Tykeson Hall Fast Facts
- $39 million
- Among the first facilities of its kind in higher education
- Five stories, 64,000 square feet
- Opens in fall 2019
- New home for College of Arts and Sciences advising and the UO Career Center, co-locating and integrating both academic and career advising so students can immediately consider career implications
- 340 general classroom seats, 48 seats for introductory composition classes and mathematics tutoring and a 24-seat seminar room
- Priority for new classrooms will be general required courses, welcoming students from across campus
- New CAS Commons, designed to become a hub of activity for students
- Advising for undeclared students on the main floor; focused, themed advising for general-education requirements and majors on the second floor; and introductory composition and math classes, tutoring and advising on the third floor.
- The offices of the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, the vice president for equity and inclusion, and the vice president for student life will be on the fourth floor. The Teaching Effectiveness Program and leaders from undergraduate studies will be on the garden level below the first floor.
- $17 million matching commitment in general obligation bonds from the state of Oregon
- Donors have contributed $16 million, and another $1 million is needed to acquire matching funds of $17 million from the state
- 130 total donors
The UO broke ground Friday on Willie and Donald Tykeson Hall, a new $39 million facility going up between Johnson and Chapman Hall that will accelerate the university’s efforts to lead the way and address a growing challenge in higher education.
Tykeson Hall will help the UO demonstrate how it can offer a greater return on investment for students and their families and show that education in the liberal arts can launch them on the path to lifelong career success.
“Today we celebrate potential — for this building as well as future Ducks,” said President Michael H. Schill. “Of course, new construction for academics is always exciting. But it’s even more exciting to imagine what our graduates will accomplish because of this new building in the heart of our campus. We’re very grateful to Don and Willie Tykeson, the rest of our generous donors and the state of Oregon for its funding commitment.”
Combining modern, spacious design with classic campus architecture, Tykeson Hall will bring academic and career advising under one roof, an innovative approach that will help create an integrated suite of services for undergraduates. The goal is to help students discover their academic passion, create a vision of their personal and professional future and devise a plan for getting there.
“This day has been three years in the making,” said W. Andrew Marcus, Tykeson Dean of Arts and Sciences. “In 2014, we sat down to lunch with Don Tykeson and hatched a plan. And now we are ready to begin construction, because Don and Willie Tykeson shared our vision for a new era of advising in higher education.
Marcus said that vision will soon give UO students new tools to better guide their university experience from the time they first set foot on campus until graduation and tie those experiences to their career goals.
“We want to help students navigate college intentionally and give them the ability to articulate the specific skills they’ve acquired,” he said. “How can they map their valuable liberal arts education and experiences to careers? We need to give them the vocabulary, facts and concrete evidence of their own performance that will help build their portfolios and make a good case to employers. This building is not only a symbol of this aspiration but a tool that will help us reach it.”
The late Don Tykeson, a 1951 UO graduate, and Willie Tykeson kicked off the project with a lead gift of $10 million in 2014. More donors followed suit and, with the strong support of Eugene-area legislators, the state contributed $17 million in general obligation bonds to help finance the project. The building is scheduled to open in fall 2019.
