Massengale Residential Center grand opening Oct. 11

September 26, 2017

Lincoln, Neb. — The University of Nebraska–Lincoln will celebrate the grand opening of the Massengale Residential Center on Oct. 11. The new center, on the university’s East Campus, welcomed its first residents for the 2017 fall semester.

The celebration will take place from 3 to 4:30 p.m. at the residential center, located at 1705 Arbor Drive, Lincoln, Neb.

Offering an estimated 370 beds in a mix of traditional and apartment-style units, the new residential center is built immediately north of C.Y. Thompson Library and east of the Nebraska East Union. The new space replaced the 300-bed, 1950s-era Burr and Fedde residence halls. Plans for the area around Burr-Fedde are being developed by university administrators. 

The center features an open layout, more common area spaces, floor lounges and large meeting spaces to accommodate group study.  The center also offers views of a prairie grass planting area to the east and the Earl G. Maxwell Arboretum to the south. Other features include a game room, social areas, a courtyard firepit area, study rooms and a location near the updated East Campus Recreation and Wellness Center.

“The Massengale Residential Center is a phenomenal living, learning space for our students to call home,” said Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources Harlan Vice Chancellor Mike Boehm.

Martin and Ruth Massengale, for whom the center was named, will be honored during the grand opening. Martin Massengale transitioned into retirement earlier this year after more than four decades at the university. He first came to Nebraska in 1976 as vice chancellor of the Institute of Agriculture and Natural Resources, and became Nebraska’s 16th chancellor in 1981, a post he held for 10 years. Massengale was both interim president of the University of Nebraska system and chancellor at Nebraska from August 1989 until his permanent appointment as president in 1991. When the Center for Grassland Studies was formed within IANR in 1994, Massengale became the founding director.

Visitor parking for grand opening guests will be available in the lot north of the College of Dentistry.