Athens, Ga. – The official dedication of the University of Georgia Tate Student Center expansion will be held Aug. 20 at 2 p.m. in the Grand Hall of the facility. The ceremony will feature remarks by UGA President Michael F. Adams and Vice President for Student Affairs Rodney Bennett.
After the ceremony, participants will move onto the west plaza facing Lumpkin Street for a ribbon-cutting ceremony led by Adams and UGA alumnus Holger Weis. As president of the University Union Student Programming Board in 1983, Weis participated in the dedication ceremony for the original Tate Student Center.
Students and other guests will be given commemorative scissors to help cut the ribbon. During the dedication, University Food Services will offer sample menu items from its four new restaurants: Taste of Home Café, Barberitos Southwestern Grill, Larry’s Giant Subs and Hotei’s Asian Grill. Campus Catering will serve dessert items. The UGA Pep Band will play on the plaza.
The Tate expansion opened on June 1 after more than four years of planning and construction. The 96,000 square-foot facility includes enhanced dining options for students, faculty and staff. Meeting and conference rooms for student organizations are available, including the 12,000 square-foot Grand Hall capable of accommodating up to 1,600 guests.
“It’s a significant addition to the university,” said Bennett. “It will continue to enhance the learning environment, adding yet another point of destination for students to read, study and relax between classes.
“I remain extremely grateful for the students who voted for the building in March 2005 and for the students who have contributed to it in student fees in the semesters since,” he said. “I am thrilled that it’s completed. It’s been a long time in the making and it has exceeded expectations.”
The dedication headlines a week of free events designed to welcome students back to UGA for the upcoming school year. Other Welcome Week activities include concerts by comedy-musicians The Dan Band Aug. 16 and country singer and American Idol alum Kellie Pickler Aug. 20. Welcome Week concludes Aug. 21 with Dawgs After Dark: Backyard BBQ from 10 p.m. to 2 a.m. in the Tate Student Center. Activities will include food, inflatable games and an arcade. For more information on Welcome Week, see http://www.uga.edu/campuslife/bigdawg/index.html.
For more information on the Tate Student Center, see http://www.uga.edu/campuslife/tate2/welcome/index.html.