Back to News 
By Rex Barber
Johnson City Press
MILLIGAN COLLEGE — Construction is nearly finished on Milligan College’s new student fitness center.
Named the Gilliam Wellness Center in memory of 1938 graduate Marvin Gilliam, the 7,100-square-foot center should be completed and ready for campus use in March. The Richard B. Gilliam family of Charlottesville, Va., donated the funds to construct the building, as well as an access road and nearby parking lot.
“We’re pretty much through on the inside,” said Milligan President Don Jeanes. “We’re still waiting for a little bit of the equipment. I think it’ll be here shortly. The rest of the furniture will be in Friday.”
The facility will have cardiovascular machines, free weights, an aerobics room and a spinning room equipped with 10 spinning bikes. The walls also will feature mounted flat-screen televisions.
Three of those televisions will have Nintendo Wiis hooked up to them. The video game system utilizes a motion controller and sports several physical fitness titles.
Jeanes hopes to have the fire marshal’s certificate of occupancy by the first of next week. The facility should have a soft opening in early March with Chris Webb as the new center’s manager.
“He’ll develop plans for recreational activities that will take place off campus,” Jeanes said. “They’ll not be team type sports — we already have intramuals. But he’ll work on other avenues of fitness and recreation, maybe hiking, canoeing, boating, something like that,” Jeanes said. “This will be regular opportunities to try and get students to be involved in some of those things.”
The school has a small workout facility now at its Steve Lacy Fieldhouse, but it is not very large and Jeanes said athletes compete for its availability. The new facility will provide the rest of the student body a place to workout.
Randy Christiansen with Burleson Construction said the building will be one of the first LEED certified buildings in the area. LEED refers to the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design rating system.
To be LEED certified the Gilliam Wellness Center has a recycling area, energy efficient lighting and plumbing fixtures and other items, including a water garden.
“All of the rain water from the roof is going to be harvested in tanks in the back,” Christiansen said. “And so instead of just all that rain water being sent off into the storm water system, that is harvested … and that water can be used for watering landscapes and flowers and things of that nature.”
The building was constructed in a manner that allowed an 80 percent reduction in waste materials, Christiansen said.
Workout equipment for the new center was provided by Denny and Cindy Mayes of Alcoa, both of whom also are Milligan graduates.
Mark Fox, vice president of student development at Milligan, helped in procuring the equipment, most of which is designed to minimize any injuries a person could get regardless of their experience in a gym.
Fox said students should be able to get an education in the new center as well as fit. He said students will be able to train and become certified as instructors in aerobics, strength conditioning or spinning bikes.
“We think that will help prepare them for the work world as well as for those people looking for careers in health and fitness and recreation, those kinds of things,” Fox said.