RADFORD – Radford University celebrated the opening of its new Artis Center for Adaptive Innovation and Creativity with a ribbon-cutting and dedication ceremony on Sept. 5, 2024.
The new center, which opened to students at the beginning of the 2024 fall semester, is a state-of-the-art complex that fuses the arts, health sciences and technology in modern teaching environments tailored to stimulate creativity and innovation.
“Students will experience classroom settings that are tailored to their needs, designed for maximum learning and exchange and where they can still find that out-of-the-way nook for a late-night study or a group practice session,” Radford University President Bret Danilowicz, Ph.D., said at the Thursday afternoon ceremony. “We are only just beginning to understand the Artis Center’s full potential, but the possibilities are endless.”
The 178,000 square-feet Artis Center is the largest academic building on Radford’s campus, as well as the largest capital construction project in the history the university. The Artis Center is home to the university’s College of Visual and Performing Arts and benefits students in the Waldron College of Health and Human Services and the College of Nursing. Additionally, the Artis Center is a destination for regional K-12 school groups and community members.
The Artis Center houses a 500-seat proscenium theatre, 200-seat studio theatre, a performance hub with learning stairs and a courtyard with an amphitheater.
Educational spaces include a group clinic space with six clinic spaces and observation rooms, a large active-learning classroom for nursing, recording studio, photography and ceramics labs, Maker Space, fashion and interior design studios, active-learning classrooms, dance studios, theatre studios and shops, drawing and painting studios, and music education and music therapy classrooms.
The Artis Center is named for Pat and Nancy Artis, the latter a 1973 Radford University graduate and the recipient of an honorary doctorate in 2021. Pat Artis serves as an educator in Virginia Tech’s Department of Aerospace and Ocean Engineering.
Pat and Nancy Artis “have been extraordinary supporters of Radford University in all ways volunteering together on the TOGETHER Campaign Steering Committee, serving as role models to inspire others to both give back and pay it forward, and providing philanthropic funds in support of facilities, student scholarships and more,” President Danilowicz said.
“Pat and Nancy,” the president continued, “thank you for all you do for Radford University. You are creating a legacy at this institution that will live in perpetuity.”
Radford University
