Canisius University opened its doors Friday to the B. Thomas Golisano Center for Student Success, a center that took 20 months of planning and eight months of construction.
Members of the campus and greater community toured the 30,000 square foot center — located on the second floor of the Bouwhuis Library — which features 46 study and collaboration spaces for students. The center also consolidates resources initially spread out across different areas of the campus.
"This space provides our students a one-stop shop for many crucial services and resources that previously they'd have to navigate multiple buildings all over our campus to access," said Vice President for Student Affairs Harold Fields.
The center centralizes student success coaching, career development, peer mentoring, writing support and accessibility services. Steve Stout, the university's president, said the center will aid the institute's larger goals centered around student success.
“We're incredibly proud of our retention rate, our four- and six-year graduation rates, which are above national averages. But in order for us to take that next step and be elite in supporting students and driving positive outcomes, we need the Golisano Center that brings all of these resources together," he said.
The center was named for Tom Golisano, the founder of Paychex and former owner of the Buffalo Sabres and Buffalo Bandits. The center was built with his gift of $5 million, the largest unrestricted gift in university history. Golisano was recently named leader of Buffalo Business First's Power 250 list for his philanthropy.
Analee DeGlopper, senior and president of Canisius University’s United Students Association, said she’s glad to have a chance to utilize the center as she studies for finals and to see it benefit the next generation of students, like her younger sister, currently a freshman.
“I'm very excited just to get a little bit of use out of the space, and then to see all the use it brings to the students when they have the opportunities to come to the different centers that are up here, the success centers, the engagement, everything that will bring,” she said.
