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Members of the CCI Commons, a learning community for students in the College of Communication and Information, now have a building to call their own.
The community, which consists of students in the schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, Communication Studies and Visual Communication Design, moved in to Olson Hall this fall after sharing Verder Hall with mostly art students for the past two years.
Although he never had the chance to live in the community when it was in Verder, freshman pre-journalism major Kristopher Shepard said he likes the CCI Commons’ environment.
“The living experience in Olson has been great,” Shepard said. “I’ve met a lot of different people -- a lot of fun people especially. It made the transition from high school into college a lot better.”
James Gaudino, dean of the College of Communication and Information said the move was necessary because the Commons didn’t have enough space in Verder Hall.
“We moved because of size -- we just outgrew it,” Gaudino said. “Too many students wanted in. We were finding it awkward to say no to students.”
Marianne Warzinski, CCI Commons program coordinator, said there were 80 members of CCI Commons in Verder Hall last year. This year, in Olson, there are 167 members living in the community including 79 students in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication. But the building isn’t completely filled with CCI majors.
Warzinski said Olson Hall can hold 237 students, and filling the building with CCI majors is a goal the community plans to reach next year.
The first floor of Olson Hall includes a design studio for students to work on their projects. All equipment from the CCI Computer Lounge, which opened last fall in Verder, has also been moved to Olson. The lounge includes a video-editing station and iMacs equipped with software packages such as Adobe Creative Suite 3.
The building also includes newly remodeled bathrooms. Although the bathrooms are not private, Shepard still likes them.
“The bathrooms are pretty nice,” Shepard said. “I thought the showers would just be the stalls with the curtains, but they’re not. We have doors.”
Another thing that’s different about the Commons this year is the addition of a graduate assistant, Brandon Jenkins, to help answer students’ questions and coordinate activities.
Jenkins said his position adds another person’s perspective to running the Commons.
“You have two people who can work together now and really try to get things on the roll,” Jenkins said. “I think with two people things can happen a lot faster, too.”
In addition to having Jenkins and Warzinski to answer their major-related questions, Commons members can also turn to their RAs. All RAs in the hall are CCI majors, so they can give students guidance on which classes and professors to take.
Gaudino said although students will be living with other CCI majors, he doesn’t think they will feel isolated from other majors and students.
“For most students the freshman year is almost all the LER experience,” Gaudino said. “So when you’re in your classes, your classes are going to be an interdisciplinary environment. It’s your living environment that’s going to be associated with students in the set of majors in the college.”
Ty Kellogg, senior electronic media production major and Olson RA, has been a member of CCI Commons since the Commons first opened in his sophomore year. He said the move to Olson has been rough.
“Right now the most difficult thing is just the delays in construction overall in Franklin Hall and here as well,” Kellogg said. “We still don’t have all the equipment in Franklin Hall and so in result, we don’t have a lot of the equipment here in the studios. That is still a work in progress.”
Despite the delays, sophomore photo journalism major Trae Ruscin said he’s happy with the move to Olson. Although he misses the art students who live in Verder, he likes that CCI Commons members live in their own building.
“In Verder there weren’t that many (CCI Commons) people, and not many people came to things,” Ruscin said. “But now you’re in this dorm, and you’re part of the community, so you know about everything happening. People come everything.”
Warzinski said turnout for Commons events has been much better since the move. In Verder, maybe seven or eight members would come to events. After moving to Olson, she held a scavenger hunt and about 40 members showed up.
“There was nothing good about (the logistics of the move), and it’s still is a pain in the neck,” Warzinski said. “There are things that need to be fixed, but as far as the students’ involvement and the students’ attitude towards it – that has been wonderful.”
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