SPI Insights

Texas State University launched Next is Now, its largest fund-raising campaign in university history on October 8 that aims to raise $250 million to advance initiatives including new and renovated facilities.

Aligned with the university’s strategic plan, campaign priorities include constructing a new music building and renovating the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment.

Estimated at $90 million, the School of Music building will serve almost 600 music majors and 80-plus faculty who are now spread across five buildings. The proposed facility will contain nearly 110,000 square feet of space for classrooms, labs, studios, faculty offices, rehearsal and practice rooms, music library, instrument maintenance room, piano technician studio, storage, and a student lounge.

The new building will be located next to the Performing Arts Center on the San Marcos campus. Originally intended for 200 music students, the current music building started out as a gymnasium that was converted in 1983.

To meet its growing research and education needs, The Meadows Center for Water and the Environment envisions a $12.5 million renovation of the historic Spring Lake Hall into an interpretive research laboratory.

The center’s Discovery Hall on the first floor will be transformed to accommodate the public, while other renovations will enhance The Meadows Center’s capacity for research and to address water resource issues such as climate change, environmental STEM education, and integrated water resource management.