After two years of construction, the newest addition to the University of Oregon’s landscape is now open. Tykeson Hall officially opened September 2019 for students across campus to seek out academic advising, the Career Center and new classrooms for languages and mathematics.
According to UO’s website for Tykeson Hall, the building is the first of its kind in the country when it comes to all-around student advising.
Tykeson Hall, named for Willie and Donald Tykeson after they made a $10 million donation to UO, was designed to maximize student support by creating a space dedicated to advising and student success. Services such as career advising and the utilization of “flight paths” to guide students with specific career goals towards the appropriate major for them can be found in Tykeson Hall.
“Universities across the country are grappling with the best way to help students envision career possibilities. Far too many students fail to take full advantage of either academic or career advising. Part of the problem: Most institutions place academic advising in one ‘silo’ and career advising in another. Students are left to fill the gaps between the two,” the website states.
Kimberly Johnson, assistant vice provost for advising, said that Tykeson Hall is a student success center that utilizes unique methods of advising for student success.
“One of the new things that’s very innovative for CAS students is this integrative model where you have academic advising happening while career advising is threaded through it. So when your thinking about these majors and programs, students are able to talk about careers and leading them to what those experiences are and advising.”
Johnson said another unique part of Tykeson is the design of how students will seek advising within the building itself.
“The other part that makes [Tykeson] very innovative is the structure of advising,” Johnson said. “What we’ve done is we’ve mapped the entire campus of every single major fall across six different thematic areas.” Johnson said.
Johnson explained these thematic areas as “flight paths,” which serve as a way to steer students who have an idea of their career choice, but may need some help settling on a major. This model of advising can guide a student through a cluster of similar majors and help narrow them down. For students with vague ideas of what they want to pursue, this model is tailored to them.
For instance, a student that wants to help others may be led to a designated thematic area based around psychology, pre-medicine or education. Three different majors and career paths that help people in different ways. According to UO’s advising website, this “flight path” would be classified as the “health communities” path. Five more “flight paths accompany this one, serving as Tykeson’s model for advising students.
Tykeson has also become the new home to the UO Career Center, which formerly resided in Hendricks Hall. This move contributes to Tykeson Hall’s mission statement about a more centralized location for students to receive integrated academic and career advising according to the Tykeson Hall website.
For second-year CAS student Angelica Mejia, getting quality advising for her two majors, biology and human physiology, as well as career advising is not the issue.
“There’s a number of different advising services here on campus that you can utilize. I’ve used major specific advising in the bio-admin office in Klamath, I’ve used the health professions advising in Oregon Hall and the honors college advising in Chapman,” Mejia said.
While Mejia has had no specific issues with the advising found around campus, Tykeson Hall will be a one-stop shop for students like her to seek out multiple types of advising in one building.
Students seeking to explore career options, seeking integrated academic and career advising, or just looking for guidance toward the right major can now find all of this in Tykeson Hall.

Gallery • 3 Photos

The newly built Tykeson Hall on the University of Oregon campus. (D. L Young/ Emerald)