Finally…

If you have been at CCU for a while, or have been following CCU for a while, you have more than likely heard about the Armstrong Center. When I was looking at schools, and I toured CCU, I was told multiple times that they were planning this great new building that would be under construction soon. But from the outside, it felt like the building kept getting pushed back and pushed back. It got to the point where students were doubting if it was ever going to be built.

Then came the memes.

CCU’s very own Instagram meme page, donaldsweetmemes, created many a meme about the Armstrong Center. On April 14, 2021, CCU put out a press release announcing the plans for the Armstrong Center. This was the response from donaldsweetmemes:

What has taken so long?

The Armstrong Center was set in motion about five years ago when the former CCU president, Bill Armstrong, passed away. Little did CCU know just how long the process would take. I sat down with Eric Hogue, Vice President of Advancement, to talk about the Armstrong Center. He said that the first step in this project, as with any major advancements to CCU, was to raise the funds. This took longer than expected for many reasons.

One such reason: it can be difficult to raise funds in times of major transitions and CCU was definitely changing. Between finding and bringing in a new University President and hiring a new Vice President of University Advancement, the Armstrong Center was off to a slow start. Not to mention, it’s a rather large project to begin with. Despite all this, in 2019, the Advancement team felt confident that the Armstrong Center was on track.

But COVID.

Amazingly, COVID was not as big of a set-back as many might have anticipated. The biggest change that came with the pandemic had to do with the President’s Weekend. Due to restrictions, the fundraising event had to be moved to Arizona. Many donors were not comfortable with traveling or gathering in groups. Along with this, the donors themselves were struggling after the effects of COVID on the economy. Regardless, with the assistance of over 1,000 donors, the weekend still raised enough money to move to the next stage of the project.
Okay, so now we know that the Armstrong Center is happening, but what exactly is it?

• The new building will be home to an auditorium/lecture hall that will seat 500 people as well as what Hogue called a, “200 seat sacred Chapel space” for smaller, more intimate chapel events and possibly even the President’s Lecture Series.
• Armstrong will also be home to the School of Music. There will be several practice areas as well as the classrooms and the (previously mentioned) auditorium.
• The new, updated library will also be in the building. According to Eric Hogue, this library will include the “President’s Reading Room” that will be home to books selected by the University President and hopefully author meet-and-greets.
• Lastly, the new digital communications studio will be in the finished Armstrong Center.

As you can see, this building is going to be rather large (it will span from about halfway through the current Beckman Center and will go pretty far down the quad) and intricate. Unfortunately, that means it is going to take a while to construct. While the groundbreaking is not officially scheduled yet (but will be this coming fall), Hogue said that there will be more “immediate aesthetic adjustments to prepare for the groundbreaking.”

The project, God-willing, should take between 16 and 20 months. Since construction will span two winters, it might slow things down a bit, but Hogue says 18 months is the fairest estimate.
What’s it going to look like?

Appearance wise, the building will be the same style as Leprino Hall. However, it will have an “iconic signature look” that includes a steeple.

Eric Hogue teased that on the other side of the Armstrong Center, there will be another Leprino-type building he referred to as “Academic Two.”

What does this mean for CCU as a whole?

The first thing Hogue said about the expanding university, was that the Armstrong Center will meet the need of bringing the School of Music back on campus. He also mentioned that the updated library is a big advancement.

Finally, the new building will “memorialize President Armstrong and all that he has meant to the University and it’s growth,” Hogue said, “and walking through campus, seeing the steeple will be a reminder of his commitment to ‘Jesus, Jesus, Jesus.’”

And hey, “Now students can get married on campus.”

Renders courtesy of CCU Campus Development