Abilene Christian $55M projects go Wild(cats)

ABILENE – Abilene Christian University has received $55 million from three donors to begin a series of construction projects that will transform the campus.

The donations kick off “Vision in Action,” a $75 million initiative that will result in three new facilities — totaling 160,000 sf — for the university’s distinctive science programs and two new on-campus stadiums for its football, track and field, and soccer programs.

All facilities are projected to break ground during fall 2014, pending completion of fundraising.

The donations comprise

•  $10 million from Kay Onstead for the Robert R. Onstead Center for Science and Humanities, featuring state-of-the-art laboratories, classrooms and offices;
•  $15 million from alumni Kathy and David D. Halbert for the Halbert-Walling Research Center; and
•  $30 million from alumni April and Mark Anthony for construction of an on-campus football stadium, ACU’s College of Business Administration, a science building and undesignated funds.

Wildcat Stadium on Ambler Ave., upon its opening, will see a full season of Wildcat football played on the ACU campus for the first time since World War II. A separate project features a new stadium on Campus Court to be shared by the university’s legendary track and field program and it’s newer, though already successful, women’s soccer team.

The facilities will replace two long-standing structures. The site of Elmer Gray Stadium, built in 1954, will become the site of the new football stadium, and Chambers Hall, one of the original buildings from the campus’ 1929 construction, will make way for the science facilities.

More than 900 students currently major in at least one of the sciences represented by these new facilities.

Read more at BigCountryhomepage.com and Abilene Christian University.