President Stiefel and NUHS Board of Trustees Chair Tom Schonauer unveiled a new student social hub in Janse Hall, named “The Eagle’s Nest,” at a festive gathering on Monday, October 13^th.  The remodeled lounge area joins together a former leisure area in the back of the campus store and an adjacent vending machine snack room.

Students, faculty and staff circled the glass entryway, watching the curtain drop to reveal the gleaming new student lounge. President Stiefel presented students attending the event with commemorative T-shirts to celebrate the opening of “The Eagle’s Nest,” while everyone enjoyed refreshments and a chance to explore the remodeled gathering space.

NUHS Vice President for Business Services Ron Mensching says: “We improved this area in response to needs identified in comprehensive university space planning studies. We’ve also improved group study areas in the LRC, and placed other small study and social nooks around campus, with a focus on upgrading off-hours study environments for students.”

A movable glass partition separates the lounge area from the campus store, so that the students can easily purchase coffee and snacks when the store is open, but still access the lounge when the store is closed. Features of The Eagle’s Nest include vending machines, microwave ovens, dry-erase boards, outlets for charging tech devices, both bar height and regular tables, and a wide variety of seating styles to choose from. The designer color palette incorporates the school colors.

“In the past, we had no late night study areas open in Janse for those students who were night owls,” says Tom Rohner, director of facilities for NUHS. “With the new Eagle’s Nest lounge, students will have a comfortable place to study, even after the campus store and classrooms are closed. The lounge will be open 24 hours per day.”

Rohner estimates that the new lounge can comfortably seat 50 students. The university chose eco-friendly products wherever possible in the lounge, including flooring and carpeting from recycled goods, low VOC adhesives, and energy-efficient LED fixtures with an improved lighting spectrum.

While the lounge is named in honor of the university’s official mascot, the NUHS eagle had no name before today’s ceremony. That’s why staff from the Lincoln College of Postprofessional, Graduate and Continuing Education held a contest to name the NUHS eagle, gathering submissions prior to the lounge’s opening. At the ceremony, President Stiefel announced the winning submission, officially naming the NUHS eagle “Fitz.” The name commemorates the institution’s founding father, John Fitz Alan Howard.

Congratulating the many individuals involved in the project’s completion, President Stiefel said: “We are moving forward together as a university to meet identified students needs, keeping our campus a dynamic place for both learning and coming together as a community.”