As part of its $50 million housing plan, Augustana University in Sioux Falls has started renovations to overhaul its campus green.
The renovations will focus on areas like athletics, academics and student life, with planned features including a full-length intramural football field with lighting that the marching band will also use and an amphitheater-style outdoor classroom. Other projects include additional seating areas and a relocated retention pond with a fountain.
Construction will be completed by this fall, but the green won’t be functional until the grass sprouts in the spring or fall of 2023, said Augustana’s Dean of Students Mark Blackburn.
According to Blackburn, the renovation project was a result of the needs of groups on campus. The university’s intramural sports currently share spaces with the athletics department, and the marching band uses a practice field that doesn’t have lights.
“We talk about community, and we can get along well, but for different times and different situations, there’s needs from other departments,” Blackburn said.
Blackburn also said the renovation aligns with the university’s value of community, as there isn’t currently a space where large numbers of students or faculty can meet.
“You can have a great experience here on the green and have this communal feel when there’s picnics, ensembles, ceremonies,” Blackburn said. “Anything that we have, we can definitely do on the green.”
As part of the overall housing plan, the university has nearly finished the new Wagoner residence hall and is renovating the Bergsaker residence hall.