*This podcast originally aired on Dec. 13, 2020.
By JAMES BELL
Hays Post
Following years of new construction on the Fort Hays State University campus, the newest building constructed to enhance the student experience at FHSU is quickly taking shape.
The Fischli-Wills Center for Student Success will be located just south of the Memorial Union and will bring together many key components of student life outside of the classroom.
“This was a dream of ours at the university for quite some time,” said Joey Linn, vice president of student affairs. “We had a dream, we had an idea and thanks to the foundation and all the great work they do trying to find donors it became a reality."
Once completed, the building will serve as a jumping-off point for new students, and help guide more senior students through their time at FHSU and beyond.
“Some may ask, ‘Why this building?’ ” Linn said. “There are more first-generation college students now than ever before in the history of Fort Hays.”
With this center, the university can better ensure students who come to FHSU succeed, he said.
“We have to make sure if a student comes here that we do everything we can to make sure they walk across that stage as graduates of Fort Hays State University," Linn said. "And the beautiful thing about this building as well is, it is not only going to be available for on-campus students, but we are going to make sure we do things online to reach out to all of our online students across the county to make sure they understand what services are available to them as well.”
The three-story building is currently being constructed just to the north of Memorial Union and will connect to that facility with a second-story walkway.
“So you don’t have to go outside. You can go straight from the main Union right in the second floor over and into the success center,” Linn said.
The building was designed with a sandstone and metal exterior aesthetic, matching the nearby union.
“It’s going to match in perfectly with the university,” Linn said.
A key feature of the new building, Linn said, is the first-floor welcome center.
“It’s going to be the first impression, when we bring in students that are prospects or parents of students looking to visit Fort Hays on their official campus visit. They will come into this brand-new welcome center on the first floor and it is going to be 100 percent totally ‘Tigerized,' ” Linn said.
The space will also feature a “monstrous” big screen that will be used for those visits to showcase Tiger life.
Much of the tour activity will now run out of this welcome center, Linn said, giving an exciting entry to the campus.
“We all know that impact that a first impression makes to families coming to visit,” he said.
Another key feature of the facility will be a tutoring center, on the first floor.
“We have tutoring built right in there, where students can walk in,” Linn said.
The academic advising and career exploration center will also be located on the first floor.
The second floor will house space for the FHSU Student Government and space for other student organizations.
“That’s the student life/student engagement floor,” Linn said. “Anything that students do outside of the classroom that student engagement/student life part, is going to be on that second floor. There is going to be ample space for them to do really unique and creative activities.”
But what is on the third floor is what will make the center stand out among similar centers at other colleges, he said.
“The third floor is all about physical and mental wellness,” Linn said. “It’s going to house our student health center and our Kelly Center. They are going to be intermingled, and they are going to work together on the entire third floor because we all know that in order for a student to be successful, they have to be healthy — both physically and mentally.”
With the additional room on campus, many departments and services not directly moving to the building will also benefit.
“The university across the entire campus has gotten really tight on space,” Linn said. “It’s been hard to find an office, a faculty office when we hire somebody, so this new center is going to have a variety of impacts at the university.”
“The building itself is going to be great for our students, but us vacating some of the offices like career services moving out of Sheridan Hall, that’s prime real estate for an office to come in that might be cramped somewhere else. It will give us a little breathing room on this campus,” he said.
Making it happen
Construction on campus is thanks is large part to donor support through the FHSU Foundation — and the Fischli-Wills Center for Student Success is no different.
The center is named after Richard Fischli and Dolores Wills-Fischli, who attended FHSU in the 1950s.
“Beyond the classroom, the Fischlis were known for giving what they could and truly understood the impact that every dollar had on student success,” said Hayley Bieker, director of communications and marketing at the Fort Hays State University Foundation.
"(Donations are) life changing,” she said. “Dolores and Richard will impact more lives throughout this building and the students that walk inside this facility then they will probably ever know and that’s truly the case with every donor that we have at Fort Hays State.”
All gifts to the university strengthen to college, Bieker said.
“They are making an impact. Yhey are changing students’ lives. They allow faculty to better do their jobs in the classroom,” she said.
While construction is underway, opportunities to support the center, and other projects across the campus remain.
“I think what we want people to know is this stunning new Fischli-Wills Center for Student Success is coming to life on our campus and that people can be a part of it,” Bieker said.
Various naming opportunities are available in the building at a wide range of donation levels.
“That’s forever, that’s going to be there forever and ever after we are all gone. It’s amazing the impact that all of our friends at the university and alums of the university make," Bieker said.
But at the heart of it all is taking care of the young, impressionable minds who grace FHSU.
“The bottom line is … what it is going to do for our students?” Linn said. “We can talk about how beautiful the building is and how it fits into the campus and how excited we are. But the bottom line, the Fischlis’ wanted to know how their money can make a difference for all future students, and I can’t imagine anything better than this.”
To read more about the FHSU Foundation and opportunities for sponsorships click here.