The Library Renovations: An Update

By: Mikayla Boyd, Editor In Chief

School is back in full swing, and that means many students will be filling up the desks and tables of the Andrew L. Bouwhuis Library and spending many studying sessions there. For those new to campus, the library has been undergoing a series of renovations that are centered around the move of the Student Success Center to the top floor of the library. The news was announced last year and is an exciting prospect for the improvement of the university. With the consolidation of the Student Success Center, which is currently spread across the lower level of Old Main, the third floor of Old Main, the basement of Horan O’Donnell and the lower level of the library, comes a new name: the Golisano Center for Student Success. The new moniker comes on the heels of Rochester philanthropist B. Thomas Golisano’s unrestricted $5 million gift to Canisius. The university is using the gift “to support the construction and future operation of what will be a centralized hub for critical student support services. Canisius is also leveraging Mr. Golisano’s gift to unlock a $1 million New York State Higher Education Capital (HECap) matching grant, which Canisius received in summer 2024.” 

The construction on the Golisano Center for Student Success began in June 2025 and is expected to be complete in spring 2026, with no month specified. The center will be the new home of Academic Achievement, Academic Mentoring, Career Development, the Writing Center, Student Accessibility Services and Canisius Cares. The objective of the consolidation is “to centralize and strengthen student support services by creating a one-stop, welcoming hub where students can connect with and receive the academic, advisement and career resources they will need throughout their educational journey,” according to a comment from Audrey Browka, the university’s director of public relations. President Stoute echoed this sentiment on Aug. 7 when he announced that Mr. Golisano will be the namesake: “Mr. Golisano’s extraordinary gift significantly advances our institutional vision of Canisius as [a] student success university. It enables us to realize a strategic priority outlined in Answer the Call by creating a single, dynamic and engaging student-centered space that brings a multitude of resources together to ensure every student has the support they need to thrive at Canisius.” 

The third floor of the library was previously the quiet floor of the library. Since the start of construction, the lower level of the library has taken on this role. The Griffin asked Kristine Kasbohm, director of the Andrew Bouwhuis Library, how students and library staff have been adjusting to this change. She explains, “We put signs up reminding people that the lower level is now the quiet floor. The signs ask people to text us if there are any noise concerns, so we can address them, but we have not received any texts about noise concerns, and, to my observation, the lower floor has been busy and quiet.” She also mentioned, “Quiet study space is important to students, so we are monitoring the lower level as much as possible. Students should let us know if there are concerns.”

According to communications from last year, changes to the advising model were to accompany the new center. According to the Nov. 1, 2024 issue of The Griffin, “along with the new student success center will come a revised advisement model that will have four professionals serve as advisors for the first two years of a student’s college journey, and then a faculty mentor for your final two years.” The Griffin reached out and followed up this year, asking if there any anticipated changes to the advising staff of the Student Success Center, to which we are awaiting a response.