Southern Miss Announces Wellness Center

The University of Southern Mississippi just keeps getting bigger. USM's Athletic Director, Jon Gilbert announced the university plans to build a new multi-purpose Wellness Center.

"We announced a wellness volleyball center last week," Gilbert said. "Really excited about the project. It will host certainly our women's volleyball team both practice and competition."

However, practice and competition are not the only reasons for building this facility. The building will also serve as a new way for the community to engage the public.

"I anticipate it hosting university and community events," Gilbert said.

The new building will hold approximately 1,000 seats, big enough to hold several community events.

"I anticipate multiple community events in it," Gilbert said. "I can see plays, small concerts, and other acts that would have a capacity of one-thousand."

Gilbert explained the design of the new building has not been decided yet. Therefore, the university can not estimate how much the building will cost. Despite the unknown, Gilbert hopes to move quickly on the university's new project.

"We want to move quickly, we want to get through the design phase. We got a few more things we need to get from an approval process on-campus," Gilbert said. "Once all the funding is secured, we anticipate the building process will take somewhere between twelve and fifteenth months."