Jester Center
Encyclopedia
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
at The University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas at Austin
The University of Texas at Austin is a state research university located in Austin, Texas, USA, and is the flagship institution of the The University of Texas System. Founded in 1883, its campus is located approximately from the Texas State Capitol in Austin...
, built in 1969. The residence hall was named after Beauford H. Jester
Beauford H. Jester
Beauford Halbert Jester was a U.S. political figure, the son of George Taylor Jester and his second wife, Frances Gordon Jester. He served as the 36th Governor of Texas from 1947 until 1949, when he died of a heart attack...
, who served as the Governor
Governor of Texas
The governor of Texas is the head of the executive branch of Texas's government and the commander-in-chief of the state's military forces. The governor has the power to either approve or veto bills passed by the Texas Legislature, and to convene the legislature...
of Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...
from 1947 until 1949.
Facilities
With a capacity of 3,200 (3,300 with supplemental housing) students, it was the largest residence hall in North AmericaNorth America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
at the time it was built. The building complex, which occupies a full city block, was the largest building in Austin, Texas
Austin, Texas
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of :Texas and the seat of Travis County. Located in Central Texas on the eastern edge of the American Southwest, it is the fourth-largest city in Texas and the 14th most populous city in the United States. It was the third-fastest-growing large city in...
when built and was the largest building project in University history.
The complex includes two towers: a 14-level residence (Jester West) and a 10-level residence (Jester East). The vast majority of rooms have built-in furniture. All rooms boast XL-twin beds. While some rooms have private or connecting baths, most students use community restroom facilities. Each tower also has study rooms, lounges, laundry rooms, and storage areas. From time to time, the study lounges have been converted into "supplemental housing" for students who are not allotted a standard residence hall room.
The residence hall also houses several offices for student services, tutoring, mentoring, academic advising, classrooms, and lecture hall
Lecture hall
A lecture hall is a large room used for instruction, typically at a college or university. Unlike a traditional classroom with a capacity from one to four dozen, the capacity of lecture halls is typically measured in the hundreds...
s. The center also contains an all-you-care-to-eat cafeteria known colloquially
Colloquialism
A colloquialism is a word or phrase that is common in everyday, unconstrained conversation rather than in formal speech, academic writing, or paralinguistics. Dictionaries often display colloquial words and phrases with the abbreviation colloq. as an identifier...
as "J2" (signifying Jester 2nd floor), a Wendy's
Wendy's
Wendy's is an international fast food chain restaurant founded by Dave Thomas on November 15, 1969, in Columbus, Ohio, United States. The company decided to move its headquarters to Dublin, Ohio, on January 29, 2006. It has been owned by Triarc since 2008...
, an a la carte
À la carte
À la carte is a French language loan phrase meaning "according to the menu", and used in* A reference to a menu of items priced and ordered separately, i.e. the usual operation of restaurants * To order an item from the menu on its own, e.g...
dining center known as "Jester City Limits" (an allusion to Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits
Austin City Limits is an American public television music program recorded live in Austin, Texas by Public Broadcasting Service Public television member station KLRU, and broadcast on many PBS stations around the United States...
), a convenience store named "Jester City Market", an organic food store named "Jesta' Healthy Store" added in 2007, Jest A' Pizza, 40 Acres Bakery, a smoothie shop named "Freshens", and the Jesta' Texas Gift Shop, selling UT apparel.
Features
Baby grand pianos are located on the second floor of Jester West and on the first floor of Jester East, off the lobby, for the enjoyment of the residents.The Fireplace Lounge in Jester West and the First Floor Lobby in Jester East feature large-screen televisions and comfortable chairs.
Residents often use the numerous lounge areas as meeting places or group study areas. At least one lounge is located on each floor, but there is also a 24 hour quiet study lounge across from the Jester West Desk.
Jester is located right across the street from the Perry-Castañeda Library
Perry-Castañeda Library
The Perry–Castañeda Library is the main central library of the University of Texas at Austin library system in Austin, Texas. PCL is located at 21st Street and Speedway in Austin, TX....
, Gregory Gymnasium
Gregory Gymnasium
Gregory Gymnasium is the 4,400-seat current home of the University of Texas Longhorn Women's Volleyball team, and former home of the Longhorn Basketball and Swimming teams. The basketball teams moved out in 1977 to the Erwin Center....
, Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center
The Lee and Joe Jamail Texas Swimming Center is an aquatics facility at the University of Texas at Austin. It is home to the University men and women's swimming and diving teams, a variety of University offered swimming and scuba diving classes, as well as Longhorn Aquatics, a youth program...
, and many academic buildings.
Jester has a variety of room types. It is roughly half double rooms with community bath and half double rooms with connecting bath. There are two double rooms with a private bath on each floor. Jester also has several triple rooms and single rooms throughout the hall. Finally, Jester houses a significant number of students in supplemental housing spaces at the beginning of each semester. These rooms are study lounges made to house four students and are generally so popular that it’s hard to get students to move out of them when permanent spaces become available.
Jester Center also houses the Learning Center, the Center for African and African-American Studies, an Engineering, Communications and Natural Sciences advising office, the Career Exploration Center and many classrooms. It is not uncommon for students to live and attend classes within Jester.
The Jester East front desk offers students the option to check out DVDs for forty-eight hours at a time.
Jester houses one large computer lab in Jester West, where residents may write papers, finish homework or complete projects.