Page 4 - Spirit of Conway July 2016

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SUNDAY, JULY 31, 2016 SPIRIT OF CONWAY • RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION OF THE ARKANSAS DEMOCRATGAZETTE
WILLIAM HARVEY/RIVER VALLEY & OZARK EDITION
The University of Central Arkansas’ new Donaghey Hall, set to open in August, will house students on the top three floors, while the bottom floor will consist of various businesses, including a restaurant and coffee shop.
Education
on the move
Construction transforming several Conway campuses
ByTammy Keith and Spencer Griffin
SPECIAL SECTIONS WRITERS
Students returning to their campuses in August will see more fun places and education spaces — and that’s just the beginning.
At the University of Central Arkansas, the four-story $16.7 million Donaghey Hall is sched- uled to open in August for students, who will fill 165 beds on the upper three floors. It will soon have a bottom floor full of tenants.
T.J. Johnston, UCA director of special projects and community affairs, said the project is “com- pletely on time.”
Tenants — scheduled to open in September and October, Johnston said — include Mosaique Bistro and Grill, which was approved for a liquor permit; Marble Slab ice cream; Blue Sail Coffee; Uncle T’s Deli and Grocery; and what’s called a makerspace, where people can get together, collaborate on ideas and “make things,” Johnston
said. It will have a 3-D printer and technology “for the best and brightest,” he said.
Johnston said that a few weeks ago UCA partnered with the Arkansas Regional Innovation Hub, a nonprofit organization that has state Rep. Warwick Sabin, D-Little Rock, as its executive director, on the makerspace project.
“Warwick Sabin’s team will help us with some of the programming and facilitate the K-12 population that will run through that [makerspace] program as well,” Johnston said. He said the innovation hub in North Little Rock has a successful makerspace,“a much bigger version of what we’re doing.”
Johnston said Sabin and his team will offer UCA the experience they have running the makerspace program and help communicate with administra- tors at schools. UCA students will be encouraged to participate in the makerspace, too, Johnston said.
Donaghey Hall’s signature feature, a bear in the air, should be ready in August, too, Johnston said. Bryan Massey, a professor of art, was com- missioned to sculpt a stainless-steel bear to hang