AUM Breaks Ground on New Wellness Center

On February 4, 2011, Auburn University President Jay Gouge and Auburn University at Montgomery Chancellor John G. Veres gathered with the Auburn Board of Trustees, city officials, AUM administration and Student Government Association for a makeshift indoor groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony (moved inside due to rainy conditions) announced the beginning of construction for a new 73,500-square-foot state-of-the-art Wellness Center on Auburn University at Montgomery's campus.

The AUM Student Government Association played a big role in the realization of the new facility. Over the past four years, the group rallied the student body to vote in favor of an increase in student activities fee to help finance the Wellness Center. In 2010, more than 75 percent of the student body voted in favor of increasing the fees from $10 to $170. 

The remainder of the $20.6 million bill for the Wellness Center will be footed from grants and private donors through the university's capital campaign, Imagine. Invest. Inspire:  A Campaign for Auburn University at Montgomery. Hired as consultants to lead the campaign, the J.F. Smith Group continues to work with AUM in identifying, cultivating and soliciting such private gift support. With a campaign start date of March 1, 2010 and a working goal of $10.3 million, AUM has already witnessed much early success, having raised $6.1 million in just over a year.

The Wellness Center is scheduled to open in August 2012. It will be the first building constructed on campus since 2003 and will help serve as a tool to promote student unity, fitness and physical education learning within the university. The facility will include a weight room, aerobics room, multipurpose activity room, pool/aquatic center, including a lap pool and vortex pool, the area's only rock climbing wall, indoor track and basketball courts.