Colby’s student center, Cotter Union, was transformed into a hub for student social life as the result of a $10-million expansion and renovation project completed in August 2007. The addition of a new bookstore, which will open in 2008, will further enhance Cotter Union as a center of campus life and student activities.

The centerpiece of the project is the Pulver Pavilion, a new 7,000-square-foot meeting area that bridges the two original wings of Cotter Union with new facilities including a café, snack bar, student mailroom window, and various small meeting spaces.

Built in 1985 to provide a center for student social life after fraternities were disbanded, Cotter Union saw 14,000 square feet of existing space remodeled and 1,000 square feet of new support space beyond the Pulver Pavilion addition in the first phase of construction, completed in 2007.

A second phase of the Cotter Union expansion project—construction of a 9,000-square-foot wing to house the Colby Bookstore—was approved by trustees in January 2007, with the opening scheduled in time for the start of the 2008-09 academic year.

Designed by the award-winning architectural firm Bohlin Cywinski Jackson (which also designed Colby’s new Diamond Building), the reconfiguration of Cotter Union has created a "living room" for Colby students.

Colby received the naming gift for the Pulver Pavilion from trustee David Pulver '63, his wife, Carol, and their daughter, Stephanie Pulver '93.