Cindy Hughey, executive director of the Lester & Jewell Morris Hillel Jewish Student Center at Michigan State University, recently announced that MSU Hillel is expanding its two-story, 10,000 sq. ft. facility on Charles Street in East Lansing, to accommodate an increasing Jewish student population on campus.
MSU Hillel building.
Building began in September to add 2,500 square feet of space to enlarge the first floor dining room and meat kitchen. The second floor expansion includes building onto the sanctuary, adding two offices and a multipurpose room.
MSU Hillel Board President Patrice Morris Phillips and her brother, Robert Morris, and the Prentis Family Support Foundation made the expansion a reality. Stuart J. Fine & Associates, a West Bloomfield-based architectural firm, was awarded the contract for the project, which will be completed in January 2009.
Patrice Phillips says the larger facility and added amenities will reflect the programming, studying and spiritual needs of Jewish MSU students.
"Since October of 2002 when the new building was dedicated, we have outgrown our space," Hughey said. "In fact, on a recent Shabbat we served 325 dinners and had to tent the street to make room for our students."
At the beginning of the fall semester, more than 350 Jewish freshmen arrived at MSU, and in total there are 3,500 Jewish students enrolled at the university.
Hughey said that the increasing Jewish student population presents an exciting opportunity to "engage, inspire and empower the next generation of Jewish leaders."
MSU Hillel looks forward to inviting visitors to its beautiful building when it is completed.