Jill Smith
Contributing Writer
[email protected]

The Curris Center reached a major milestone this year: it has served as Murray State’s student center for 40 years.

To celebrate the anniversary, the Curris Center is hosting a birthday party on Friday, Oct. 1, from 11 a.m.-1 p.m.

The Director of the Curris Center and Student Life Re’Nita Avery said they are celebrating with a lot of games, food and music.

“We will have a DJ, different types of games, such as hula-hoop dance-off, Jenga, Connect-4, so a lot of different types of activities for students to participate in,” Avery said.

Avery said they are handing out party favors. Throughout the event, in honor of the 40th anniversary 40 giveaways will be announced.

The Curris Center was built in 1981 to give students a center on Murray State,   Vice President of Student Affairs Don Roberston said. “It was always meant to be a place that students could identify with,” Robertson said. “Students can hang out and they can have services or programming in a meeting space.”

Advisor to Student Government Organization and Registered Student Organizations Jeanie Morgan said a lot has changed since she began working at Murray State in 1984, but the Curris Center is still a space where students can gather.   

“It’s student orientated,” Morgan said. “It’s a place for students to come and gather.I think it’s because it’s [Curris Center] a place where you can go and be comfortable.”

Robertson said that in its tenure, the Curris Center has had many unique spaces, including a coffee house. 

“Where Chick-fil-a is now, we had coffee house areas where we had a lot of entertainment and even tried other types of dining venues in conjunction with the coffee house,” Robertson said. “At one period in time, this concept of coffee houses was where you would have solo performers or poetry readers or one-act type things were very popular on college campuses.”

In addition to the coffee house, the Curris Center had a radio station and craft area, Morgan said.

“Down the hall [from the Center of Student Involvement Office] was the Radio Station, and it was called W-PHD,” Morgan said. “Across the hall where the Multicultural Center is, there was a craft area and rental space- you could rent anything for camping and also paint.”

This area had a concrete floor with a drain to wash away all the paint and it was a popular space among students, Morgan said.

Avery says this event serves as a reminder of what the building used to be.

“We will have a display of memory lane that will be on the first floor, so people can actually see some pictures of what the Curris Center used to be,” she said.

Morgan says it is important to remember the history of the building.

“I believe in tradition,” Morgan said. “I think that looking back gives you a sense of worth for today because if we didn’t look back to see all the positive stuff, how can we move forward?”

Planning for the event started in the summer, Avery said.

“We had an idea of what we wanted to do and we wanted to do a birthday party to celebrate and just have students come play games,” Avery said. “We just wanted to celebrate the building because it has been here for 40 years and we are really proud of the building and what it has become.”

Avery said it’s important to celebrate these milestones and they plan on celebrating the building every decade. The celebration is a come-and-go event, so people can come and leave as their schedules allow.

Avery encourages everyone to come celebrate the Curris Center and its history on Friday, Oct. 1.