2 | Thursday, May 5, 2022 | NEWS
Campus construction continues to impact all corners BY MACI WEATHERS NEWSLETTER EDITOR
The university is ushering in a new era that will be filled with newer, nicer buildings, but it’s not without bittersweet reactions from students and alumni alike. Five construction projects are taking place all at once on campus: • The Science, Engineering Research Center (SERC) • Wessel Hall in the Freshman Village • Moody Coliseum • Cullen auditorium • Plans in place for relocated Intramural Fields With renovations of Moody and Cullen wrapping up and the construction of Wessel Hall breaking ground, improvements to campus facilities continue. Kevin Campbell, senior vice president for operations, said after Moody Coliseum is complete, the university hopes to keep the momentum going on Freshman Village and start the short-term plan for the intramural fields. The current main project is the new freshman dorm, Wessel Hall. “Construction in the long term is changing campus,” Campbell said. “But it is giving us a much stronger place for our students to live and create community. It has given us the ability to create a Freshman Village for them to form relationships as they transition into college together.” On the north side of campus, construction continues on Moody Coliseum and Cullen auditorium, both of which are expected to be handed over to the university in June. “[The north side of cam-
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Under Construction
Cullen Auditorum
Moody Coliseum
Freshman Village
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pus] is a place where we gather,” Campbell said. “Those are places where students gather the most. It is giving us much better facilities that needed to be upgraded. It is going to give patrons and students a better experience to enjoy events put on by student productions” Alongside the more recent announcement of SERC being built in place of the intramural fields, Campbell said the research facility will open a door for the university and its students. “The science and engineering research center is going to enable us to do research and advance the university’s research portfolio to a whole new level,” Campbell said. “We are just
scratching the surface on the possibilities for research and the type of activities that will add to the educational experience.” While the plans for construction are important for the campus, fundraising for those projects takes a huge part in the incentive to improve. Dan Macaluso, vice president for advancement, said construction projects are affected significantly by fundraising. “There’s significant fundraising for all of them,” Macaluso said. “We try to make sure that we really have investment from outside sources help us with this and we’ve actually been quite successful in some of these big projects.”
Moody Coliseum received $49 million in fundraising with 600 plus donors contributing. However, donors can range from project to project Macaluso said. “It kind of depends on the level of interest and how broad that interest is. With Moody, it affects the entire campus,” Macaluso said. “A lot of people have had different experiences. There’s a lot of them that we’re really interested in seeing that transformed.” While the number of donors ranges from project to project, these donors can range in the reason they are giving, said Macaluso. “The thing I like about
this campus is when you walk around if you’re really paying attention, their names on almost everything, you know, and some of them are honorific to where somebody made a gift,” Macaluso said. “In fact, a lot of times someone makes a gift, an honor, somebody will name a professor that they loved, a family member or something like that. But I like people seeing names on things, especially students because I like them to be the reminder that there are others that make this all possible.” With Moody and Cullen being under construction, Office of Spiritual Formation continues to adjust to the changing
plans. This semester and last the Chapel Office made use of the Teague Center for a “Moody Chapel” and welcomed new small group chapel options. “Hopefully Moody and Cullen will be done in such a way that we will be able to plan on where we will be,” Cyrus Eaton, dean of spiritual formation and campus chaplain, said. The moving of Moody chapel to the Teague center has caused readjustments with the use of apps for Chapel credit and mobile worship teams. “The investments that have been made into Moody have been done intentionally to enhance how hospitable we can be,” Eaton said. “Many of our current students have not had to experience the fun challenges of bats flying out of the ceiling and interrupting chapel. Or the challenges of depending on where you were at you could not hear what the speaker was saying.” In the more recent weeks, Office of Spiritual Formation has moved Chapel outside to the amphitheater as the weather is warmer. “We see these investments into Moody is allowing us to create a space of hospitality,” “Our hope is as Moody comes back available to us with the major improvements that they have made that it allows us to better both serve one another but also to meet in a space that provides for truly being able to listen, hear, engage and relate.” While older projects get completed and new projects break ground, the face of campus will continue to change and bring with it excitement, new beginnings and bittersweet endings.
