Vanguard University Celebrates Grand Opening of Freed Center for Leadership and Service with Ribbon Cutting and Dedication

Second Building in 30-Year Campus Master Plan is New Home to VU Athletics, a 1,910-Person Gymnasium and Academic Laboratories and Classrooms for Popular Kinesiology Major

COSTA MESA, Calif. (October 4, 2024) – Vanguard University (VU), Orange County’s oldest four-year college, officially opened the doors to its new Freed Center for Leadership and Service (Freed Center) on Friday, October 4, celebrating this major campus milestone with a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication. The new three-story, 61,000-square-foot Freed Center is the second newly constructed building in VU’s 30-year Master Plan, approved by the City of Costa Mesa in 2019. The Freed Center is the new home of the Kinesiology program, one of VU’s fastest-growing majors, and the new headquarters for VU Athletics, serving 450+ students and coinciding with the landmark move to the Pacific West Conference this year with provisional membership in the NCAA Division II.

In celebration of this momentous occasion, city officials, university faculty, administrators, students and alumni came together for a ribbon cutting ceremony and dedication featuring the Vanguard Worship Collective led by director Bodie Kuljian, student speakers, and a moment to shoot a “first basket” on the new court. 

VU President Michael Beals, Ph.D., described the importance of this building on student life and the advancement of the institution: “The Freed Center for Leadership and Service now stands as a refuge for students; a space at the heart of our campus where they can gather, learn, compete and celebrate together in school spirit,” he said. “Optimizing our campus facilities and infrastructure to serve our student body is just one of the ways we are ensuring our century-old institution continues to provide a competitive private school education, while also fostering intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good.”

This dynamic new building is named in honor of the Freed Family, whose $10 million gift in March 2022 was instrumental in helping the university to meet its funding goal for the Freed Center earlier than planned by raising $16 million for its construction by March 2022. 

“As a Christian family who believes in the mission of Vanguard University, we were proud to be able to gift the funds needed to help build this state-of-the-art facility,” said Evelyn Freed. “It is an honor and a joy to leave this indelible mark on the campus community, supporting Vanguard’s efforts to educate, equip, and give God’s vision to the next generation of Christian leaders and servants."

 State-of-the-Art Amenities

The Freed Center for Leadership and Service will be a bustling source of pride for the entire Vanguard community, acting as a place to gather for sporting events, chapels, worship gatherings and other campus events. Amenities include a 1,910-seat gymnasium, an adjoining lobby, concessions and ticketing area, men’s and women’s locker rooms, weight rooms, athletic training rooms and athletics offices, workstations and conference spaces. The facility celebrates the recent achievements and growth of VU Athletics, which has more than doubled over the last four years, receiving provisional acceptance into the NCAA Division II and expanding to include Baseball, Men’s and Women’s Basketball, Cross Country, Golf, Soccer, Softball, STUNT, Track and Field, Men’s and Women’s Wrestling and Men’s and Women’s Volleyball.

The Kinesiology program, which has experienced 10% growth year-to-year over the past decade, will benefit from new interactive therapy and human performance labs, classrooms, workstations and study spaces that are also to be used across academic disciplines, adding dynamic and flexible spaces for learning at Vanguard. A $500,000 grant from The Fletcher Jones Foundation has also provided state-of-the-art equipment that will be made available to the community as a resource through cardiovascular fitness and body composition assessment and employer muscle function testing.

Historic Growth Continues
VU is experiencing significant growth while remaining true to its Christ-centered mission for over a century. The 30-year campus master plan was approved by the City of Costa Mesa in 2019. Since its adoption, the University has moved rapidly on implementation: The opening of the two-story, $24-million Waugh Student Center on February 28, 2020, marked the completion of the first phase of “Imagine: The Campaign for Vanguard University.” Then, as the second component of the campus master plan, the construction of the campus monument sign and perimeter fencing were instrumental in meeting the needs of the growing university while bolstering its image, by making it more “beautiful, known and secure.” 

The Freed Center signifies the third Imagine Campaign project, completing the vision for a dynamic student life core of the campus, as it crowns the University’s decade-long investment in renovated residence halls, outdoor athletics fields and the Waugh Student Center.

A fly-through video to depict the VU campus master plan is available at https://give.vanguard.edu/giving-priorities/tour-master-plan/. To learn more about the Imagine Campaign or to support a Vanguard University initiative, visit give.vanguard.edu.

 About Vanguard University
Founded in 1920, Vanguard University in Costa Mesa is a private, Christian, comprehensive university of liberal arts, sciences and professional studies that encompasses more than 2,200 students from every region in the country, over 33,000 alumni worldwide, 100 full-time faculty, over 30 undergraduate programs and six graduate degree programs. A hallmark of a Vanguard education is collaborative scholarship in the arts and sciences, which foster the intellectual development, moral maturity and spiritual vitality of its students for the public good. Rooted in a strong academic tradition and commitment to student success, Vanguard University is recognized by the U.S. News & World Report 2023 rankings as a first-tier regional university in the West, a Top Performer on Social Mobility, a Best College in the West for Veterans, a Best Value School and a Best Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) Program. Vanguard University represents a diverse student population, with 68 percent students of color, 47 percent Hispanic and nearly half of students the first in their family to attend college. Please visit vanguard.edu.