VIDEO: The “New” Old Main

MISSISSIPPI STATE, Miss. (WCBI) – Along with Davis Wade Stadium and the Drill Field, a common site on Mississippi State’s campus is construction.

Today, however, students will be seeing a little less of that construction.

The ribbon was cut for the new Old Main Academic Center earlier this afternoon.

It was about an hour long ceremony, celebrating the origins and the history of the original Old Main dormitory, here on campus. After months on months of construction, faculty, staff, and especially students are glad to finally see this building opened.”

The Old Main Academic Center is a much is a much needed addition to Mississippi State’s campus.

“Mississippi State is once again at record enrollment, and we’re growing. We’ve got to provide facilities like this for our students, to remain competitive, and this is a huge step in that direction,” said Chief Communications Officer, Sid Salter.

This 150,000 square foot building is unique in what the service is.

It’s only classrooms.

“I got the idea about bringing a classroom building to Mississippi State on a trip I made several years ago to the University of Georgia and bring the concept of building a high tech building of modern classrooms for a building that’s just classrooms,” said Dr. Mark Keenum, President of Mississippi State.

While it is modern and high tech, administration wanted to keep that classic, vintage appearance, making it look like the original old main dorm.

“This building, the Old Main Academic Center is the third generation of old main to be on our campus. It means a great deal to our alumni and our fans and friends. Certainly this is a state of the art technology center for our students and something that will greatly improve our academic office,” said Salter.

Bringing a building like Old Main to campus is a sign of growth and modernization, something that Mississippi State is striving for.

“We are growing in enrollment, and that’s a great thing. We know to grow and to meet the needs of our students, we have to have the best facilities possible to meet their needs, and we feel like the state of the art classroom facility will help meet our students needs for generations to come. We are truly excited to have this new addition to our campus,” said Keenum.

Classes Start on Wednesday, and according to Keenum this building, on average, will service 11,000 student per day.