GSU ‘building’ under Lemelle

Grambling State University is building.

Building new structures, yes, but in so doing, GSU is building up the student experience of getting an education on its campus.

That’s why President Martin Lemelle, Jr., as he enters his first full academic year at GSU’s helm, is leaning into the phrase “Tell them we’re building” as a central theme for this season of the storied university’s history.

“It’s one of those things that organically starts to come together as you think about capital investment across our campus,” Lemelle said. “It’s an exciting time at Grambling State University.” Lemelle, the youngest president of a Historically Black College and University in the nation, is set to be honored with GSU’s first-ever investiture ceremony Friday at 9 a.m. in the arena of the Fredrick C. Hobdy Assembly Center.

His roughly six-month tenure has already been marked by multiple large- scale facilities projects.

In June the university broke ground on a $25 million Student Success Center building in the quadrangle, and this month the doors opened on the long-awaited, $16.6 million Digital Library and Learning Commons. Both facilities will serve as hubs of sorts for various student services and features. The Student Success Center will consolidate services like registration, admissions, housing, and financial aid into one modernized location, while the Digital Library houses a wide array of research, study, and event opportunities and more.

“All of these things lead to an experience,” Lemelle said. “An experience that’s grounded in preparing future leaders to connect, to learn and to grow. And those things help us to stay competitive.

“The college environment at this point is sincerely competitive because you have the power of choice. Grambling State University is constantly refining its value proposition so that we’re at the top of mind and top of choice for students today and students of the future.”

The Digital Library was funded by state allocations, while the Student Success Center was made possible by a $25 million federal COVID-19 relief grant to Black and Gold Facilities, Inc., a private nonprofit fundraising wing of the university.

Though he’s not ready to reveal it, Lemelle said the next “we are building” project for GSU is known internally and on its way.

Whether it’s making routine tasks like registration more convenient for students or allowing them increased access to research and publication tools, elevating the campus experience is about more than making GSU more appealing to potential students — it’s about fulfilling the promise contained in the university’s motto: “ Where everybody is somebody.”

“We want to deliver, and overdeliver, on that promise,” Lemelle said. “When you offer that up as an experience, you match to match that with the buildings, the instructional space, the pedagogy. Am I being challenged in my environment? Am I being connected to the right career prospects? So everything within our environment has to match that ethos where everybody is somebody.”