Beacon Magazine: Breaking Ground for Student Life

Written by Jocelyn Hubbs ’09, MBA ’14, Vice President for Student Development

Vice President Hubbs shared the following message in May 2025 at the groundbreaking ceremony for the future Duke Student Commons.

Today’s groundbreaking ceremony is moment is more than a ceremonial turning of soil. It marks the beginning of something deeply meaningful: the creation of a new space that will become the very heart of our campus.
 
As Vice President for Student Development, I have the privilege of walking alongside our students throughout their college journey – their challenges, their growth, their joys, and their moments of transformation. I can tell you with confidence that the spaces we create matter deeply. They impact how we gather,
how we connect, and how we engage with one another.

Every building on a campus serves a purpose. But this is a special one. Duke Student Commons will be a thoughtfully designed center of student life, influenced by our unique mission and grounded in the Christ-centered experience that sets our university apart.

This building is not just a physical expansion. Rather, it is a purposeful continuation of who we already are. It embodies our calling to create spaces where students grow in wisdom, faith, and service. Upon completion, Duke Student Commons will quickly become the central hub of campus life and the living room of our university.

It will be a place where conversations happen organically, where laughter and ideas flow freely, where quiet prayers are spoken, and where a student can walk in and feel a great sense of belonging.

The expansion of campus dining is more than a logistical improvement. It will become an invitation to gather around the table. To break bread together. And as we all know, some of the most powerful conversations, the deepest friendships, and even moments of tears and healing happen over a shared meal or cup of coffee.

Today, we don’t merely celebrate a building and the generosity of the donors who make this possible. We celebrate what this building will mean for every Bushnell student. We celebrate in advance the lives it will shape, the community it will strengthen, and the mission it will carry forward for generations to come.

With hearts full of gratitude for the visionaries, the donors, the faculty, staff, students and everyone who will one day walk through the doors of Duke Commons, we turn the soil and we begin.