Clark Atlanta’s first new building in 20 years puts students at the center

For the first time in two decades, Clark Atlanta University has added a new building to its campus — a $16 million investment devoted to helping students succeed.

The Student Success Center — which opened just ahead of Homecoming season — brings tutoring, mentoring, career and internship preparation, graduate school planning and other academic support under one roof in a 16,000-square-foot facility.

Just along Atlanta Student Movement Boulevard, the two-level brick building showcases floor-to-ceiling windows, an open-concept front atrium that stretches to an outdoor patio and a student-maintained garden. A wall featuring enlarged images of alumni and former faculty welcomes visitors up the stairs.

Students and staff are seen inside Clark Atlanta University’s Student Success Center, pictured on campus Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. This new facility is the university's first major academic building in over 20 years and is designed to transform how students access resources, build connections, and achieve their goals. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Clark Atlanta University President George T. French said the purpose of the space is to help students succeed in becoming “learners and seekers of knowledge.”

French, who has been CAU’s president since 2019, said educators must be intentional with teaching students “how” to think and not “what” to think.

“We made a huge investment to make sure that because you came, you’re going to be successful,” said French, who began ruminating over the idea of a success center when he was president at Miles College in Alabama.

It’s vital to show that his “scholars” matter, he said, and the Student Success Center is a visual representation.

Clark Atlanta University President George French walks with CAU Vice President of Facilities Management Bonita Dukes as they admire a mural inside the new Student Success Center building on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

A ‘one-stop shop’

Planning for the Student Success Center, the first new building since Brawley Hall opened in 2006, began three years ago.

Vice President of Facilities Management and Chief Facilities Officer Bonita Dukes, the architect who designed the center, said the goal was to create one academic hub rather than have several areas spread throughout the campus.

“The students are able to — in a one-stop shop — to get to the resources they need,” Dukes said.

Clark Atlanta University students are seen walking on Chestnut St. SW on the main campus on Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

Sophomore Isaiah Ford-Patterson said the Student Success Center was a convenience students didn’t know they needed, adding that first-year students especially need help staying on track.

“They would send us back and forth to different locations (for help),” the political science major said. “Now, instead of doing that, we can all just be in one central building.”

Senior business administration major Chanthony Andrews Jr. said the center is “pivotal” in helping students streamline resources, making it easier for them to find available resources.

He said the interview rooms echo the ambience of the office where he interned over the summer.

“It kind of puts me in a zone where I can lock in, have this moment of quietness and just isolate and focus on what matters most, which is my academics,” Andrews said.

The $16 million facility was funded through the U.S. Department of Education’s Title III program, which provides federal support to institutions serving large numbers of low-income students.

“For students to just feel like what they’re walking through the doors (of the Student Success Center), is walking through the doors of nothing but success and support,” Andrews said.

Home away from home

For French, the center also represents a broader idea about what a university owes its students: support that extends beyond the classroom.

Ford-Patterson said he found that kind of support at CAU. After a difficult upbringing in Macon, he said the university gave him a sense of community, confidence and the feeling that he didn’t have to navigate life alone.

CAU administrators wanted the Student Success Center to harness the sort of support and consideration a mother would give her child.

Clark Atlanta University President George French met with staff and scholars working in the new Student Success Center on campus Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2026. The building was designed to change how students access resources, connect with others, and reach their goals. (Miguel Martinez/AJC)

French said “higher education has the responsibility” to transmit culture from one generation to the next.