With the new additions made to the Beeler Center in the recent months, how has that had an impact on UE's student-athletes?

The Beeler Center has created a comfortable and efficient learning center for our Student-Athletes. Since it has opened, we have seen grade improvement resulting in UE winning the MVC All-Academic Championship the past two years. We have a lot of freshmen Student-Athletes this year and I know they have found it very helpful to have the Beeler Center available to them. The Beeler Family has been very generous and it shows up in our results daily! Of course, having academically strong Student-Athletes helps also.

Wichita State basketball has generated a great deal of publicity for the Missouri Valley Conference along with each opponent they play. How has UE benefited from the publicity that the Shockers have been generating for everyone?

Wichita State has been on an excellent run giving significant publicity to the MVC. We fully expect them to be in the NCAA tourney this spring and hopefully a second team can go as well. Everywhere Wichita plays, there is national media exposure. I have seen numerous comments on ESPN in the past week about the Aces as an upcoming opponent, all favorable about our basketball history and program. It is excellent publicity.

Are there any projects planned for the upcoming year? We attended the open house and enjoyed the improvements made and were wondering what may be on the horizon.

We are always assessing projects we complete that will serve to help our team. There are a couple on the drawing board now. Last year, we upgraded the Beeler Center, Hall of Fame area, golf hitting area, pictorial hallway, and our conference center among other things. Our donors have been very generous to help us on these projects and be assured, our Student-Athletes, Coaches, and Administrators are very grateful for that support!