{"id":29642,"date":"2021-07-26T06:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-07-26T11:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/?p=29642"},"modified":"2021-07-26T01:35:42","modified_gmt":"2021-07-26T06:35:42","slug":"austin-peay-celebrates-90-years-of-residence-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.discoverclarksville.com\/articles\/2021\/07\/26\/austin-peay-celebrates-90-years-of-residence-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Austin Peay celebrates 90 years of Residence Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"AustinClarksville, TN<\/strong> – In the fall of 1931, Austin Peay Normal School students eagerly watched construction crews put the finishing touches on an impressive new dormitory.<\/p>\n

The Myra McKay Harned Hall, with its \u201ccolumns and polish marble floors,\u201d would soon become the centerpiece of a young campus crowded with old, deteriorating academic buildings, left over from the defunct schools \u2013 Stewart College and Montgomery County Masonic College \u2013 that once occupied the Austin Peay grounds.<\/p>\n

\"Harned<\/a>

Harned Hall under construction at Austin Peay Normal School. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/p>\n

Another year would pass before the finished building officially opened \u2013 furnishing it apparently took several frustrating months \u2013 but once students walked through its doors, Harned Hall exceeded their expectations.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe long, stately building which crowns a bowl at the northeastern end of campus, is seen these days from the street, through bare boughs and presents indeed an architectural vista of distinction,\u201d the All State, the school\u2019s student newspaper, reported in 1932.<\/p>\n

In the years that followed, the building would serve as a women\u2019s dormitory, house Navy cadets during World War II, outlast a local effort to have it demolished and narrowly survive a powerful E3 tornado. Today, Harned Hall is the oldest building on the APSU campus, but as the first official structure built specifically for Austin Peay, it also represents the school\u2019s 90-year commitment to the benefits of living on campus.<\/p>\n

This 90th anniversary is an important milestone in the University\u2019s history, because residence halls form the lifeblood of this campus, often providing the most lasting and meaningful experiences of a student\u2019s academic career.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor years Harned was the only place on campus (where) students could entertain,\u201d the late Mabel Meacham, former APSU Dean of Women, said in 1987. \u201cAll the (Homecoming) queens were crowned there. The stately columns and polish marble floors are a far cry from the 50-yard line.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Austin<\/a>

Austin Peay students continue to make memories in housing. (APSU)<\/p><\/div>\n

That same year, Student Government Association Secretary Sandy Rose reminisced about the memories that were made in the former women\u2019s dormitory.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father proposed to my mother in that building,\u201d Rose told The All State.<\/p>\n

Today, those memories are being made in Austin Peay\u2019s 11 new or newly renovated residence halls, from Castle Heights with its impressive views of Downtown Clarksville to the three Georgian-style buildings that surround the grassy residential quad along Drane Street.<\/p>\n

[320left]\u201cWhen a family comes up here and sees our housing, that often makes the difference for them,\u201d Joe Mills, director of housing and assistant vice president for student affairs, said. \u201cI will put our entire stock of housing against any other school.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the last 20 years, the University has invested aggressively in housing, with about 2,000 beds available on campus, because of the way residence halls promote student success. Studies conducted by Indiana University-Purdue and Kent State concluded that students living on campus have higher Grade Point Averages, and a University of Central Florida study found that on-campus students are more likely to stay in school and graduate.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the campus experience is to get students to be exposed to people different then themselves, learn things like managing your time, get along with different people,\u201d Mills said. \u201cWe really preach that living on campus is getting that education outside the classroom. And they\u2019re making lifelong friends. Students don\u2019t realize it when they\u2019re in it, but years after they graduate, they still have friends they talk to that they met in Killebrew Hall, in Rawlings Hall.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is Your College<\/h3>\n
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