UNM's Student Union Building Opens its Doors July 1, 2003

June 18, 2003

UNM's Student Union Building Opens its Doors July 1, 2003

The University of New Mexico will open its newly reconstructed Student Union Building (SUB) Tuesday, July 1, 2003, but it will be an opening with little fanfare, at least for the time being.

A formal grand opening event will be scheduled near the beginning of the 2003 fall semester, said Dr. Walter Miller, UNM associate vice president for Student Development and director of the UNM SUB. "This building belongs to the students so it's very important that they be on campus at the time of the official grand opening," he said. Miller said the SUB will be finishing minor interior details prior to the fall grand opening.

However, in anticipation of the July 1 opening, news media representatives are invited to a special "Sneak Peak Media Day" on Friday, June 27, 2003 from 1:30-2:30 p.m. at the north entrance of the SUB. The event will include a tour of the facility and SUB staff will be available to answer questions.

"We're very excited about the re-opening of the SUB and we're also pleased that it's basically a brand-new building," said UNM President F. Chris Garcia. "The SUB has always been a focal point on campus and now we have a facility of which we can be very proud."

"This is really a completely different building. It's now a state-of-the-art, multi-purpose facility with new features and capabilities that will serve the UNM community extremely well," Miller said.

The SUB has been undergoing reconstruction for the past two and a half years. During that time, UNM students, faculty and staff adjusted to the temporary closing of the SUB by utilizing several other food venues around campus and holding meetings or events at other locations on campus. SUB offices were also temporarily relocated to other campus buildings.

The SUB serves the UNM community by providing dining services, facilities for conferences, meetings or other events, office space for student organizations, and the largest computer pod on campus.

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