New and old SHSU FAMC students settle into new “Creative Community”

The Houstonian (Sep. 2) discusses the recent changes to Belvin-Buchanan Hall and the new “Creative Community” one finds there:

SHSU to Open New Creative Community For Fine Arts Majors

The Huntsville Item (Jun. 24) discusses the new Fine Arts and Mass Communication Creative Community coming to Belvin-Buchanan Hall later this fall:

The new and improved 13,000 square-foot facility will be open to COFAMC majors and will feature state-of-the-art technology and studios for students to utilize during all hours of the day.

FAMC Dorm Upgrades Progressing

More news about the new life being created, in the basement no less, of Belvin-Buchanan Hall from the Houstonian (Feb. 23):

The area directly beneath the residence that once functioned as campus dining hall Café Belvin is currently under renovation, transforming the space into a multi-functional facility for college of fine arts and mass communication majors. The space will include a theatre, sound studios, computer lab, dance studio and conference rooms for student use.

Belvin to Transform For Fine Arts Students

There's exciting news for future students in the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication and perhaps some surprising news for current residents of Belvin-Buchanan Hall (thinking they will return for Fall 2015) in this Houstonian article [Nov. 19]:

Belvin Buchanan Hall will become a co-ed dorm exclusively for students in the College of Fine Arts and Mass Communication starting fall 2015. It will also include a theater, digital recording studio, dance studio and more.

Goodbye Cafe Belvin, Hello Old Main Market

The Houstonian [Aug. 25] discusses the new 32,000 sq ft, 600-seating dining facility, Old Main Market:

[It] boasts nine different food stations, each with unique options readily available for the average student.

Old Main Market is a part of Aramark's Fresh Food Company, which is designed to "meet the needs and preferences of today's students, faculty and staff that are looking to balance their health, wellness and lifestyle goals."

The facility opened at the beginning of August.

"This new facility is a great example of honoring our past as the university continues its outstanding progress," University President Dana Gibson said. "The Old Main Market name pays homage to the past in a facility that provides our students a next generation dining experience. "

The nine stations include the International Grille; the Mediterranean Grille, which offers hot dishes made on its round, flat, open grill; the Comfort Station, which serves traditional comfort foods; the brick oven, which serves pizza, calzones and baked pastas; a bakery / dessert Station; a produce market / deli and a 24-hour breakfast station, featuring waffles, omelets and cereal.

The headline mentions Cafe Belvin but the article does not - especially since the new facility actually replaces the decades-old Belvin eatery (i.e. Belvin's not an additional eating option - it's entirely closed). President Gibson's comment of the new dining hall serving as a "great example of honoring our past" also seems out of context unless one understands the significance of Old Main, also not mentioned in the article.

February 2007 Regents Report

Design documents for a new $30 million home for the College of Humanities and Social Sciences were approved Friday by Sam Houston State University's governing body, according to Today@Sam.

The Texas State University System Board of Regents took the action during a meeting held in Austin. Construction [on Academic Building Five] is expected to begin this spring with an estimated completion date of fall 2008.

The 150,000 square foot building will also house additional faculty offices as well as other academic and administrative functions, including Accounts Payable, Purchasing, Business Office and Human Resources. It will be located in the area south of the Smith-Hutson Business Building and east of the Lee Drain Building.

The regents also approved a total project cost not to exceed $1.825 million for mechanical renovations to the Belvin-Buchanan dorm, which was built in 1936. After plans were prepared for the project and a cost initially approved, it was discovered that additional work of up to $250,000 in cost was needed. That project is expected to be completed this summer.

VP Says SHSU Not Anticipating Fall Housing Problem

Vice President for Enrollment Management Heather Thielemann is quoted in an Today@SAM article that during the fall 2006 semester, “the temporary closing of Belvin-Buchanan will account for the loss of 209 beds and the closing of Smith-Kirkley Hall will account for the loss of 500 beds; however, Raven Village’s opening will give the university 400 beds, and 200 beds in Smith Hall will be used in the event of an overflow of students wanting to live on campus.”

February 2005 Regents Report

Today@Sam identifies the construction and renovation projects  totaling over $42 million that were approved by the Texas State University System Board of Regents, including a bell tower, a new visitor's center, a performing arts center, and a new apartment-style residence hall:

"Basically the projects are just going into design," said John McCrosky, assistant director of facilities planning & construction. "The plan is to tear down small houses McCray and Aydelotte and guest apartments and put up new apartment style dorms. The new complex is going to try and have equal amount of parking spaces, hopefully more than 85% parking for residents. The housing building costs will total $15 million."

