New Campus Gateway Nears Completion

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This story originally appeared in the winter 2025 issue of UC San Diego Magazine as “The Gateway.”

What was once a series of one-story wooden structures — the remnants of Camp Matthews, the historic military training grounds that predated campus — has now been reimagined as the new symbolic front door to UC San Diego.

Triton Center will provide expanded student and faculty support programs at the heart of campus, including instructional support, health and well-being services, and other student academic resources, to meet the needs of a rapidly growing and diverse student population. The 10-acre site will unite valuable services and resources to ensure all students can thrive academically, socially and personally through services offered in five new spaces: Triton Alumni and Welcome Center; Triton Health and Wellness Building; The Strauss, comprising four galleries and a terrace featuring immersive art experiences; Jacobs Celebration Hall, the campus's premiere events venue; and Triton Administrative Services Building.

The Triton Administrative Services Building, the new campus gateway, will house Triton Transfer Hub, the Teaching and Learning Commons, Global Initiatives, and the Student First Stop, as well as most of the campus’s leadership offices. Slated to open in 2026, the new six-story, 121,000-square-foot building, located along Gilman Drive east of Library Walk, will be part of the larger Triton Center complex of buildings.

“Triton Center demonstrates our commitment to the success and well-being of current and future students,” says Vice Chancellor for Student Affairs and Campus Life Alysson M. Satterlund. “Bringing essential resources and services together at the heart of campus creates a welcoming, accessible and student-centered environment, which improves the student experience for every Triton.”

For Learning: Teaching and Learning Commons

Established in 2015, the Teaching and Learning Commons promotes student success and teaching excellence across UC San Diego through two complementary efforts: instructional development and academic support for students.  

The Commons offers a wide range of support for both faculty and graduate student educators, including workshops, learning communities and consultations; much of this work is done in collaboration with expert faculty as well as campus partners. For students, the Commons provides broad support for their success in class, on campus and in their careers.

“The Teaching and Learning Commons believes everyone is an educator and everyone is a learner,” says David Song-Ruiter, faculty director of the Teaching and Learning Commons. “In the Triton Administrative Services Building, the focus will be on students seeking hands-on education, such as academic internships, research with faculty and applied learning opportunities.”

While many of the Commons’ student academic support services, such as content tutoring, writing support and supplemental instruction, will remain located in Geisel Library, the new building will be home to the experiential learning team. “By working with this team, students will be able to discover all of the ways they can maximize future educational and career potential through experiences both in- and outside of the classroom,” he adds. 

For Connections: Triton Transfer Hub

One-third, or 33%, of the undergraduate class is composed of transfer students. Many of these students have come from California community colleges, while others arrive from colleges and universities across the country and around the globe, ready to join the Triton community. They begin their UC San Diego journeys as juniors, or third-year students, with unique life experiences and insights, ready to learn and grow. What they seek: a supportive community that understands their unique needs.

Triton Transfer Hub currently hosts a variety of large-scale programs to help students build community, get involved on campus and thrive academically. In fact, the experiential learning program at the Teaching and Learning Commons will form a new partnership with Triton Transfer Hub to help this cohort access these special opportunities while attending UC San Diego. The partnership will be further enhanced when both groups relocate to the new centralized campus location. Existing programs range from career networking support and resource fairs to a “get involved” series and daily events. While the current space offers a living room-like space to engage, gather and chat between classes, as well as reservable study rooms and snacks, the new space in the Triton Administrative Services Building will also offer a family lounge (with a private lactation room), a communal study area to encourage interactions among transfer students and larger quiet study spaces. 

“We’ll also have more space to showcase our ‘Storytellers’ series, a mixed media art competition that encourages students to share their transfer journey and story of resilience in any art medium.” says Tessa Benedict-Philipp, assistant director of Triton Transfer Hub. 

For Exploration: Global Initiatives

When UC San Diego students study abroad — swapping Southern California lecture halls for international classrooms, historic landmarks, outdoor laboratories and innovative workplaces — learning becomes an extraordinary experience shaped by new people, places and perspectives. (See sidebar.) This is made possible through Global Initiatives, which will also find a new home in the Triton Administrative Services Building. 

“Global Initiatives opens doors to diverse perspectives, promotes cultural understanding and equips our students with invaluable skills for an interconnected world,” says Tamara T. Cunningham, assistant vice chancellor for Global Initiatives. “While we send our students out into the world for global learning experiences and international internships, we look forward to a new welcoming space to bring the world to UC San Diego.”

Global Initiatives oversees the establishment and cultivation of international partnerships for faculty, researchers and students to actively engage in transformative global research to address pressing world issues and societal challenges. 

The new location will be a beacon to bring international students, scholars, global government officials and visiting delegations to engage and expand the campus’s mindshare, identify partnerships, engage in research, and experience the art and cultural offerings of UC San Diego.

With more than 8,000 international students and 2,000 international scholars, the holistic support and programs offered in the new location will reflect UC San Diego’s ongoing commitment to celebrating and ensuring its role as a globally connected institution.

For Guidance: Student First Stop

The Triton Administrative Services Building will also launch a student-first space — aptly named the Student First Stop. This will be a space for students seeking help with navigating campus support services. Information will be available in three ways: in person on the first floor of the new building, virtually via a 24-hour chatbot that guides students to online resources and refers them to a staff member available during business hours if needed, or at a mobile pop-up that will travel around campus.

“All of our focus and effort will be very student-centered,” says Maricela Alvarado, director of Online Student Experience. “​​Our data shows that students who need certain campus resources and services tend to be the ones that don’t access them  because they don’t know how to navigate the resources.” By being available 24/7 and traveling around campus with mobile help, the Student First Stop will be a one-stop shop for students who are unsure about where to begin.

The Student First Stop will feature an open floor plan for walk-ins, staffed by student employees — dubbed student ambassadors — who will be trained to offer peer-to-peer support. “We think it’s critical for students to see other students, especially since our students look to their peers for help to navigate our institution,” says Alvarado. Student ambassadors will share information about existing support services, such as those for veteran, formerly incarcerated, undocumented, unhoused, first-generation and transfer students. They will also recommend resources such as the Writing Center and Basic Needs Hub, in addition to tutoring, academic counseling and more.

And if the Student First Stop doesn’t have the answer, its ambassadors will refer the student to a different department, ensuring a warm handoff as well as a specific person to address the need or request.  

Learn more about the Triton Administrative Services Building at tritoncenter.ucsd.edu.