Campus Breaks Ground on Newest Addition to Graduate Housing

Jackie Carr | March 9, 2008

From left: Vice Chancellor for Business Affairs Steve Relyea, Nick Saenz, president of UCSD's Graduate Student Association, Dean of Graduate Studies Kim Barrett, Chancellor Marye Anne Fox and Vice Chancellor for Health Sciences David Brenner.

UC San Diego celebrated the groundbreaking Friday of the Health Sciences Housing Project, the newest effort by the university toward the goal of housing 50 percent of its students on campus. This $67.1 million housing investment is in direct response to a need voiced by the student body.

“A survey of undergraduate and graduates revealed that on-campus housing is critical to the student¹s overall satisfaction. We listened and now we are responding,” said Chancellor Marye Anne Fox. “This is the most aggressive housing project currently taking place within the University of California system. Two years ago we added 800 beds to campus housing.
This project adds an additional 450.”

The current project will provide graduate and professional students housing in the form of 225 apartments. More than a living space, the project serves as a major recruitment tool for the university and as a hub of interdisciplinary interactions among the students.

Vice Chancellors Relyea and Brenner with Chancellor Fox at Friday's groundbreaking.

“The ability to recruit the best and brightest is the lifeblood of any research university. Graduate and professional students are an engine of scholarly productivity. They help in recruiting the best faculty, and are a catalyst for collaboration,” said Kim Barrett, dean of Graduate Studies at UC San Diego. “This project will offer students attractive, affordable and convenient housing, helping to ensure that students have a productive and happy time at UC San Diego.”

“The availability of graduate housing can be a sole determinant of whether or not a student chooses to attend a particular university,” said Nick Saenz, president of the UC San Diego Graduate Student Association. “This housing project represents an exciting expansion of the graduate student community and is one of many commitments to building a critical space in which interdisciplinary interactions can take place outside the classroom, in the hallways and stairways of where we live.”

While most state-funded construction projects are at a standstill because of the economy, this campus housing project can proceed because it is a self-supporting operation and not dependent on state funding.

Shovels await the groundbreaking ceremony .

Mark Cunningham, executive director of Housing and Dining Services, noted that because of the current recession, the project can take advantage of lower material and construction costs while aiding the local economy by providing some 150 immediate jobs for builders and workers. The buildings will be LEED-Silver certified green structures.

Cunningham said the campus currently houses 2,600 graduate and professional students, but that demand continues to outstrip availability.

“This is an outstanding day,” said Cunningham. “Watch and see.
This growth project will transform and change the health sciences neighborhood forever. It will never be the same. It will be better, and the reason will be because of this building.”