July 7, 2000 UNT Inhouse publication: System Center adds rooms, technology

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System Center expansion adds rooms, technology

The UNT System Center will complete construction of the second part of its facility by the first day of fall classes, Aug. 28. The addition will bring 44,000 square feet of new space for classrooms and offices to the center, located at 8915 S. Hampton Road, three blocks south of I-20.

photo of construction progress at UNT System Center One of the biggest additions will be a counseling center for the System Center's counselor education program. The new center will serve as a classroom for graduate students in counseling as well as a free counseling clinic for System Center students and members of the local community.

The counseling center will contain two play therapy rooms for children ages 3 to 11 and five rooms for group, individual, marriage and family counseling. Graduate students will also have a room in which they can observe and learn from counseling sessions. Professors will be able to critique students' work with clients.

This new phase also will add three conference rooms for student-teacher conferences, student group meetings and special events.

Two new videoconferencing classrooms with student computers will allow professors to lecture and interact with classes at the System Center and the Denton campus simultaneously via two-way video. These videoconferencing additions will triple the number of classes that can originate at the center and be provided at remote locations.

Construction, which began May 15, will also add 15 standard classrooms, another computer classroom, a student development office and a faculty office suite, among other features.

Currently, the center occupies 34,000 square feet; the new addition will complete the 78,000-square-foot building.

Construction will be completed by Aug. 9 and all the furniture installed by Aug. 23.

The System Center is the first step in the UNT System's strategic plan to establish a permanent, public, degree-granting university to serve the city of Dallas by offering close-to-home educational opportunities for the 785,000 residents in southern Dallas and northern Ellis counties.

The completion of the Dallas facility will come less than a year after the September 1999 groundbreaking ceremony for the System Center. In March, UNT opened the first half of the facility to 500 students. Earlier this year, the Dallas Business Journal recognized the project for its potential economic and community impact on southern Dallas. UNT expects the System Center to attract 5,000 students in the next six years.