The vision for creating a building that drives student engagement has come to life with the opening of the William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center. Open for just over a month, students and faculty are regularly utilizing the many services clustered inside the new building, and scheduling synergies between these services has already been a realized benefit.

Services relocated to the William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center include the Writing Center, Math Center, Tutoring Center, Career Studio, Advising Center, Veterans' and Military Center, Disability Resource Center, Counseling Services and the TRiO & McNair Scholars programs.

Shortly after moving into the new building, many of the building's occupants quickly saw a shift in how students were interacting not only with their services but also with each other.

"The opening of the Nevada Military Support Alliance Veterans' and Military Center has been a game-changer for our veteran students on campus," Terina Caserto, director of Veteran Services, said. "Within the few weeks of being open, we have seen an increase in participation and engagement with our veterans and military visiting the center. The community support and services being offered in this new environment support the mission for our students to graduate and land in their next careers. Watching these students use this open space to collaborate, study, mentor each other and hold meetings is a testament to the goal for this building of creating an environment of performance excellence."

Architectural and interior design of the 78,000-square-foot facility also encourages interaction among students, staff and faculty from all backgrounds. The facility provides gathering spaces, computer laboratory space with collaborative work areas and a combined 80 work stations between the lab areas on the first and fourth floors - all accessible to every member of the campus community.

"Since the William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center opened its doors, the features incorporated into its design, such as the social stairs, student collaboration rooms and study nooks, have fulfilled their purpose organically," Joe Nannini, Nevada Career Studio internship and professional experience coordinator, said. "Students began using the facility right away, and I believe this is in part due to the intuitive nature of the design itself. With a wide variety of services for students under one roof, opportunities for various departments to work together focusing on a common goal of helping individual students to be successful is much more efficiently accomplished."

A Meditation and Reflection Room, located on the building's second floor, has provided a needed space on campus for students. The area features two individual rooms and a larger space for reflection. The area also includes a foot wash and storage for mats and shoes.

"If we are to guarantee a remarkable experience for our students, we must make our students' time on our campus worthwhile," University President Marc Johnson said. "We make their time worthwhile through meaningful connection - meaningful connection with the subjects they study, meaningful connection with their professors and meaningful connection with their fellow students and the campus on which they live and study. The William N. Pennington Student Achievement Center brings our students together in ways that will deepen this connection."

Since opening, faculty has noticed a significant difference in the spaces they operate, which are now located in the facility.

"Our new space in the Pennington Student Achievement Center has been incredible for students and staff alike," Perry Fittrer, assistant director of the McNair Scholars Program, said. "The students love our new office for its openness and combination of academic and social spaces. We have been really amazed by how creative our students are in how they use the entire building. Every inch of the building, and of our offices, are busy at all hours. I am starting to see that our students are developing really strong academic and social communities as a result of the new space, which is important for student success."

Johnson said the student achievement center, a $45 million project, will help the University cultivate many more student success stories in the coming years.

"By using this building to its fullest capabilities, our students will be increasing their capacities to succeed in the classroom, to graduate more quickly and to build stronger ties with the community they will one day serve," President Johnson said.

On campus, student success has reached record levels. Milestones that have been reached in the past year include record graduation numbers (nearly 4,000 in 2014-2015), retention rates (81 percent freshman-to-sophomore retention in 2014-2015), enrollment (a record 20,898 students in fall 2015), diversity (35 percent of enrolled students are from underrepresented groups) and National Merit and Presidential Scholars (more than 300 in fall 2015).