UCM is proposing a new student residential program, a diverse and welcoming community that values environmental sustainability, peace and justice, spiritual wholeness, and interdisciplinary learning, all housed in a state-of-the-art “green” building that we have named Gaia House.

Throughout UCM’s 60-year history, we have always pursued two goals: to help SIU students grow in spirit and understanding, and to help them change the world.  Different times have called for different approaches to our goals, and we believe that Gaia House is the right approach right now.

If the challenges of the 21st century tell us anything, it is that we are all connected.  We must honor and work with those connections if we are to meet the challenges facing us.  Gaia House will connect students across faiths, across cultures, across races, across academic disciplines.  It will connect students with faculty, and connect all of us with the life-sustaining cycles of the natural world.

The life of Gaia House will also be closely connected to its innovative home, a LEED-certified building designed by award-winning architects HOK.  Please read on to learn more about the Gaia House experience from the perspective of the building and its architecture, or from the perspective of student development.