest and most ambitious building project in UVM history.

A Vision Fulfilled
Inside the Davis Center are a wide range of comfortable spaces and conveniences dedicated to student and community needs, including dining facilities, the UVM Bookstore, conference and meeting rooms, lounges, a game room, offices for student organizations and student life staff, Brennan's Pub and Bistro, the soaring Olin Atrium, and spectacular ballrooms with sweeping views of the Green Mountains to the east and Lake Champlain and the Adirondacks to the west.

One defining element of the Davis Center has been its dedication throughout the planning and design process to the principles of environmental stewardship, social justice, academic integration, and student focus. Reminders of these guiding principles are evident throughout, from the café named after UVM alumnus George Washington Henderson, UVM Class of 1877, the first African American inducted into Phi Beta Kappa, to a "green" roof and terrace extending from the west end that helps manage stormwater runoff, to the artwork that engages visitors at every turn.

Built with the goal of achieving Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) certification in green design, the facility reflects UVM's commitment to leaving the smallest environmental footprint possible on construction projects. Included are features that enable an estimated 52 percent savings in electricity, heating, and cooling compared to non–LEED facilities and an estimated 41 percent reduction in water cost. Twenty percent of the materials used in construction were manufactured locally, including slate from Fair Haven, maple from Shelburne, bricks from Swanton, and soil from Burlington's Intervale. If certified, the Dudley H. Davis Center will be the first silver-rated LEED-certified student center in the U.S.

As students returned to campus for the start of the 2007–2008 academic year, the new center was already buzzing with activity on every level, with exclamations of appreciative astonishment the common reaction from first-time visitors. With the opening of the Dudley H. Davis Center, the long-held vision of a lively and dynamic center of student and community engagement at the University of Vermont is at last being fulfilled.