By Laura Acuff, Opinion Editor
Continuing to reshape the ACU skyline, the Hunter Welcome Center construction remains on schedule. Plans include faculty and staff moving into the building by early January, and official dedication should take place Sing Song weekend in February.
Bob Nevill, director of Physical Resources, said interior walls are standing, internal rockwork is 80 to 90 percent complete and conference rooms are being outfitted with technology in this phase of the project. Flooring and parking lot pavement should come later in the year, and a coffee venue, similar to the Starbucks in the Library Commons, also marks the Welcome Center’s to-do list.
Outside, between the Welcome Center and the pond, a labyrinth, based on one at a Parisian church, will grace the landscape, Nevill said.
The feature, made of stone and inset into the ground 7-8 feet, boasts 11 concentric, asymmetrical rings leading to the center and will be visible from the university’s main entrance, Nevill said.
“It has a lot of religious connotations about the twists and turns of life, so it’s really meant to be a place to kind of stroll and think about where you are, what the possibilities are, the challenges of life,” Nevill said. “It’s meant to be a contemplative area, not just another piece of art.”
Those scheduled to move into the Welcome Center include Admissions, Career Services and some offices currently located in Moody Coliseum, and Nevill said he’s only heard enthusiasm from those scheduled to use the building.
“Everybody I’ve talked to is real tickled about it,” Nevill said. “It’s hard not to be. It’s going to be a magnificent space.”
As for the offices left, while some details have yet to be finalized, empty is not an option, Nevill said.
“We never end up with an empty space,” Nevil said. “People will move in there; it just never remains empty at all. Space is at a premium at ACU.”
Hunter Welcome Center’s namesake Bob Hunter, vice president emeritus and special assistant to the president, said he found having a building on ACU campus bearing his name “heartwarming.”
“Greatly pleased” with the center’s progress, Hunter said he and his wife especially anticipate the usefulness of the building for so many on campus and beyond.
“It will have not only student and faculty and alumni and parents and friends coming by,” Hunter said, “but certainly our community facilities will reach out to our community for a lot of functions, especially in the big dining hall that’s in the facility as well as all the other offices.”
