Michigan Tech will build new admissions center

Visitors and students arriving at Michigan Tech in Houghton will be greeted by a new, friendlier presence with the construction of a new welcome center on the university's campus.

 

The John Edgar McAllister Welcome Center will be a 3,000-square-foot addition onto the Memorial Union Building, along with remodeling about another 1,500 square feet inside the existing building. Named for alumnus John Edgar McAllister, the project will be entirely funded by donors including the John Edgar McAllister Trust. 

 

The university's board of control approved the $998,000 project at its December meeting, and officials say it's a much-needed addition to the campus, to better accommodate admissions functions and give a better picture to prospective students. 

 

Currently, the admissions office space only can seat about 40 people at a time, with similarly limited parking. In recent years, that's proven inadequate to the demands on the office--and those demands will continue to increase, if another report to the board at the same meeting is any indication.

 

Les Cook, VP for student affairs and advancement also told the board undergraduate applications for fall 2014 are up by a healthy 6 percent, with an even higher increase in graduate school applicants. Master's degree applicants are up by 35 percent, and doctoral applicants are up by 40 percent.