A $150,000 donation will fund a feasibility study for the construction of a student recreation center.

At the Nov. 21 Board of Governors meeting Dr. Terri Agee, vice president for business affairs, asked the Board to approve a bid of $118,000 to the RDG architectural firm from Des Moines, Iowa.

“They (RDG) will be collecting all the data necessary to determine what the students want most,” Agee said.

Afterward, RDG will do a site analysis based on the data collected. The firm recommended three main sites and addressed the pros and cons of each to the committee to bid for the position.

The most likely site is an addition to Billingsly Student Center. Other possible sites include on the corner of Duquesne and Newman Roads and attaching the structure to the Leggett & Platt Athletic Center.

Carnahan said he thinks it will be most cost effective to renovate and add on to Billingsly; also, it would breathe new life into the campus.

“The more student interest we have, the better,” Agee said. “We want to best meet the needs of the students on this campus.”

Student desires and contributions by donors will determine how the project is financed. Any fees will be determined by the overall cost of the project stemming from what the students say they would like to have.

RDG will visit campus during the spring semester to meet with students, faculty and staff, and it will send surveys out via student e-mail.

RDG, along with Brailsford and Dunlavey of Washington, D.C., will do survey/market analysis and the financial analysis on the different concepts that would be developed for the project.

“The depth and capabilities of the financial software model demonstrated during the presentation was extremely impressive,” said Bob Harrington, director of the physical plant and member of the committee.

The committee wants to keep any fees to the students at a minimum, said Doug Carnahan, dean of students.

“Any fees the students have to pay will be charged to the faculty and staff too,” he said. “It’s only fair.”

“It was nice to have the planning money, so beyond a good idea, we will have a well thought out and researched concept to take to donors,” Agee said.

Currently the Southern Foundation is in discussion with some potential donors about the project.

“We do need a facility to stay competitive and draw students to campus,” said Curt Betebenner, director of the Foundation.

Although it has not been determined if the community will be able to use the facilities, Betebenner thinks it may build “community good will” if people were able to use the facilities during children’s soccer games and the like.

As well, charging for memberships would offset the expense to students, faculty and staff.

“We need this facility; we need a showcase on campus,” Carnahan said. “The research is clear to back it up.”

Most colleges and universities across the country are building, or planning to build, state-of-the-art student recreation centers.

Part of the recreation center project is to improve the health center facilities.

Currently the health center doesn’t have running water in the examination room and facilities are cramped. The recreation center will house a new health center.

“We are going to look at the campus as a whole to develop focus groups for this project,” said Darren Fullerton, director of campus recreation and wellness.

“The purpose of the surveys RDG will be doing is to determine what the students want. We have a high commuter demographic so that may determine different facilities than at other institutions,” Carnahan said.

“This facility could service other areas of campus too,” Fullerton said.

He said it could be used for kinesiology, nursing or elementary education majors to gain experience in some of the facilities.

Students are going off campus to gain lab experience for kinesiology and other majors. An on-campus facility would allow students to stay at Southern and get the experience they need.

Carnahan said conceptual drawings should be available at the end of April or first of May.

“We want a building that will be the first or last stop on a tour; we need that ‘wow’ factor” he said.