AMY WINKLER

Randy Richardson, interim vice president of undergraduate education, standing, speaks to a crowd gathered at the Integrated Learning Center Friday morning. More than 300 people were in attendance at the dedication of the $20 million center.

Monday October 29, 2001

Administrators hope new center will help improve retention rates

A rush of people flooded the bright, clean courtyards and walkways of the ILC for the first time in the center's history Friday morning.

After three years of construction and months of budget deliberations, the Integrated Learning Center - a $20 million underground computer and classroom center - was dedicated in front of more than 300 people.

"It feels really good at the University of Arizona to be in a pure celebration mode," said UA President Peter Likins, who stood shaded by the glass and metal awnings of the courtyard. "We have been struggling with all of the emotional trauma of terrorism and budget cuts, and that gets you down."

Rocio Quijada, a psychology freshman, was present for the ground-breaking of the ILC's construction when she was a high school student in 1998. She returned for the dedication with a brick that had been given to her from the Founders Fountain, which once stood where the ILC courtyard now sits on the UA Mall.

"We take this building as a gift," she said on behalf of the freshman class.

Randy Richardson, interim vice president of undergraduate education, said the ILC is one step in UA's commitment to improving freshman retention rates.

He said this year's retention rate went up one 1.5 percent, considered a substantial increase since the rate has hovered at 77 percent for many years.

Richardson said the ILC will centralize the freshman experience by placing classes, computer labs and advising all in one place.

"Right now, one of the most important things is to make freshmen part of the community," he said.

Janet Fore, head of the undergraduate services team, said the ILC has a focus on first- and second-year students, but the computer labs are open to all students.

The ILC will open in January but without some of the high-tech equipment its visionaries had imagined.

The Media Center, which would have allowed faculty to index their classes for students to access through the use of high-tech equipment, will not open in January because of state budget cuts, which will chop $13.8 million from UA's 2002 fiscal year budget.

"The Media Center is, in many ways, the technological apex of the entire enterprise · and we cannot stop short of that," Likins said.

"Whether we open it next September or in January 2003 - that's unresolved. That's about money, but in the long run, we are committed to doing what we originally conceived of doing."