Many changes have been made and are continuing to be made on Mississippi State University’s campus. New residence halls and the post office moving are two modifications added along with other ongoing improvements. 
    Sid Salter, Chief Communications Officer for the Office of Public Affairs, described the reasoning for the addition of the two new residence halls on the north side of campus. 
    “The two new residence halls, Deavenport and Dogwood, are really state of the art facilities offering excellent opportunities for our students,” Salter said. “Plus, it provided an opportunity for relocating and upgrading the Center for American Veterans, which has been a great priority of the university.”
    Salter said residence halls are always established based on two things. One is the universities goal to be competitive in amenities offered to potential students in comparison with other similar universities as well as the increased student enrollment over the last five years.
  Salter said Sonny Montgomery and John Stennis are two of MSU’s most esteemed alumni who both played important roles in serving America’s veterans and supporting the military.
    “We’re still a Top 20 Military Friendly University, and that’s something that our university takes great pride in, and that center will allow that to continue,” Salter said.
   Salter said that office has been moved to Allen Hall. 
   “Student Affairs, in great measure, backfilled into Allen Hall,” Salter said. “The Vice President of Student Affairs, Dean of Students and a number of those offices are now housed on the sixth floor of Allen Hall.”  
  The Post Office was moved from its previous location to the Roberts Building.
    Salter said the Post Office move was related to the fact that today’s generation has less demand for the traditional Post Office in comparison with past generations. Since many young adults increasingly use e-mail and other forms of digital communication, the post office took advantage of being in an area consisting of smaller square footage. 
    The new location in the Roberts Building provides parking and access from many sides of campus. 
    Tim Muzzi, Director/University Architect, said the new residence halls were built in 16 months, and although students have moved into the new residence halls, there is still exterior work in need of completion.
   The university anticipates taking possession of the new classroom building on the north end of campus in January 2017. This is not a guaranteed date due to delays on the project beyond the university’s control. 
  “The building is five levels,” Muzzi said. “Two levels of it is a parking garage or 60,000 square feet. The top three levels are classrooms, that consist of 90,000 square feet. The total building square footage is 150,000 square feet. Based on the busiest classroom usage and with a student in every seat we anticipate that we can run over 11,600 students a day through the facility.”
   Muzzi said the new classroom building will help take a strain off of other classroom buildings across campus. The classroom building is a Bureau Building’s Project which is financed partly by the state of Mississippi. This gives the Bureau of Buildings complete authority in controlling the project. 
   In addition to new buildings and renovations, expansion is in the process for Mitchell Memorial Library. On the library’s northeast corner, a 21,000 square foot floor is being added which began in July of 2015. 
   Francis N. Coleman, who has served as Dean of Libraries for 17 years, expressed her enthusiasm for the development. 
    “We are real excited about the expansion,” Coleman said. “We’re on schedule if all goes well. The building part will be completed by January 17, 2017.”
    Coleman said it will not only serve as a museum but will also include teaching areas.
 “Immediately following the completion of the construction, we will then be ready to implement the items for the museum and the teaching items area,” Coleman said. “It is really going to be an exquisite museum.” 
   “People can go in and follow the museum,” Coleman said. “There will be special classes that will be in there. It’s really going to be something to see.”
    The museum will serve as a display for the sequence of events in Ulysses S. Grant’s life. The museum will be separated into six areas of Grant’s life, “an Introduction, an Iconic Man, a General, a President, a Statesman and his funeral.” Wax figures of Grant will also be shown pertaining to a timeline in his career. 
   “It will really be an unusual and interesting museum open for tours and programs,” Coleman said. “We always want to be sure that people understand that it will greatly enhance the teaching and research opportunities here. We are especially excited on behalf of our students who can come and see. It will be beneficial to everyone, we hope.” 
    Other things will also be happening soon around campus, such as the re-filling of Chadwick Lake around the end of August or beginning of September and the installation of new water transmission lines.