The Integrated Cluster approach prepares students to be 21st century marketplace standouts and builds real-world collaborations between the University, industry, and communities. Among PSU’s high-level priorities are recruiting and retaining top students, particularly those who are committed to active lifestyles. At the core—the heart—of each cluster is the critical need for Open Laboratories: transformational spaces for students and faculty to engage with businesses and communities and apply their classroom experiences to solve challenging problems. For the Health and Human Enrichment (HHE) cluster, the Open Lab is the AllWell Complex on the Holderness Campus. The University plans to build new and upgrade current facilities to integrate academics, athletics, and outreach.
Completion of the ALLWell Complex
• Two artificial turf playing fields to extend outdoor activities year-round
• Stadium seating and lighting to expand outdoor operational hours
• Six tennis courts to replace courts that were eliminated with the construction of ALLWell North
• Grass field enhancements to improve the fields’ longevity
• Strength & Conditioning Open Lab to be co-located with the stadium and turf fields
___________
“This exciting strategic initiative lets us maximize the benefit of PSU’s splendid natural resources. The new, world-class facilities will enable students to develop their academic and athletic prowess, while linking outdoors, indoors, tourism, health care, sports, hands-on learning, and regional economic growth. Thanks to the New Hampshire State Legislature, Plymouth State will receive $3 million toward the construction of this Open Lab.”
—Don Birx, President, Plymouth State University
___________
Benefits of Artificial Turf Fields
PSU’s lack of turf fields is a huge challenge in attracting first-class student athletes in all sports.
• The University estimates that 90% of all students will use the stadium and turf field for academic instruction as well as recreational, intramural, and club sports.
• PSU’s construction of facilities supporting ice hockey and track and field, for example, ushered in large enrollment increases. PSU projects similar increased enrollment with the new facilities and upgrades of the PE Center.
• The turf fields will serve as Open Laboratories for academic programs and will be located immediately adjacent to the Strength and Conditioning Open Lab.
• Turf fields offer top-quality playing surfaces year-round.
• A large number of student athletes enrolling at PSU graduated from high schools with turf fields. To competitively recruit these potential PSU students, the University needs similar facilities at the collegiate level.
• Without a turf field, PSU is unable to host NCAA playoff games in some sports.
• Field hockey and lacrosse teams practice and compete off-campus because they cannot play on grass. Similarly, the lack of a turf field rarely allows spring teams to host home games.
Strength and Conditioning Open Lab
The Strength and Conditioning Open Lab offers transformational opportunities to students, the community, and the region. It will be an academic hub, integrating knowledge gained in the classroom with hands-on expertise refined in the Open Lab. “This new Open Lab will encourage real-world teamwork,” says Gail Mears, associate provost. “It will incorporate multiple perspectives and solutions, create partnerships with industries, organizations and communities, and address gaps in the region’s economy.”
• Students enrolled in athletic training, physical education, adventure education, physical therapy, exercise and sports physiology and other allied health fields will use top-notch equipment and work in state-of-the-art facilities.
• The facilities will attract high quality student athletes, faculty and coaches who will enhance the academic rigor of programs and performance of athletic teams.
• The interdisciplinary perspectives gained by the Strength and Conditioning Open Lab will aid in making PSU a renowned center of excellence in New Hampshire and beyond.
• New and upgraded facilities enable new training grounds and programmatic opportunities for faculty and students to serve special populations, such as Special Olympic athletes, Wounded Warriors, and other underserved groups.
• Enlarging students’ cache of real-world skills, complemented by gaining a network of strong professional connections, addresses local employers’ needs for a highly-qualified workforce. It also enables New Hampshire natives to stay and live in New Hampshire—a benefit both for students and regional economic development.
For additional information about supporting this new initiative through a philanthropic investment or bequest, please contact Director of Development John Scheinman ’20P, jscheinman@plymouth.edu, (603) 535-2805.