Posted: January 20, 2012

By Philip Newswanger

philip.newswanger@insidebiz.com

Regent University is beginning a multiyear expansion to attract more undergraduate students to its Virginia Beach campus and create a collegial atmosphere in the Indian River Road corridor.

The newest projects include a 22,164-square-foot chapel and a 36,645-square-foot school of divinity, an investment valued at $17 million.

Both are part of the university's long-range plans.

"The divinity school building will give us additional classroom and office space that will be a boon to the entire campus," said university President Carlos Campo.

"In addition, we will now have a location for the many wedding parties that come to Founders Inn. We know that the beautiful, new chapel - loosely modeled after London's St. Martin-in-the-Fields - will be Hampton Roads' most coveted wedding location."

Campo said Regent's Board of Trustees is considering the next phase of the faith-based university's campus expansion.

The plan will possibly include labs for an applied science and ethics program; sports teams to expand from intramurals to intercollegiate athletics, such as soccer and golf; a larger student union for about 1,000 students; and additional dormitories, from 300 to 500 rooms, for undergraduate, graduate and law students.

Regent expects to finish all of the projects by 2015.

The chapel and the divinity school are the catalyst for the rest of Regent's expansion, for which no price tag has yet been disclosed.

"As a primarily graduate institution, most of Regent's students have been commuters, and we have never had the 'residential critical mass' that would warrant a stand-alone chapel," Campo said.

"Regent does have a beautiful, albeit tiny, chapel space on the second floor of the library, where students, staff and faculty have gathered - mainly for prayer - over the last 25 years or so."

The divinity school and chapel complement each other, he said.

"This is new, and signals the growth of our school of divinity - enrollment has averaged about 850 students over the last five years - as well as our new, on-campus School of Undergraduate Studies.

The undergraduate school "now has 250 or so students on campus, and when we couple that with law school students and others, we are nearing an on-campus population of 1,500, which led university leadership to seriously consider a chapel building.

"One other element driving the completion of the chapel is that it will, in some ways, commemorate Dr. Pat Robertson's long-standing impact on Regent University - in particular, his commitment to spiritual life and growth," Campo said.

"Interest in the school has been strong for a number of years, and while there are many reasons for its success, chief among them are the school's commitment to educating a trans-denominational group of students - nearly 20 denominations are represented - who are diverse [45 percent are non-white] as well as supporting women in ministry [more than 40 percent]," Campo said.

Michael Palmer, who Campo called a distinguished scholar and leader, will continue to lead the divinity school.

"The school of divinity will generally graduate 100 to 200 students annually," Campo said.

"The real story is the shift from grad-only to undergrad," Campo said. "You wouldn't see the chapel going up if not for the undergrads."

General contractor Clancy & Theys Construction Co., which has constructed other buildings on campus including Regent's Performing Arts Center, is constructing the chapel and divinity school.

"Planning and fundraising has been under way for a couple of years," said Mindy Hughes, Regent's director of public relations.

"Site development has now begun, and actual building construction will begin later this year. The buildings are expected to be ready for occupancy in fall 2013."

The chapel will have 1,000 seats and adjoin the school of divinitybuilding via a covered walkway.