Lindenwood Officials Name New Student Center After Evans

The Lindenwood University Board of Directors has announced that the school’s new 119,000-square-foot student center will be named The Evans Commons in recognition of Lindenwood President James D. Evans.

The new student center is scheduled to open this summer.

The $20-million building is in its final phase of construction and is expected to open by July.

“The Board of Directors’ tremendous gesture came as a complete surprise to me, and I found myself at once both humbled and immensely pleased and grateful,” Evans responded via e-mail.

“To me, this generous action means that members of our board view my three and a half decades of service as significant in the grand scheme of things at the Lindenwood. I feel more blessed than at any other time in my life, and I very much look forward to the years ahead at this extraordinary university.”

Evans, who started work at Lindenwood in 1974, served as professor of psychology, dean of social sciences, dean of sciences, dean of faculty, provost, and acting president before being appointed president in February 2007.

“The board is pleased to take this action in recognition of Dr. Evans’ many years of exemplary service to the university as a professor and as an administrator, as well as his outstanding leadership as Lindenwood’s president,” said Jim J. Shoemake, chairman of the Lindenwood Board of Directors, according to a news release.

Lindenwood spokesman Chris Duggan said it’s not unprecedented for Lindenwood officials to name a building after a sitting president.

“The board named the Spellmann Center after Dr. Spellmann while he was president,” Duggan said.

Dennis Spellmann served as Lindenwood University president from 1989 until his death in 2006. He has been credited with bringing the university back from the verge of closing. When he took over as president, the St. Charles campus had about 800 students. When he died, it had about 15,000 students.

Evans has continued the course as enrollment continues to grow, adding the Scheidegger Center for the Arts, new student housing, a new dining hall and exercise facility and renovating existing buildings. The university also plans a 43,450-square-foot athletic building, scheduled to open in the fall of 2012.

A building dedication ceremony for Evans Commons will be early in the fall semester.