UNT's 6,000-square-foot stand-alone Greek Life Center, the first of its kind in the country, opened this spring. This fall, it began offering tutoring and other programs for all UNT students through partners such as UNT's Learning Center and Career Center. The $2.6 million facility, which is aiming for Gold LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council, furnishes a place for Greeks who do not have fraternity or sorority houses to meet and work, gives Greek life alumni a welcoming site to visit and offers space for UNT organizations to reserve for meetings. And UNT engineering students and researchers in the Zero Energy Lab provided energy performance evaluation for the design of the Greek Life Center in order to achieve the LEED certification.

"We're very thankful for this new facility," says Jason Biggs, assistant dean of students for Greek Life. "It's a demonstration of the university's commitment to have the best Greek community that we can provide to our students."

Central Location

The new center is nestled among the sororities and fraternities on Welch Street in Denton – a prime location on campus. It offers a central meeting site to all Greek organizations, including ones without a fraternity or sorority house. Less than half of UNT's 39 fraternities and sororities have residences. The students who serve on the four Greek councils, the governing bodies of the fraternities and sororities, now have a designated room in which to work, complete with computers and Internet access.

Partnerships

With space to seat 125 people, the Greek Life Chapter Room is available for any UNT organization or individual to reserve for events. Features include four pull-down projector screens. Programs offered through partnerships here, open to all UNT students, include tutoring and student workshops on skills such as money management and resume building. Outside the center is a green space that also can be reserved for use.

Name recognition

Brick pavers that surround the facility give people connected to UNT the chance to have their names engraved on the campus for a fee. Donations from alumni and friends of the university will help pay for the facility, and 25 percent of all money raised goes toward scholarships for students in Greek organizations. Learn how you can order your paver and find out about other naming opportunities by emailing Kathleen Black, director of development in student affairs.