Physical and Mental Health

CMU’s health, wellness and counseling programs play a critical role in student retention, progression and graduation. The university has invested in an integrated network of professionals across UHS and CaPS who are uniquely attuned to the needs of college students, and who are skilled at working as both clinicians and educators. They collaborate with community and campus partners to create a network of care that offers access to a wide spectrum of services to meet the needs of all students. With the heightened visibility and access that the Highmark Center provides, UHS and CaPS anticipate an increased use in services, based on the experiences of other universities with comprehensive wellness centers.

Wellness Programs

Holistic wellness programs present students with ways to learn about self-care and self-advocacy as they develop positive habits that incorporate mindfulness, religion and spirituality, stress management, and healthy eating, exercise and sleeping routines.

Athletics and Recreation

As the home to CMU Athletics, the Highmark Center has become a true campus destination for the university’s student-athletes to pursue their passions and push themselves to new levels of excellence as they train, practice and compete. The center is also a place where all students can balance their commitment to academics with recreation, competition and fitness activities. The Highmark Center features a new performance and competition arena with a bleacher seating capacity of 1000 people, along with an auxilliary gym. The existing Skibo gym has been renovated to become a modified field house.

Sustainability

Targeting LEED Gold, the design integrates wellness and nature throughout with strong connections to the outdoors and a focus on creating healthy indoor spaces with access to natural light, ventilation, natural materials, and is designed to provide inclusive facilities.
For indoor air quality compliance, the project used Safetraces Veridart (an aerosol based testing system) to measure & verify the building's HVAC system's ability to reduce exposure to respiratory diseases.

The project also salvaged and reused various materials from the Thistle Hall and North gym buildings that were demolished for the new facilities' construction. 

Descansa Espíritus/Rest Spirits by Guadalupe Maravilla

Installed in October 2024, Maravilla’s sculpture comprises six polished aluminum hammocks suspended into a symmetrical mobile. Each mirrors the full-scale dimensions of a single-person cloth hammock, inspired by the traditional Central American hammocks Maravilla grew up with. Soaring above the building’s central stairwell, the sculpture responds to the glass wall it faces, seemingly changing throughout the day as light and shadow shift. Maravilla selected the position because, here, the sculpture exists within all three stories of building, yet floats just out of reach. “When I use hammocks in my work, they’re never low enough so someone can touch them,” he said. “They’re high because they’re intended for the ancestors to take a rest. I believe that our guardian angels, our spirits and our ancestors, also need a break.”