A new school year ahead comes with some exciting changes on campus, including upgrades and renovations to both Curtis dining hall and the academic quad.

After fifty years of only minor changes to Curtis dining hall, Denison decided that it was finally time for a major makeover. This transformation, which took place from the Spring semester of last year through this past summer, completely remodelled the interior of the building in the hopes of creating an open, more efficient space for students.

The new design brings the kitchen out into the open, which gives students the ability to customize their meals and watch them be prepared in front of them. Newly added food stations will now use fresher ingredients with a wider variety of choices.

Not only were improvements made to the food service in Curtis, there was also an emphasis on the potential to create a popular social space available to students even when meals aren’t being served.

Part of the existing dining area was transformed and is now a community space used for studying, relaxing and other social activities. With added seating areas and a new fireplace, students may take advantage of the calming atmosphere that Curtis now has and make it a nice study spot.

“For the past week that I’ve been on campus, Curtis has been great. I was blown away when I first walked in because it looks way different than it did last year when I was on my visit. There seems to be more places to sit, eat and get homework done, which I like a lot,” said Elizabeth Monroe ‘21 from Chagrin Falls, OH.

Along with the hefty upgrade that Curtis went through, A quad also had a stone wall built just south of the flagpole in front of Slayter. This “seating wall” will hopefully enhance opportunities for social interaction and increase outdoor activity among students.

Rachel Weaver ‘20, an art and environmental studies major from Nashville, TN believes that the wall, “…is a great addition to our campus. It pulls a lot of students out from inside academic buildings and has already created a more social environment for all.”

This stone wall was phase one of a three year improvement project that Denison has planned. Since all three phases of this project would be way too much to complete in just one summer, the committee decided to extend the plan over the course of the next two summers.

Phase two, which will begin next summer, will rework the entrance of Slayter to provide additional seating and interaction areas for students.The following summer, phase three plans to extend the brick Chapel Walk along the front of Knapp and Higley all the way to the Library.