Higher Ground aims to create higher standards for leadership BY CONNOR MULLINS CO-SPORTS DIRECTOR
Scholarships for students who have never considered ACU as a viable option is one thing Tamara Long hopes Higher Ground is able to achieve. Higher Ground is ACU’s new $250 million campaign which is devoted to ensuring the success of the university. Long, vice president of enrollment and student life, said she believes Higher Ground allows prospective students to consider ACU as a feasible option because of the financial relief it offers. “Our goal is always to help students find another place to land that’s affordable,” Long said. “It’s very sad to watch a student who wants nothing more than to stay here, have to face the reality of leaving because they couldn’t afford it. That’s where I’m most excited about the campaign is that focus on affordability and scholarship growth.” Higher Ground is a comprehensive campaign unveiled last month and designed to push ACU to a new level. The campaign has a focus on maintaining the missional roots of ACU while combining academic excellence to continue to answer God’s call for the university. The campaign includes two pillars: Academics and Experiences. About $130 million will be dedicated to elevating the academic profile of ACU. According to fundraising documents, that the money will be allocated to: Recruit, retain and reward • exemplary faculty • Develop a next-level research engine and academic infrastructure • Remove financial barriers
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for high-quality current and future Wildcats Invest in state-of-the-art academic facilities For experiences, the plan calls for $118 million to be used to: • Reimagine residential living communities and student-centric spaces • Expand opportunities for students to engage in life-changing and spiritually-formative experiences • Embody a culture of diversity and inclusion • Advance Division I, Christ-centered athletics New facilities, scholarships and high-level faculty are what Dr. Phil Schubert said he and his team have worked tirelessly over the past four years to put together the largest fundraising campaign in ACU history. “It’s an incredibly expansive campaign,” Schubert said. “It’s going to provide enabling funds for a whole host of different things for the advancement forward of the university to new dimensions of opportunity and areas of success.” Schubert and his team worked in the “silent phase” of the campaign for four years to raise the funds necessary to move into the public phase of the campaign. Schubert and his team have already raised over $170 million toward the campaign. “One of the things we’re continually working toward is to bridge the funding gap for students,” Schubert said. “From various families, environments and backgrounds that need and want to be here at ACU because we want to make sure it’s financially feasible for them. We know it’s not easy to afford
a college education.” Dr. Robert Rhodes, university provost, said it’s rare to have an excellent university that’s also heavily focused on mission when looking at national ranking. Rhodes said he hopes ACU will continue to combine the mission aspect of the university with high quality academics. He also believes that the timing of this campaign is great for the advancement of academics at ACU. “These next five years are going to show that very important balance because we’re going to be able to continue to rise as a university in rankings and visibility but also with increased focus on mission,” Rhodes said. “We’ve always had elements of that but we have a chance to really shine in both of those areas and that would make us very unique.” Dan Macaluso who started as the vice president for advancement in October said his immediate role in the campaign was to assess its current success, solidify the campaign timeframe and case for support, affirm the overall campaign goal, and guide and support the advancement team, university leadership and the Board of Trustees toward their public launch, which was celebrated at the President’s Circle Dinner on April 2. Macaluso is continuing to work on the public phase of the campaign to effectively communicate the vision of Higher Ground. “I am already excited to see how incredibly dedicated and supportive our ACU community has been – over the years and in the early phase of this campaign – in generously and sacrificially investing in ACU’s
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ability to continue expanding our impact in the world, while remaining steadfast in our commitment to our Christ-centered mission,” Macaluso said. “Most of all, I am excited to hear even more of the many stories that exist around each and every gift to ACU and why people give.” Long said she believes Higher Ground solidifies ACU’s place as a high-performing academic institution and as a faith-based institution. With Long being in charge of enrollment, she said she believes the campaign allows ACU to expand their outreach to out-of-state and international students. A trajectory of elevated excellence is the current direction Long said she believes ACU is heading. “That’s pretty remarkable when you have other scholars and institutions that are looking over here thinking, ‘Wow, they’re doing something really special, this is really incredible research,’” Long said. “And they peel back the layers and go, ‘Wow, their research is founded in purpose and mission and does it tell the story of Jesus better?’ That to me is where we’re heading is a space where we can expose more people to what it means to be an institution whose integrity and quality is a result of our commitment to faith.” For students, this campaign brings a forward-thinking approach to better the experience of future students. The newly renovated Moody Coliseum is set to open this August as well as Cullen Auditorium opening this summer. The Freshman Village on EN 16th Street is set to be done by 2030 with Wessel Hall, on the site of the former Gardner Hall, opening in the
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fall of 2023. Campus is changing due to the money donated to Higher Ground over the past four years. Student Government Association president Bekah Jones, a senior marketing major from Abilene, said she has been in a lot of meetings with upper management discussing the impact of this campaign. “Just the term itself, ‘Higher Ground,’ just alludes to the fact that it’s ACU’s work and a big project to elevate the university,” Jones said. “In terms of education, opportunities, sports, and whatever that may be through construction and creating additional opportunities for students who come to campus to have a better experience. It’s a very futuristic outlook in terms of university growth.” SGA treasurer Jackson Suss, junior financial management major from Weatherford, said the organization relies heavily on the number of students. Suss said the SGA budget is based upon the enrollment numbers at the institution as well. Suss said he believes that ACU is heading toward a more standardized university approach. “Often you will hear more and more from upper management of ACU comparing themselves to larger state or private schools,” Suss said. “The goal is clear to match what they’re doing as much as possible. That helps a lot of things: athletics, education, and extracurriculars so putting that altogether that is the main focus is bringing in those students and building up those programs that are going to make us into a top-tier private school.” In February, ACU officially
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moved up to a research level three institution in the Carnegie Institute rankings. Every three years the institute reclassifies each institution, and Schubert said he believes ACU will move up to a research level two institution at the next review. “I mentioned in our faculty meeting recently that there are more than 4,000 universities, there’s about 400 that are nationally universities and those national universities are research one, two, and three,” Rhodes said. “When you get to R2, there’s about 45 privates and when you look at those private schools that are overtly faithbased, you’re down to four or five. It becomes a very limited group that there’s a chance for us to be a highly visible faithbased university.” Schools like TCU, Baylor and SMU are research level two institutions, with schools like Harvard, Yale and Vanderbilt at a research level one. At the research level three level, where ACU currently stands, are schools like Lipscomb, Belmont, Stephen F. Austin, Dallas Baptist and Samford. Schubert said these opportunities have opened because of the work of faculty and staff as well as the donors who have helped advance ACU into Higher Ground. “It’s going to continue to push ACU into an elite position as a national leader in Christian higher education that’s focused on developing students with world class academics,” Schubert said. “Also as people of faith who are passionate about going out into the world and making a difference for the Kingdom.”
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