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4C - Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The Michigan Daily - michigandaily.com

Renovations revitalize dorm life UMMA: Art gets a


Dining center's
completion marks
end of two-year,
$65-million project
ByJILLIAN BERMAN
Daily StaffReporter
SEPTEMBER 1, 2008 - The days
of bland casseroles are slowly
coming to a close at the Universi-
ty's dining halls, starting with the
new Hill Dining Center, which
opened last week.
The dining center, the cen-
terpiece of the newly renovated
Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall,
offers students "marketplace-
style" dining, with stations serv-
ing stone-oven pizza, grilled
sandwiches and rotating interna-
tional dishes.
LSA freshman Michael Bull
said he likes the Hill Dining Cen-
ter so much that he regularly eats
there instead of at Markley Hall,
where he lives.
"This is amazing compared to
the Markley cafeteria," he said.
"The Markley cafeteria is nothing
compared to this."
The two-year, $65-million
renovation to Mosher-Jordan is
the first large-scale project com-

pleted under the Residential Life
Initiatives program, an effort to
reorganize and renovate campus
dining and also modernize resi-
dence halls.
Housing officials have said
they plan to move toward a sys-
tem with fewer cafeterias, in part
to curtail rising costs, while serv-
ing more students and offering
more food choices at each dining
center.
Three years ago, campus's Hill
neighborhood had five cafeterias:
at Markley, Couzens, Alice Lloyd,
Mosher-Jordan, and Stockwell
halls. When renovations end on
Stockwell next year, the Hill Din-
ing Center, overlooking Palmer
Field, will serve a total of four
residence halls.
The next "marketplace" din-
ing center is slated to open in fall
2010 at the new North Quad Resi-
dence Hall, under construction
on the corner of State and Huron
streets.
Mosher-Jordan Hall, built
in 1930, also received a modern
facelift, but University Hous-
ing spokesman Peter Logan said
many of the residence hall's new
features - new electrical wiring,
plumbing and heating - aren't vis-
ible improvements.
See MOJO, Page 7C

major upgrade

By BEN VANWAGONER
Daily FineArts Editor
MARCH 23, 2009 - After
two-and-a-half years and $41.9
million worth of renovation and
expansion, University students
will finally get a glimpse of the
University of Michigan Museum
of Art's long-awaited makeover
tonight.
The length of construction
means that for many students on
campus, this evening's preview
will be their first chance to
experience the museum, which
houses more than 18,000 works of
art and is now more than double
its previous size.
During a walkthrough of
the museum yesterday, UMMA
Director James Steward's rueful
grimace made it clear that he
realized this all too well.
"How many of you were in the
museum before (the expansion)?"
he asked Daily staff on a tour
yesterday. "Probably not many."
TheMuseum'sdoorswillbeopen

tonight from 8 p.m. until midnight.
Planned exclusively with students
in mind, the preview features two
DJs and Ann Arbor band The Great
Divide, who will perform amid
the oil paintings and sculpture of
the European and American art
gallery.
Most events will be occurring in
the Apse - a wide-open, columned
space in the middle of the old wing
- but every gallery in the newly
expanded museum is open for
exploration.
Steward emphasized that
connecting with students is one
of the Museum's major goals, and
many of the features of the new
section - officially the Frankel
Wing - are designed to enable
that.
The purpose of the expansion is
tocreatewhatStewardcalls a"town
square for the arts" by bringing
students, faculty and community
into direct, unmediated contact
with artand witheach other.
"We want it to be like the Diag,"
Steward said.

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Students enjoy a meal at the new Hill Dining Center. The Hill Dining center is
connected tothe rear of Mosher-Jordan Residence Hall.
" Central air-conditioning
" Wireless internet
" A new central entrance on Observatory Street
" Two new living rooms on the first level, complete with full
kitchens
" Brand new classrooms with state-of-the-art teaching
technology

READ MORE ABOUT THE RENOVATION
OF UMMA IN THE ARTS+ENTERTAINMENT
SECTION, SECTION D.

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