Three years ago, an outdated Campus Center Building stood in the heart of East Tennessee State University’s campus, no longer serving the university as it once had. This fall, a new building stands in its place, transforming the space into a hub for teaching, learning and collaboration.
The 62,000-square-foot Academic Building, which began construction in January 2024, represents a $62.5 million investment in the undergraduate experience. Funded through a combination of State of Tennessee support and private fundraising, the three-story facility is the first of its kind at ETSU, designed entirely around classroom and collaborative spaces rather than faculty offices.
Located along Pride Walk, the building features a red brick exterior and ETSU’s signature crest. Inside, 30-foot Roman arches, floor-to-ceiling windows, green spaces and flexible collaboration and presentation areas create an environment designed to bring students and faculty together.
The building’s design places an emphasis on how students experience and use the space. Jeremy Ross, ETSU vice president of administration, told WJHL that architecture and natural light can influence how people feel and function within a space.
“Spending a life studying architecture, I believe the space is very important,” Ross said. “We may not think about it deliberately, but how the light enters the architecture, how people use the space, I think, impacts our internal mechanisms and our ability to be in a good environment, the best environment we can work in.”
The new facility will provide space for general education courses and serve as an academic home for students across the university, mainly for the College of Arts and Sciences. By concentrating instructional and collaborative spaces in one location, the project also supports a broader effort to make better use of existing university facilities.
Construction of the Academic Building was paired with renovations to Burleson Hall and Gilbreath Hall, allowing ETSU to update existing faculty and student spaces while adding new academic capacity.
The Academic Building will be officially celebrated with a ribbon-cutting ceremony Friday at 1:30 p.m.
