Cort Condon Hall is UW-Green Bay’s newest residential building, and the first built in over a decade. This construction feat is part of the university’s efforts to expand the living options for students. The new hall demonstrates the university’s commitment to offering contemporary, convenient, and cost-effective housing for its expanding student body, which has recently experienced enrollment growth. It features facilities like high-speed internet, eco-friendly improvements, and areas crafted to enrich the students academically and socially. The building’s architecture boasts a futuristic design with sustainable enhancements, showcasing the university’s focus on environmentally responsible infrastructure. It will certainly not be the last residential building that UW-Green Bay will build as the current buildings grow older.
Cort Condon, a sophomore/second-year residence hall, was completed in August 2024. It is a four-floor building that houses 200 students, with one resident mentor responsible for each floor. The hall is a mix of two- and four-person shared-bedroom apartments that can house up to four students per apartment as the campus aims to move into the future and create a communal space.
The hall is named after Gerald “Cort” Condon, an influential advocate for student housing and a key figure in the University Village Housing partnership. Condon is a corporate and tax attorney with strong ties to the Green Bay area. The hall symbolizes Condon’s commitment to accessible and affordable student housing. Condon has played a big part in building housing for students at UW-Green Bay through University Village Housing, Inc., a nonprofit that works with the university.
It has been two months since the building was completed, and the school year is now in full swing. Students living in Cort Condon Hall report that the experience has been both a privilege and a unique opportunity. Capturing the significance of Cort Condon Hall from multiple perspectives, including student residents and housing employees, is key as UWGB continues to grow and evolve. This growth reflects the university’s broader goals of building a stronger community.
Through this project, the university has gained valuable feedback in this first step toward a bright future. Housing Director Kelly Thacker mentioned the importance of student input, university cooperation, and different options, as outlined in the following bullet points.
- There need to be many different groups involved from the start of the project to ensure all needs are being met.
- Continue to work with the campus and community to ensure what is being built is meeting student and community needs.
- Get the input of students to help in making decisions, where makes sense and will work. UWGB set up various furniture options for students to see, review, and rate.
Collaboration is essential for fostering a better, more vibrant urban environment on the UW-Green Bay campus. In an ideal future, the campus will offer spaces where students can study, whether privately or with friends, while also providing opportunities for building a strong sense of community. When asked about how these advancements can heighten the student experience Thacker brought up a few points worth nothing.
- Create space for students to interact with each other within their living environment.
- Provide a living environment that is safe and state of the art, increasing the technology that is available.
- Create spaces to bring others, specifically academic staff, into the buildings to do collaborative learning.
To add to Thacker’s points, an investment in the cultural arts will help cultivate the fiery Phoenix spirit within students. A vibrant campus would be filled with cultural, artistic, and recreational programming, such as art exhibitions, music performances, and film screenings, to promote creative expression and student engagement. One can foresee students coming together to create murals within the new buildings.
The Housing masterplan is an important resource as it helps give us a clear insight into what the future could look like. As stated on the UW-Green Bay Master Plan page, “Integrated into the process were the Master Plan Core Team, faculty, staff, administration, students, community, and local business and governmental officials. The planning process included workshop sessions with the Core Team and group discussions with all pertinent campus constituents. Milestone presentations of the analysis, findings, and various planning scenarios were given along the way.” When discussing the Master Plan of UW-Green Bay, it answers the questions of what might become of the older residential buildings when new ones are inevitably built. It’s important to note that the fate of the older residential buildings will not be decided for a long time. Thacker’s points highlight this: “Currently, student occupancy is high, and therefore, we need to use all our campus buildings. As we are able, we plan to use the traditional shared-bedroom apartment spaces for guest housing.”
Two Student Perspectives: Resident and Resident Mentor
Jeremy Thompson is a well-involved student and one of the four resident mentors in Cort Condon Hall. Thompson shares his unique perspective of being a housing representative and learning about the building. “It has been rather unique and quite challenging. I am the building’s representative for housing, and I am just as new to the building as everyone else. Even housing is still figuring out the complexities of this facility. People expect to have the answers, which is fine! I’m very happy when residents come to me with questions. I just don’t quite know everything yet, as I am learning alongside everyone else.”
What Thompson views as an ideal on-campus experience is as follows: “I think the students prefer privacy and peace. The idea of CCH was to bring people together, and those who want to socialize have been socializing, but those who don’t want to will keep to themselves. In either case, having a space for both preferences would be nice.” Thompson was straightforward about his views on the future of UW-Green Bay. “I’m not so worried about the future. As a student, employee, and resident who’s passing through his third out of four years, the future campus is a campus for someone else. It would be nice if UWGB could focus on the needs of the students in the present.”
Regarding criticisms and feedback, Veeder said, “I would say some of the negatives would be that the fire alarms seem to be set off so easily, even with steam from a shower.”
Tristian Veeder, a student resident in Cort Condon Hall, shared some positives of Cort Condon from his experience so far: “The new building offers up-to-date necessities when compared to other housing buildings on campus.”
