Wellness Facilities

Built in 1972, Bennett Natatorium is a six-lane 25-yard pool. The pool is used for many physical education classes. Classes include the aquatic section of the Liberal Arts Fit for Life class, beginning swimming, and intermediate swimming, American Red Cross Lifeguarding, American Red Cross Lifeguarding Instructor, American Red Cross Water Safety Instructor, Pool/Spa Administrator, and Scuba. There are also multiple lap swim times throughout the week, as well as Water Aerobics. Intramurals hosts events in the pool during the year as well.

The Tom and Sch’ree Ward Fieldhouse is a multipurpose fieldhouse that features four regulation basketball courts, a 200-meter regulation indoor running track, a drop-down batting cage and, on the upper level, a 355-meter indoor walking/jogging track.

The 200-meter indoor competition track is a Mondo surface with six 36-inch lanes around the oval and eight 42-inch lanes for hurdles in the straightaway. Anderson University is the only school in the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference to have an indoor competition track.

With the addition of the fieldhouse, the Campus Activities Board redesigned an intramural program mirroring programs found at large universities. This facility allows for expanded and consistent intramural programming, which previously needed to be arranged around intercollegiate athletic activities and the weather. Instead of five intramural programs, there will be 20, including the addition of indoor floor hockey and indoor soccer.

In addition to all of the scheduled activities in the Ward Fieldhouse, the university is committed to always keep one track and one court open to students, faculty, and staff who want to stop by for a quick game of basketball with friends or a brisk walk around the track.

The Bill and Gloria Gaither Sports Medicine Center is a 5,800 square-foot facility dedicated to sports medicine. The Sports Medicine Center is utilized for injury care, rehabilitation, taping, and academic instruction. An auxiliary training room is also available now for visiting teams.

Anderson University is one of the few universities in the nation to have their own Swim Ex. The Swim Ex is a rehabilitation pool that uses varying depth and amounts of water current to provide resistance to rehabilitation exercises and a variety of other rehabilitation devices.

R. Glenn and Berny Falls Fitness Center has 6,300 square feet and includes stacks and plate-loaded weights. The cardio room includes treadmills, stationary bicycles, stair climbers, elliptical machines, and a versa climber. The upstairs walking/jogging track is available for people with simpler exercise tastes. The cardio and weight-training stations feature four television sets for people who crave entertainment while they exercise.

The J. Willard and Virginia E. Reardon Wellness Education Center more than doubles the number of classrooms for the Department of Kinesiology, leaving ample space for wellness workshops or health fairs. A Healthy Eating Kitchen provides space for cooking workshops on healthy snacks, seasoning food or Mediterranean cuisine.

The Lester and Marguerite Hardacre Human Performance Center opened up a new major for Anderson University students—exercise science. In the 1,950-square-foot lab, students can determine body density in the hydrostatic weighing tank, measure aerobic fitness using a metabolic cart, and improve a golfer’s swing with the kinematic analysis system. Complete technology is available to analyze data, from cholesterol screenings to stress tests. And the subjects for these tests will be Anderson University students, faculty and staff concerned about their own health and fitness

The Prayer Alcove was completed in March 2005 as a finishing touch to the Kardatzke Wellness Center and a place where students and faculty can pray and reflect.

Planning for the Prayer Alcove dates back to the design phase of the Wellness Center, although its construction was postponed until after the facility was in use and its purpose was better understood. The financial piece fell into place in 2003 when Ron and Carol Baker of Ohio made a contribution in support of the project, and in honor of retiring university Vice President Ron Moore for his 38 years of service.

Students in the Anderson University Department of Art and Design competed for the opportunity to design the alcove, presenting their ideas to a committee. The ideas selected were those of Jennifer Ferguson, Sarah Crosley, and Kim Weller, who interviewed Wellness Center patrons and found the majority preferred a space that mirrored the elements found in nature.

The Prayer Alcove does just that, inviting people to kneel at its alter or sit on the cool benches that line the wall. It has been set apart from the bustle of the Wellness Center but remains connected to the facility to symbolize the vital link between physical and spiritual wellness.

The Prayer Wall

The mounted cross is the focal point of the Prayer Alcove. It serves as an altar for those coming to pray but is close enough for patrons to reach out and touch it.

Purchasing almost six tons of stone for the wall, Frederick’s Construction in Anderson pieced the wall together with mortar, paying careful attention to the shape and dimensions of each rock.

The cross itself is made out of wood. Under the watchful eyes of student designers, Frederick’s employees took special care with a hammer, chipping away pieces of wood to make the cross appear more rugged. The wood was then assembled and stained.

The Tree of Life

The stained glass window is a critical element of the Prayer Alcove and represents the Tree of Life. Filtering light from the outside, the window brings color and creates a feeling of reverence and tranquility.

It was also one of the trickiest and most time-consuming elements of the alcove as Ferguson, Crosley, and Weller drew a life-size sketch of the window and passed it along to Moss Stained Glass in Anderson. The glass company drew on top of the students’ sketch exactly where the glass pieces would go. In all, it took more than a month to assemble the window using hot lead, and less than two hours to install.