For years the Claremont University Consortium's (CUC) Student Health, Monsour Counseling Center, and Health Education Outreach have been living a lot like stereotypical college students: in cramped quarters, in buildings owned by someone else, sharing resources like co-eds share laptops, t-shirts, and Ramen noodles. While that lifestyle works for a weekend, or even a semester, in the long term it isn't healthy for students, and it hasn't allowed the three centers that serve Claremont's students' health to grow.

The prescription for change will come in the form of a new, $7 million CUC Wellness Center, slated for completion by summer 2005. The building also will provide more than 4,000 square feet of office space, in front of Honnold/Mudd Library at the intersection of Eighth Street and College Way. But the real benefit is not the outside, but what's on the inside.

The Wellness Center will be a CUC building, rather than a hodgepodge of space borrowed and leased from other colleges; that difference, says W. Torrey Sun, vice president for student affairs, will allow the staff of the three facilities to better collaborate on joint projects. More so, the building is designed with the needs of students in mind, with different lobbies, entrances, and exits to protect the privacy of those seeking counseling, and conference rooms and shared space to facilitate discussions and public health initiatives.

For example, explains Dean of Students Jefferson Huang, a student recovering from an eating disorder can continue their therapy at the counseling center, while having regular weigh-ins and blood work performed at the health center. Having treatment available all in one place, increases the probability that students will use the centers. "If the convenience factor helps get them to use both," says Huang, "so much the better."

John F. Beckman, CUC's chief administrative officer, agrees that the decision to build a new center "was driven initially by a need for space," but that the new facility's strength will come from programming possibilities. The efforts are part of a nationwide trend, Beckman says, to offer a more holistic approach to health, wellness, and prevention on campuses, rather than crisis management.

"This is more than a central location and the appearance of the building," says Sun. "It will help enhance wellness education that takes place all over campus."

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A new, $7 million CUC Wellness Center, slated for completion by summer 2005, is under construction at the intersection of Eighth Street and College Way.