The bell tower is projected to be built in front of the administration building and has been budgeted up to $600,000.

"[The board of regents] approved it in the past and they just approved more money to be spent on it," said Frank Krystaniak, director of public relations. "A [contribution] was made by Ron Blatchley of College Station."

The performing arts center is expected to cover up to 75,000 square feet and will contain a concert hall, recital hall, rehearsal halls, practice rooms for individuals and ensembles, classrooms, dance studios, dressing rooms, a scene and lighting shop, computer lab for scene design and dance choreography, a recording studio and office space for faculty and staff.
"The visitor's center will go into construction on March 14th, over Spring Break," said McCrosky. "The total cost will be over $3.2 million."

Additional projects approved by the board of regents will include surveillance cameras for Sam Houston Village and a lowered cost for the Introduction of College Studies course.

What was approved?

• $20 million for a performing arts center
• $15 million for a student apartment complex
• $3.3 million for visitor and alumni center
• $917,000 for phase one design of a recreational area along the Trinity River
• $900,000 for renovation of the Teacher Education Center's first floor design
• $725,000 for renovations and elevators for the Bowers Stadium press box
• $550,000 to design electrical and air conditioning modifications to Belvin Hall
• $455,000 to replace the roofs on the Lee Drain Building and a portion of the Evans building

Ghost Tales of Sam Houston State University

Halloween comes to Huntsville and the staff of the Houstonian does a hair-raising job of digging up some of the stories and legends from SHSU:

"The first story I ever heard was a girl shooting herself in a community bathroom on the ground floor of Belvin-Buchanan Hall. You're supposed to see the silhouette of her face on the wall," [Senior Shelbi] Blackmon said. "Supposedly, that's why there is a wall covering up the two bathrooms," she said.

"On the fire emergency exit map on the back of everyone's dorm room door, the maps on the ground floor show two bathrooms. If it's not true, then why are they on the map?" she asked.

JoEllen Tipton, director of Residence Life, begs to differ. "There has been no such thing like someone shooting themselves, or someone murdering somebody. UPD hasn't ever reported anything of that matter. There has been stories, but even then, in Belvin, there has never been bathrooms on the ground floor. The room on the ground floor that people mistake the bathroom for being, is a maintenance closet that holds air conditioning equipment," she said.

"We've heard the girl's face on the wall story, but none of the staff or faculty has ever seen it. In the late 70s, a lot of girls painted murals on the walls of the ground floor, which is also known as the garden floor. Depending on the paint color on the walls, in between the years, I'm guessing that some of the pictures might still show through the repainting renovations," Tipton said.

Blackmon also heard a rumor of a lady's picture hanging in the lobby of Belvin-Buchanan, that follows students when they walk by. The picture is of an old Residence Manager Mrs. W.H. Fannie Matthews.

Natali Rhymes, a resident manager at Elliott Hall had some grueling stories to share.

"Back in the day, there used to be four dorm rooms on the ground floor. Supposedly, a girl was killed in her room. The rooms were then renovated into a lounge for the bottom floor. If you go to the ground floor of Elliot by yourself at nighttime, you're supposed to see a girl combing her hair in the reflection," said Rhymes.

Anyone interested in seeing the facts for themselves will have to wait. A tar problem on the bottom floor caused the lounge area to be reconstructed. Now, the area is being considered for central staff offices.

Rhymes has had plenty of weird and freaky things happen to her, but the worst was when she was a house manager at the old Chi Omega House, now the Stuart House, which houses the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority.

"...I heard that an old Chi Omega alum hung herself in her shower of one of the rooms. Some of the sorority girls told me about the incident. Anyways, a little while after that, I was doing room checks and the room that she had killed herself wouldn't open with my master key. In fact, you had to go through the suite to get to the room. If you unlocked the door to the bathroom and left, and then came back, the door would be locked," said Rhymes.

"I think it's fun to think something happened because the buildings are so old," [Belvin-Buchanan Hall Resident Manager Jessica Truscott] explained.

A faculty/staff member who didn't want their name published, said that there are ghosts in the Peabody Building and Austin Hall. In the Peabody Building, there is supposedly an older woman in a long black dress who visits the building in the daytime. If the music being played on the radio is not the music the ghost likes, she'll pull the cord out of the socket. In Austin Hall, an elderly maid stands at the end window looking out towards the courthouse. Sam Houston's ghost is also rumored to appear at nighttime in one of the back windows and also looks out.