Dakota Wesleyan University campus expansion moves quickly

MITCHELL, S.D. (AP) — With three new building projects in the past four years, Dakota Wesleyan University has worked fast in its campus expansion — and officials have no plans to slow down anytime soon.

This month, the university will be breaking ground on a new theater expansion, not quite nine months after finishing the construction of a new sports and wellness complex, The Daily Republic (http://bit.ly/2bcRkpa ) reported.

Three years ago, the university completed the construction of the Glenda K. Corrigan Health Sciences Center. And now, there's plans for a potential Center for Business and Innovation building in the works.

In total, the university will have added $23 million in the three infrastructure projects since 2011, when the university broke ground on the Corrigan center, with the majority of the funding coming from private donations.

Each of these buildings and expansions were addressing a specific need on campus, according to Theresa Kriese, the executive vice president at Wesleyan.

Kriese works as the university's contact with construction companies for projects, and oversees it all from the university's perspective.

"We're looking at what ways we can best serve our students and our constituency," Kriese said.

And with the approximately $1 million expansion dedicated to the theater department this fall, Kriese will be keeping busy. And this expansion is only the beginning.

According to Amy Novak, president of DWU, the university is already looking to the future and what it means for the campus. This includes a campus master planning committee, which is a subcommittee of the DWU Board of Trustees that includes local and regional professionals and alumni who are tasked with planning for institutional capital projects.

Novak said the university has acquired the property all the way to Interstate 90, south of Norway Avenue, giving the university space to expand.

About a year and a half ago, according to Novak, the board began to think of long-term facilities and the footprint of Dakota Wesleyan. Now, DWU has a student population of 895 with 40 majors and minors, four pre-professional programs and two graduate programs.

And with an overall strategic plan aimed at getting campus to around 1,000 students, Novak said the committee had to consider potential growth in student population.

"So if we were to add essentially 200 more residential students to our campus, how do we accommodate that growth? Where do we put the next dorm? How do we ensure we have efficient classroom space? What does the student environment on campus look like to really create a vibrant experience for our students?" Novak said. "Those were the drivers behind a campus master planning process."

About 18 months ago, Novak said, the committee began an in-depth review of all the buildings on campus, including the 100-year-old Hughes Hall.

Hughes Hall, which was built in 1912, is one of the last original campus buildings. It originally was called Hughes Science Hall, but after the completion of the Glenda K. Corrigan Health Sciences Center in 2013, all of the science classes were moved over to the new building. Now, history, communication and theater classes are held in Hughes.

The 48,000-square-foot Corrigan center features four stories of research labs, state-of-the-art equipment, nursing simulation labs, classrooms and faculty offices — all with a price tag of $11.5 million.

With the new science center, Hughes Hall's function and identity had changed, Novak said. And the committee asked if the building should be torn down or remodeled.

"But given the wear and tear over the years, the overall physical infrastructure of that building is in need of significant work, which would cost quite a bit more based on our estimates than it would be to build new," Novak said.

And if the university decides to cease using Hughes Hall, Novak said, it will consider where to put the theater department.

This question drove officials to expand the theater and align it with the Dakota Discovery Museum, announced earlier this year. The 4,700-square-foot expansion will include a black box theater and seating for 100 to 125. The space will also have makeup and dressing rooms, a classroom and offices.

With the theater and discovery museum side-by-side, this will create a center for all of the arts and humanities, Novak said.

"We are envisioning being able to use it not just for theater but also for potentially historical reenactments, poetry readings, small chamber ensemble, work from our music department," Novak said. "And I think it will be a very intimate space but will allow for a space to showcase the talents of our students in a variety of disciplines."

Dan Miller, the director of theater, said the expansion is going to have a huge impact on the theater at Dakota Wesleyan. The department will be moving out of a 100-year-old theater in Hughes Hall into a brand new, modern and state-of-the-art facility to bring the department "more in line with the academic teachings of the theater world," Miller said.

The current space in Hughes is very limited, Miller said, but the expansion onto the Dakota Discovery Museum will allow for better equipment, enhancing the theater productions.

Right now there are 12 students majoring within the theater program, but Miller said the department impacts anywhere from 100 to 150 students, faculty and staff that are involved throughout production season, not including the audiences that come to see the shows.

The seating in the black box theater is unique, Miller said, as it will be able to change from show to show. For example, instead of the traditional theater style in which the audience is one side and a production on the other, the new seating could allow for a circular style seating where audience members sit in a circle surrounding the production. And this is just one option of many, Miller said.

Miller has been involved with the planning process for the new expansion since the beginning, knowing exactly what the theater program needed.

"My role as a theater consultant and academic consultant was making sure we have the best facility we can have for the money for our students," Miller said.

With the million-dollar facility, Miller said there will be more parking, better signage and easier access than the previous space in Hughes.

