Breaking ground

Tech starts on student wellness center

HOUGHTON -- Ground breaking ceremonies were held Friday on the campus of Michigan Technological University for the Chang K. Park Student Wellness Center. After making a donation of $55 million, the largest single gift in Michigan Tech's history, Tech alumni Chang K. Park arrived on campus Friday morning to take part in groundbreaking for the university's newest project. The center is expected to open in the fall of 2028, campus officials said.

"When I asked about counseling, we do have a good staff, but location-wise, it's all fragmented somehow," Park said. "So, I thought it may be good to have a central location where we can provide counseling to students, and then that's how it began." The new center will be located on campus between the Memorial Union and Administration Buildings.

Several officials spoke at the groundbreaking, including Tech President Rich Koubek, Board of Trustees Chair Jon Jipping, State Rep. Greg Markkanen (R-Hancock) and MTU Vice President for Student Affairs Laura Bulleit. She said the new center will be a key part of Michigan Tech's Be Well Initiative.

"We're going to have a brand new fitness center. 15,800 square feet of space dedicated to strength, cardio and endurance training," she said. "Then sprinkled throughout the facility will be some spaces for social gathering and quiet reflection."

Bulleit added another new part of this facility will be the collaboration with UP Health System Portage for a new healthcare clinic on campus, located in the new student wellness center.

Rep. Markkanen remarked about his time at Tech and his own wellness as a former student. "I heat up the sauna, take a hot sauna, jump in the lake and that would be my therapy," he said. "This is going to be a facility where students can utilize and find what they need as far as answers and solutions to issues that they run into in our complex world. This is just a wonderful gift."

Right now, students on campus need to trek up to the SDC on MacInnes Drive, which is situated on a steep hill. Bulleit said students were surveyed many times and recognized the need for a central health-focused facility.

"We do a lot of surveying of our students and so we know at any one time what our students' needs and wants are," she said. "We do the National College Heath Assessment every three years, and that is a nationally recognized heath assessment of our students. That tells us what they are looking for and how they are going about their daily physical fitness, mental health fitness, their health routines -- so we had that information to draw on."

Tech aims to address concerns of current and future students, especially regarding mental health, by combining every aspect of student health into one, centralized facility. Park said this new building will be all about improving students' quality of life at Michigan Tech.

"My hope is that through this mental, physical and emotional health issue we are trying to address, they end up as a student who has a really positive attitude as they graduate from school and to serve their needs for the rest of their life."