Campus Tours

Attendees will have the opportunity to participate in 2 campus tours during the 2008 conference. Two tours are offered in each time slot. Please indicate which tour you would like to participate in when you are registering for the conference. Pre-registraiton is required and space is limited. Wait lists will be created for any tour that sells out.

Tour Dates & Times

Monday, November 3
9 am – Noon

Tour 1 - University of Illinois at Chicago – Student Recreation Facility and UIC Forum

Tour 2 - DePaul University – Lincoln Park Campus Student Center and Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center

Tuesday, November 4
2 -5 pm

Tour 3 - Illinois Institute of Technology – McCormick Tribune Campus Center and State Street Village Residential Complex

Tour 4 - DePaul University Loop Campus and University Center of Chicago

Transportation Notes

Transportation costs for all of the tours are included in the registration fee. Please note that the tours require walking outside the conference hotel to public transportation venues or to a chartered bus. Participants will see as many venues on each campus as is allowed in that time period; this will require a significant amount of walking throughout the tour. If you require special assistance in moving between venues, please contact Ms. Abby Sipe (434-245-8425, x238 / abby@nacas.org) in advance so we can make special arrangements.

Tour Descriptions

Tour 1 - University of Illinois at Chicago

Student Recreation Facility and UIC Forum

Sponsored by: Nu Vision Networks

This tour will showcase two relatively new facilities at UIC – the Student Recreation Facility which opened in March, 2006 and the UIC Forum, a conference and event facility which opened in February, 2008. The Student Recreation Facility includes traditional recreation center amenities such as a jogging track, fitness center, basketball courts, and racquetball/squash courts. Additionally, the building includes an aquatics center featuring both lap and leisure style pool facilities, a 42 foot climbing wall, and a juice bar. The UIC Forum is a new conference/event center which includes a 23,000 square foot Main Hall with 7,000 square feet of breakout space all attached to a new residential complex. The facility serves campus events and, on a rental basis, non university clients.

Bus transportation from the conference hotel to the UIC Campus will be provided for this tour. Participants will walk between the two facilities, approximately two blocks.

Pictured: UIC - Student Recreation Facility

Tour 2 - DePaul University – Lincoln Park Campus

Student Center and Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center

Sponsored by: Blackboard Inc.

DePaul University’s Lincoln Park Student Center opened in January, 2002. The 145,000 square foot facility helped transform the University’s Lincoln Park Campus from its historic role as a commuter campus into a more traditional university campus. The Lincoln Park Student Center offers four distinct dining platforms in its role as the main dining room for the residential population. The brick and steel structure houses a clear span ballroom and nine multipurpose meeting spaces, a variety of Student Affairs offices, a coffee bar, the campus banking and ID card services, computer lounge and workstations, a chapel joined with an interfaith sacred space, the Lincoln Park campus’ admissions office, and a variety of campus services. The Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center, opened in 2000, features 120,000 square feet of space with the latest fitness equipment, programs, and services to meet the recreational needs of the DePaul campus.

Transportation for this tour will be provided via the Chicago Transit Authority Elevated Train line. Participants will walk approximately 4 blocks from the hotel to the “L” station and back after the tour.

Pictured: Lincoln Park Student Center

Tour 3 - Illinois Institute of Technology

McCormick Tribune Campus Center and State Street Village Residential Complex

The Illinois Institute of Technology’s main campus is located just three miles south of the Chicago Loop. The campus is home to 19 buildings designed by world-renowned Ludwig Mies van der Rhoe (1886-1969). While touring the campus, among many of the highlights, you will have a chance to see two of the university’s newest buildings added in 2003. The McCormick Tribune Campus Center, or the MTCC, opened September 30, 2003 as the first building designed by notable architect Rem Koolhaas within the United States. The MTCC includes dining facilities, an auditorium, ballroom and meeting rooms, student organization offices, the campus bookstore, a coffee bar, a post office and a convenience store. The building also embraces the old; uniquely connecting itself to the Mies-designed Commons Building, which is used as a central dining hall. Also completed in 2003, the State Street Village (SSV) was designed by Helmut Jahn of Murphy-Jahn Associates and is IIT's newest residential facility. SSV consists of three, five-story buildings facing State Street. The buildings contain 367 beds in two suite style buildings (two students per bedroom) and one apartment-style building (one student per bedroom). Both apartments and suites contain bathrooms which are shared with no more than three others. State Street Village accommodates 367 students.

Pictured: State Street Village Residential Complex

Tour 4 - DePaul University Loop Campus and University Center of Chicago

Sponsored by: Blackboard Inc.

The first part of this tour will feature a visit to DePaul University’s Loop Campus Student Center situated on the eleventh floor of what was once the Goldblatt’s Department Store on Chicago’s State Street. Now known as the DePaul Center, the University purchased the former Goldblatt building in 1993 and transformed it into a multipurpose facility to serve DePaul’s Loop Campus. This urban Student Center features a dining center and multipurpose dining room for this commuter campus, a gallery lounge, meeting rooms, Student Affairs support offices including and Adult Student Center, a commuter lounge and an outdoor terrace. This portion of the tour will also include a visit to the Barnes and Noble academic superstore that opened in 2004. The store is on two floors of the DePaul Center and features the best qualities of a Barnes & Noble superstore and a traditional college bookstore. The unique layout on the street level of the DePaul Center in Chicago’s south loop includes a coffee shop and reading area overlooking the intersection of State Street and Jackson Boulevard.

Part two of this tour will take participants two blocks south to University Center - an 18-story residence hall providing housing for students from Columbia College Chicago, DePaul University and Roosevelt University. University Center is owned by a separate not-for-profit corporate entity made up of the three schools and is managed by U.S. Equities Student Housing. This state-of-the-art student residence opened in the fall of 2004. The University Center provides students with an exciting residential environment in a stimulating urban setting and is the nation’s largest multi-institutional student residence. The tour will begin with an overview of how the project concept was developed, followed by a walking tour of the facilities to view the layout of the suite-style and apartment-style housing options, innovative common areas, year-round conference center and the 350-seat resident Center Dining facility.

Bus transportation from the hotel to tour sites will be provided for this tour. Participants will walk between the two facilities, approximately two blocks.

Pictured University Center of Chicago