Athens State University (ASU) operates an adequate and well-maintained physical plant to support the mission of the institution. As required by the Alabama State Board of Education, ASU maintains a current facilities inventory and submits a Facilities Master Plan to the Board annually. To maintain its physical resources and facilities, the University Facilities Master Plan (2008, 2009, 2010) strives to achieve a balance that preserves the historical integrity of the campus while providing the necessary infrastructure and technology to support the University’s academic programs and support services.

ASU maintains and utilizes a variety of buildings and ground space on campus that provide the physical resources necessary to meet the needs of educational programs, student support services, and faculty and staff. As a part of the University mission and goals, the University is continually making efforts to improve its buildings, ground space, parking and lighting, and other physical resources to improve accessibility to historical buildings, to provide technology such as wireless local area networks (WiFi), and to maintain a safe and aesthetically-pleasing environment for everyone who visits the campus.

University facility inventory reports (2008, 2009) include: four buildings (Carter Physical Education Center, Chasteen Hall, Classroom Building, Waters Hall) primarily devoted to classroom, lab, and office space; five buildings (McCain Hall, Naylor Hall, Sanders Hall, Sandridge Student Center, Founder’s Hall) devoted primarily to support services and faculty and staff office space, presentations, plays, and concerts; the ASU Library; the Maintenance Building, which houses some maintenance equipment and which serves as the central receiving facility; and a wide variety of peripheral buildings used for office and storage space.

The University is currently implementing a plan to make major renovations to several campus buildings funded through a State Bond issue. For example, Waters Hall, which houses laboratories and classrooms for the natural sciences, computer science, and mathematics, as well as offices for faculty in these disciplines, recently underwent a major revision, completed in December 2009, which added approximately 15,000 square feet to the building and made much-needed improvements in classrooms, laboratories, utilities, and technology. Major renovations to Sanders Hall were also completed in fall 2009 to better house faculty and staff offices for the College of Business.

To further support the primary institutional mission to serve transfer students from community colleges in the Alabama Community College System (ACCS), ASU also maintains a physical presence at Off Campus Centers at several System community colleges. In addition, ASU operates a Center at the U.S. Army Garrison at Redstone Arsenal to better serve active duty military personnel and civilians employed by the Department of Defense. The instructional sites used by the University are approved annually by the State Board of Education in accordance with Alabama Commission on Higher Education guidelines. The physical facilities utilized by ASU at these Centers are arranged in advance as needed with the host institutions, and may vary from term to term subject to student demand. At the three University Centers (Northeast Alabama Community College – Rainsville, Redstone Arsenal – Huntsville, Wallace State Community College – Hanceville) ASU provides offices and facilities for both traditional and distance education courses. At the three Distance Learning Centers (Northwest Shoals Community College – Muscle Shoals, Snead State Community College – Boaz, Wallace Community College – Selma) ASU provides offices and facilities for distance education courses where less than 50% of the course requires face-to-face contact between students and instructors.

Additional information and details concerning physical resources can be found in the narratives for Comprehensive Standard 3.11.