Two buildings at WT to be part of $54 million infrastructure projects approved by regents
Two buildings at the West Texas A&M University campus in Canyon, including a brand-new building, will be getting a major facelift thanks to recently approved funding totaling nearly $54 million from the Texas A&M University System.
According to reports, during the Texas A&M University System's Board of Regents meeting held Nov. 10, two infrastructure projects were approved for the Canyon campus: $44.9 million was approved to renovate the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building, and $8.9 million for the new facility in the Bain Athletic Center expansion project.
The regents approved more than $328 million capital projects across the TAMU system during the meeting.
“It’s going to be a dramatically different building when we get done with it. It will house all our distance education outreach for our growing students enrolled in online programs. We are going to start looking at producing courses rather than just teaching online, and that will be made possible with this building,” said WT President Walter Wendler. “We have kept up with this building but haven’t used it since 1987 when we ‘mothballed’ it. That was the old education building. Now it will be the brand-new energized building in the center of campus that is for digital outreach. We have a long history of doing distance education. We do it well, and now we will do it even better.”
The Geneva Schaeffer Eduction Building improvements will allow additional video studios, production studios for online courses, and support spaces. The number of online courses at WT has grown from 533 to 1,726 in a 10-year period, spanning from 2001-02 through 2020-2021. In addition, WT expects an increase in online students.
“Our goal with the Geneva Schaeffer Education Building is to be a first-mover in the next phase of distance learning, whether that’s virtual reality or advances we don’t even know about yet,” said Dr. Neil Terry, provost and executive vice president for academic affairs, in a news release. “Our goal is to be as cutting-edge as we can possibly be, and the building will be the vehicle that will propel those strides.”
The building also will be the new home of the WT Graduate School, recognizing the significant growth it has achieved in the past five years, a news release states. The university is in the process of selecting an architect firm and construction company for the project.
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The Bain Athletic Center will become the Athletics Hub of the campus. There will be meeting rooms, some that can fit entire teams, and up-to-date technology.
“This is going to be a brand-new building that will be alongside the existing building. It will be a first-rate athletic support facility,” Wendler said. "This facility will house sports performance, sports medicine, football and Olympic sport offices, academic success programs, Hall of Champions, and team meeting rooms. This will allow for a centralized location for coaches, student workers, and staff of WT Athletics that currently occupy eight different buildings across campus."
When complete, the Bain Athletic Center will be located west of the Bain-Schaeffer Buffalo Stadium and the WT track and soccer facility, according to a news release.
Almost $10 million will be used from the money approved for the Geneva Schaeffer building for health and safety upgrades around campus, using funds from Capital Construction Assistance Projects approved by the 87th Legislature.