By: Tripp Vistica
Sept. 29, 2020
The University of Memphis (UofM) is currently building a brand-new student wellness center across the railroad tracks of the main campus. The new student wellness center will be called, “The R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center”, which is named after the successful UofM alum, R. Brad Martin. The UofM is on schedule to open the doors when the Spring 2021 semester begins, thanks to the hard work from the construction crew throughout this viral pandemic.
UofM Senior and journalism major, Jordin Jackson, believes the new student wellness center should not be a priority for the UofM right now, even though the UofM started this construction before the COVID-19 outbreak.
“It was preplanned before COVID-19, but it should not be our priority”, Jackson said. “The UofM is making it a priority when they have more pressing issues at this time.”
However, the UofM has had an increase in enrollment despite the global pandemic we all face today. The UofM brought in around 2,500 new Freshman heading into this semester, after the UofM brought in their largest class of Freshman in the Fall 2019 semester. The UofM enrollment rate has continued to grow by about 1.7 percent every year, and they hope that percentage will rise after the completion of the new modern student wellness center.
“The R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center will make the campus look nicer and more up-to-date, and also it will hopefully attract even more students to attend the University of Memphis”, said Dr. Thomas Nenon, Professor and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost. “Quality education is our main focus, but the new student wellness center will be an asset to the University. We want our University to have these luxuries, because kids often make up their mind about a particular university before the tour is even over.”
The UofM’s current student wellness center is over 70 years old, and they have made many upgrades to the facility over the years, but the UofM decided it was time to stop renovating the old student wellness center and rebuild a new state-of-the-art one.
“The R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center was completely designed for students,” Nenon said. “The designs have purpose. There will be classrooms that will teach students about health and wellness.”
The UofM found a way in their budget to afford building the brand-new student wellness center along with some help from alumni and donations. However, student’s tuition will help pay for the new student wellness center. They will use money from student fees along with a bank bond with a low interest fee.
“With the bank loan and student fees, the R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center will be completely paid for in 30 years”, said Nenon. “Hopefully the new student wellness center will attract more students to at the UofM causing the price of the student fees to drop.”
The UofM decided to name the new student wellness center after R. Brad Martin because of all he’s done for the UofM.
“R. Brad Martin has given back to the UofM not only monetarily, but also by being a guest speaker in many finance classes”, Nenon said. “Brad is a successful alum that gives back to the institution.”
Senior journalism major, Chance Clevenger, thinks the new student wellness center is cool. Unfortunately, Clevenger lives in Mississippi which is a long way away from the UofM campus, but he still thinks it’s cool and is going to try to go to the new student wellness center after his classes are over for the day when it opens next semester.
“I wish they would’ve built it sooner”, Clevenger said. “I would’ve had more time to take advantage of it instead of only being able to use it for one semester.”
Tripp Vistica 