And as he goes into his 11th year with DWU, Miller said he is confident that the new space will bring an increase not only in the amount of students attending DWU, but an increase of people attending productions, too.

It's the board's policy to not break ground on any new buildings on DWU's campus until all of the funds are raised and the money is in the bank. But that hasn't stopped officials from making plans for a potential Center for Business and Innovation building.

Novak said, with donor interest, the university would look at adding a business building east of the Corrigan Health Sciences Center.

Business is the second largest major on campus, behind nursing, and it's looking like DWU's next big project, unless some other need becomes apparent, according to Kriese.

But at this point, Kriese said it's a "sketch on a piece of paper" as the fine points and funding are still being worked out.

"Whatever we do with this facility, we'll want to incorporate business and innovation and the way we train the future leaders," Kriese said.

Right now, the business department is housed in the basement of Smith Hall and Novak said the university wants to think about how business and technology are becoming global.

"We knew that in order to really strengthen our business program, we need to make an investment in the physical infrastructure," Novak said.

The building would also house some of the Kelley Center for Entrepreneurship, Novak said.

Because the building is dependent on donations, Novak said the university is "testing the market" by inviting leaders from across the region and longtime university supporters to think about what a new business building might mean. Novak said going forward, these leaders will be co-creating it with the university.

"And in doing so, it might have a new name. It might have new purpose. It might have new vision," Novak said. " ... we're very open to listening to how leaders foresee the evolution of our work in innovation and business as we move forward."

Part of the current plan is for the business building to house innovation labs and similar type classroom environments, Novak said.

Technology is a big part of the campus' future, and Novak said facilities like the potential business center need to reflect those changes.

"I think the way technology is evolving and how we interact with one another looks a lot different than a traditional classroom," Novak said. "... we know learning is happening in so many different ways and this facility needs to reflect the evolution of learning and the evolution of how we work and do business today. And one that really reflects commitment to innovation."

One example of this, Novak said, is the library and how students are changing the way they read. Instead of checking out physical books, Novak said they have noticed an increase usage of electronic texts and databases, meaning the overall function and purpose of the library could change and how it physically lays out for student usage.

"What I'm excited about is we have a lot of momentum," Novak said. "There's a lot of people that have been so generous in supporting the institution and want to see it continue to move forward. How that evolves and what happens next is likely to be directed by them."

Ashley Digmann remembers a time on campus when there were a lot more older buildings than new. Digmann, a former student, now works at DWU as the education department chair. She graduated with a math education degree in 2006.

"It was a definitely an older campus and a lot of facilities were definitely aging," Digmann said about her time on campus from 2002 to 2006. "... They were still good facilities, but not as updated as they are now. The building growth was starting while I was on campus."

Digmann remembers the construction of the Sherman Center and the excitement it brought to campus, adding to the already "tight-knit, small" community.

"It was exciting as a student to see the potential to grow," Digmann said. "You could tell the administration and the school really wanted to become a more modern facility and wanted to really make an impact on students on campus."

Now, as a faculty member since 2011, Digmann sees how the changes and plans for campus are impacting current students, especially with the recent completion of the Dakota Wesleyan University and Avera Sports and Wellness Complex. The 85,000-square-foot facility amounted to $10.5 million and was completed and open for students in January.

It features a 200-meter indoor track with three multipurpose courts in the center, as well as a space for exercise equipment and fitness training, a wrestling room, locker rooms, and space for classrooms or seminars.

"I know in the new wellness center, you could just feel the excitement of all the students," Digmann said. "Our students seem energized and the new wellness center has definitely put more school pride in our students and they see that we want our athletics to be successful and our students to be successful not only in athletics but in the classroom, too."

And they are doing just that. Two weeks ago, it was announced that DWU athletics had the eighth-most scholar teams in the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). According to a press release issued by the association, DWU took home 17 NAIA scholar team awards. For a team to be considered for the scholar team award, there was a required minimum 3.0 grade point average.

And with the growing success and various needs of several departments, Digmann said she has seen how the university has adjusted to meet those needs.

"It's been exciting and it's been a great time to be a part of Dakota Wesleyan," Digmann said. "Like I said, when I was a student, campus was a great place to be. It felt like home. It was definitely a family setting and I see that today, 10 years later, and I can see that same sense of community among our students."

Digmann is especially excited about the new ways the university is incorporating innovation into the classroom. It's a new way of teaching, Digmann said, and it gives faculty members the opportunity to teach to their strengths, while also having a lot of available resources.

And through it all, the school has kept to its core values, Digmann said. The values are learning, leadership, faith and services and, according to Digmann, are "a cornerstone in our education."

"It's been an exciting time and it's amazing at how much has been happening on campus in such a short amount of time ...." Digmann said. "We're very blessed."

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Information from: The Daily Republic, http://www.mitchellrepublic.com

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