Rapid Growth
Early Days | Rapid Growth | Community Partnerships | University Housing | Student Demand
 Nutwood Parking Structure  Arboretum Visitor Center  Kinesiology Building Performing Arts Center |
In an early campus planning document, it states: “Site development and adequate parking areas will proceed methodically with building construction. It is interesting to note that parking for student and faculty cars will be on the perimeter of the campus and adequate for 10,000 cars. Perimeter parking will limit traffic flow on campus to delivery, campus security and emergencies.” Parking is indeed located around the perimeter but today the campus features two multilevel parking structures as well, the 2,500-space Nutwood Parking structure at the corner of Nutwood Avenue and State College Boulevard and the 1,400-space State College Parking Structure north of the Titan Student Union. Presently there are a total of 11,329 campus parking spaces.
In the same early development document was mention of having elevated ramps connecting the various buildings “in the center mall. This will permit students to go from building to building without ‘long distance’ travel, thereby speeding up the time lapse necessary between classes and permitting students more opportunity for scheduling hourly classes in succession.”
That early plan can be seen in the connecting walkway from McCarthy Hall to the Performing Arts Building, which was completed in 1964. For some reason, that is the only connecting walkway ever built between campus buildings.
After that, construction continued rapidly.
- Physical Education Building (now Kinesiology and Health Science) in 1965
- University Library (now named the Paulina June and George Pollak Library in honor of the emeritus professor of English and comparative literature and her husband) in 1966
- Commons (now home to Titan Shops) in 1967
- Humanities-Social Sciences Building and the Visual Arts Center in 1969
- Administration-Business Administration Building (renamed after the university’s founding president in 1974) and the Engineering Building in 1971
- Student Health and Counseling Center in 1974
- Education-Classroom Building and the University Center (later renamed the Titan Student Union) in 1976
- An addition to the Visual Arts Center in 1979
