Dear UP Editors and Staff:

The article by Jessica Payne in the June 17 University Press highlighting the new Student Support Services Building was very informative and helpful in letting the FAU community know about the wonderful changes that have come about. The building is a great addition to our campus and is very helpful in meeting many student needs in one convenient place.

However, the first paragraphs of that article also give the impression that the old facilities above the Breezeway Food Court are all but abandoned, and that is truly not the case. In addition to the Multicultural Affairs office, the Dean of Student Affairs offices and the Counseling Center remain, and all of us have been open on a continuous basis, contrary to the implications in the article. Student Health will also be utilizing part of the space in the future as they expand their services. Another point of inaccuracy in the article is that Student Health has moved to the new building. Only the Immunizations part of their operation has moved there, while the main Student Health offices are located where they have been across the upper Breezeway from us.

In the Counseling Center, we are expanding into much needed space that was vacated by Financial Aid and the Testing Office. Renovations are now proceeding that will give us an attractive and comfortable space for the benefit of students. We will have a spacious waiting room and a first class multipurpose room that will allow us to have groups, presentations, and classes in our own area for the first time. We will be able to serve students better than in the much smaller space we have had for such a long time.

So, we need your help to inform people about the fact that we have not moved and that we continue to be available to students. I’m more than pleased that the offices for Financial Aid, Testing, the Career Center and many others have moved to larger and more usable space in the new building. But it is important for students and others to know that we are where we have always been, ready to work with students who have psychological counseling needs, whether that is something that is quickly resolved or something more difficult. And we will have facilities that help us do an even better job at it.

We hope to have our renovations completed fully by the time the fall semester begins or even before that. We will be moving our main entrance down the hall to where the Testing entrance used to be.

David L. Wallace, Ph.D.Director, Student Counseling CenterStudent Services Building