And Crawford unveiled a rendering during his speech last week at Hall Auditorium showing one of the initial visions for a new sports arena complex proposed as a replacement for Millett Hall.
Credit: Scott Kissell
Credit: Scott Kissell
Crawford focused on the school’s sweeping MiamiTHRIVE strategic agenda, which was launched in 2023, designed “to transform and reinvigorate the university … by identifying opportunities to strengthen its teaching, research, and service missions, and to reimagine itself to serve dynamic needs and interests of students now and in the future,” according to its mission statement.
“MiamiTHRIVE has been an ambitious undertaking to transform and reinvigorate the university for generations to come,” according to a statement from Miami officials.
“More than 1,500 faculty, staff, and students worked together to identify foundational strengths of the university and opportunity areas where Miami could distinguish itself,” said officials.
Crawford told the audience MiamiTHRIVE “was a large process that all came together.”
“We were very happy with this outcome, how it all worked out, and with the collaboration that we saw between the opportunity areas and the foundational strengths committees.”
“We had so many people who put their heart and soul into MiamiTHRIVE,” said Crawford.
The first wave of strategic initiatives cited by Crawford included: The Advanced Manufacturing Workforce and Innovation Hub at a former corporate complex in Hamilton, which he cited as “a cutting-edge partnership between Miami University and Butler Tech Career Technical Center that aims to develop an educated workforce and will serve as a catalyst for community economic growth.”
“Students will have access to a variety of distinctive pathways to meet all levels of need in the manufacturing sector — from associate degrees, industry-recognized credentials and Microcredentials, to degrees in robotics, electro-mechanical engineering, and more,” said school officials.
Crawford also spoke of the financial and other advantages of building a more campus centralized sports arena complex rather than spending millions to update Miami’s aging Millett Hall.
Miami University’s next sports arena may be in the heart of its campus, replacing a large recreational field now used by students after the February approval of preliminary planning for the project.
The current preliminary plan, which would also eventually include the demolition of Millett Hall — home of Miami’s main indoor sports and athletic offices since 1968 — now moves on to the next stage of potential development in the wake school trustees to continue the initial concept and design phase for a potentially new multipurpose arena — projected to not exceed $187.7 million — on its Oxford campus and located at Cook Field.
Crawford said the project — currently dubbed “the arena district” — would “include more facilities than currently exist at Millett Hall, including two basketball practice courts and a volleyball arena. It is also expected to include additional revenue generation opportunities that Millett Hall cannot accommodate.”
Other MiamiTHRIVE plans include: Neighborhood “Quads” focusing on “reimagining (student residence buildings) quads into neighborhoods and creating incentives will help faculty and staff partners increase engagement and community within the residence halls.
And he touched on the on-going renovation and modernization project that will see Bachelor Hall transformed into “a modern hub for humanities.”
The $72 million project, which is scheduled to be done by summer 2026, will see new learning facilities for Miami’s departments of English, history, media, journalism and film, as well as for philosophy and other related programs.
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