For many new Kansas University students, the first physical contact with the school occurs at the KU Visitor Center, which has been giving directions to an increasing number of people since it opened in 1999.

The center is at 15th and Iowa streets in the old kitchen and cafeteria portion of Templin Hall.

Prior to the center’s opening, visitors to the KU Lawrence campus “went to the candy counter in the Kansas Union and asked where to go,” said Margey Frederick, director of visitor services and special events.

The building also is home to the Office of Admissions and Scholarships, so that even if students don’t physically visit the visitor’s center, their paperwork rests there in brightly colored folders.

“This is an easy place for students to access and find out information about the university,” said Alicia Ellingson, a senior from Milford, Neb., who works at the center.

One wall of the center is lined with pamphlets about different aspects of the university. Several KU-related organizations have display cases and information. A skeleton depicting a Pteranadon hangs from the ceiling. Frederick says it’s prehistoric.

The center has nine presentations a week in its 116-seat auditorium for groups of visitors to learn more about KU. Then a bus takes the visitors to the interior of the campus where student ambassadors lead walking tours.

During first year of operation, about 25,000 people walked through the visitor’s center and 32,000 people during the second year, Frederick said.

“Every year we get more and more people who realize we are here. For 133 years, we weren’t  you were just on your own to navigate through campus,” Frederick said.

The center is open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday through Friday and from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. on selected Saturdays when there are numerous high school visitations to the campus. When the center is closed, there is a stand outside the building where one can get a campus map.