Groundbreaking for the Alumni Center is scheduled for Wednesday, Oct. 17 at 11:00 a.m. in the lot adjacent to the Heritage House where it will be built.
The $1.2 million building project headed by the Texas A&M University – Commerce Alumni Association will house the Alumni Relations department that is currently operating in the Student Memorial Center. Opening for the center is scheduled during the Spring 2008 semester.
The alumni of this university needed a place where they felt welcomed post-graduation. The Alumni Center will help display this group of people as an integral part of the University and also help keep a stronger tie between the two.
“With 50,000 alumni, it’s hard to get our arms around and provide personal attention they may need or want,” Derryle G. Peace, director of Alumni Relations, said.
The space will be used for alumni meetings, gatherings after sporting events, receptions, exchanges between alumni and current students and also space for current students to hold organization meetings.
“It will make a clear message that we’re here; to current students, prospective students, the community and families of current students that the alumni has a vested interest,” Peace, also the executive director for the Alumni Association, said.
The Alumni Association is a non-profit organization founded in 1890, one year after the University was founded itself. The board consists of 27 alumni who meet four times a year.
They are mostly made of local alumni with a few members from places such as Texarkana, San Antonio and Georgetown.
With the new student center underway, and the impending closure of the current student center, Alumni Relations needed to make a decision of where it would set up office.
Plans for the Alumni Center began eight years ago by the Alumni Association. In 2005, the Board of Regents approved the proposal to build.
Sinclair and Wright, based out of Tyler, were chosen as the architects of the 6,500 square feet, one story building. The architectural style of the building will match the Heritage House and will feature a rotunda, veranda and conference room. We Build of Paris, responsible for the construction the walking mall, was selected to build the Alumni Center.
The Board of Regents approved Thursday, Sept. 27 the ground lease where the center will be built. Once built, the Alumni Association will gift the building to the University.
Funding for the building has come from contributions by the Alumni Board and individual contributions by alumni who have a vested interest in seeing this happen.
Naming opportunities, such as for he rotunda, the director’s office, the conference room, as well as the building itself, has been a major fundraising effort.
A bid is still out for $500,000 contribution for the honor of naming the center along with extra funds needed to furnish the center,
“I’m pleased with the Alumni Association and the University to collaborate and make this a reality. It’s been a long time coming,” Peace said.