On August 15th, students will move into the newly constructed Global Scholars Hall located on Cougar Way.

Travel-weary student drivers and parents will jam-pack the usually calm streets of Pullman, eager to move into various residence halls. Cars stacked with boxes and plastic bins will line up along every sidewalk as students and parents flocked to the check-in areas.

As drivers and pedestrians pass by Global Scholars, they notice the difference between this new building and some of the other halls built in the 1900s.

First of all, the architect designed Global Scholars to look more modern and sleek, with its elongated glass windows and architectural C-shaped design centered around an outdoor courtyard.

With its air-conditioned rooms, terrace, and in-hall market, Global Scholars hall has set a higher standard for on-campus living at Washington State University.

According to the WSU Housing and Residence Life website, Global Scholars is able to house up to 275 residents. It consists of five floors with a combination of single and double rooms. Each floor has common spaces with community bathrooms, kitchens and laundry facilities. On the ground floor, students can enjoy a living room and recreation area as well as an Einstein Bagels.

Meanwhile, residents assigned to the fifth floor will be living in apartment-style suites with kitchens and semi-private bathrooms that can fit four to six students.

“The theme of active spaces has been or is now prevalent in all our newer buildings. Our older buildings have maybe one floor lounge,” said Edwin Hamada, the director of Residence Life.

“I think the physical concept of a place where people will interact and watch TV and not disturb people that actually want quiet spaces, that maybe want a smaller study area where there is no TV or everything like that, is one of the biggest differences between our new and old buildings,” he said. 

With more common spaces available, Hamada hopes that the newer buildings encourage more community development and social interactions.

As its name suggests, the aim of Global Scholars is to build a resident community that emphasizes academics and cultural diversity.

In order to stress these themes, TJ Martin, the Residential Education Director of Global Scholars, has created leadership-focused initiatives that involve collaborating with multiple WSU departments and offices.

The Global Scholars hall staff has also established a programming model that tries to focus on the building’s themes and meet community needs. Hamada anticipates that Global Scholars residents will be encouraged to explore and expand their intellectual horizons.

The renovation of Community Duncan-Dunn and the recent constructions of Global Scholars and Northside are just the starting points of WSU’s long-term housing plans. In the next couple of years, the Housing and Residence Life department intends to renovate the all-female Wilmer-Davis residence hall.

Along with Wilmer-Davis, there are plans to renovate other halls. Robert Tattershall, director of Housing and Conference Services, said “We have a long-term plan that includes the additional renovations of Stimson and Stevens. We are going to tear down Streit-Perham and rebuild here (housing office)…The long-term plan also shows that Regents will go away.”

However, many components of the long-term housing plans are subject to change.

The structure and amenities of the newer residence halls like Olympia, Northside, and Global Scholars act as a model of what Housing and Residence Life would like to achieve in the future.

“They are a guide to what we hope we will be able to do,” said Tattershall.