Since 1930, one of the workhouse buildings on the Abilene Christian University campus has been Bennett Gymnasium, which is receiving new life this year as the future home of laboratories for the Department of Engineering and Physics.

Paul Anthony (’04), ACU’s advancement communication coordinator, described the transformation in our new Spring-Summer issue as “trading in hardwood and basketball for stained concrete and the hum of robotic experiments.” That’s a pretty good assessment.
Right now Bennett is a mere shell of its former self – the exterior is being largely retained – but soon its interior will be transformed into two stories of labs and project space that will become a showpiece for the fast-growing engineering program and a physics program that has long yearned for lab space to complement its ongoing world-class research work at places like Fermilab and Brookhaven national labs.

ACU Today’s cover story features 14 pages of stories and images about the exciting Vision in Action initiative that will build three science facilities and two stadiums on campus.

In the weeks and months to come, we’ll be profiling here and in the print edition the donors, faculty members, history and impressive programs represented by the university’s largest construction phase in 50 years.
Bennett will be the first of the five projects to be completed later this fall, and we look forward to showing you images of its earlier days and telling some fascinating stories about what was widely considered the finest gym between Fort Worth and El Paso.

View “Building the Future,” our cover story in the new online issue