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Bearcat Plaza is the triangular area wedged by Tangeman University Center, the Steger Student Life Center and Nippert Stadium.
"Bearcat Plaza presents a great opportunity to see and be seen," says Ron Kull, the former UC architect who implemented the UC Master Plan. "It is kind of like sitting on the old TUC bridge when everybody used to hang on the sides. This is the same kind of place where you can have a band at lunchtime or a concert on Friday night. Or kids can just hang out there on a sunny day underneath the trees."
The finishing touch to the Bearcat Plaza development involved taking down a section of the Nippert Stadium wall to open a view into the football venue and beyond. Four brick columns were erected there to create a natural backdrop for a Bearcat Plaza stage.
Kull says the intent was to create a public square that invites intellectual discussion, social interaction and entertainment. "If you go back to our Master Plan, one of the things we have always said is there is as much learning that goes on outside the classroom as goes on inside the classroom."
