Shriver Center Reopens After a Year of Construction

BY KEXIN YE

Miami University journalism student

Miami University has finished phase one of Shriver Center's renovation and the building will have three new tenants: Student Disability Services, Rinella Learning Center and the admissions office.

All three of the offices moved from the Campus Avenue Building and will be operational in Shriver when students return from Winter Break.

Before the renovation, Shriver was a multi-functional building housing a student dining location, a food market, IT Services, and H.O.M.E offices as well as the bookstore, PNC bank, and the commuter lounge. It is named after Phillip R. Shriver, a former Miami University President.

According to the University News and Communications, the main reason the building was renovated was to make large spaces available for the offices that needed to be in the heart of the campus.

Claire Wagner, director of University News and Communications, agrees these offices function better in the central campus.

“When tours happens with the admission office, they have to walk to the main area to show people,” Wagner said. “So they now can have the families in the heart of the campus to do the activities.”

The renovation for Shriver was finished within the $20 million budgeted, Wagner said.

The first floor will be taken by the admission office with a 260-capacity auditorium, and counseling rooms. The second floor features office suites and kitchen, and the third floor is now the home of the Rinella Learning Center and Student Disability Services.

According to Rinella’s website, Director Dr. Christina Carrubba-Whetstine said the new location includes an upgraded technology-enriched seminar room, individualized testing rooms, tutoring spaces for individuals and groups. “We hope that students throughout Miami’s campus will have greater access to critical academic support services.”

The director of the Student Disability Services, J. Andrew Zeisler also emphasizes on his website how important it is for SDS to be at the heart of campus so it could offer improved outreach to students and faculty.

Phase Two will renovate other areas of the Shriver Center, including the bookstore and plans are for the package center also to move there, Wagner said. Phase Two is expected to be finished by May of 2018.

Cutline: The newly renovated Shriver center is ready for students and faculty members. Photo taken by Kexin Yue.