UNI Athletics plans to construct a new football meeting room in the northeast corner of the UNI-Dome with construction slated to begin in winter 2020 and completed in the fall of 2021.

The room is entirely funded by private donations in excess of $2 million. Active fundraising for the room started in 2017 but the idea and need for the space was identified in 2015. Thanks to a generous grant from the Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation, the room will be called the Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation Meeting Room.

This space will be utilized by the UNI Football team as a central meeting location in addition to suites for game days as a revenue generator for the athletic department. The multi-functional room will serve other important purposes such as study space, classroom and as a departmental meeting space. The room will be built in the northeast corner of the UNI-Dome connected to the north endzone office level.

"Van Miller was a tremendous supporter of UNI Panther Athletics and this grant continues the partnership we have shared through the years," UNI Director of Athletics David Harris said. "Being able to have a designated room for our football team to meet as a full team has been a priority for us. This grant allows for that opportunity to be fulfilled, while also opening up another chance to enhance our game-day fan experience. We are very grateful to the many donors that contributed to this project."

"Van Miller was a great supporter of Panther Athletics in every respect. He would be proud to know that his Foundation is supporting UNI and the Panthers but probably not happy that we are telling everyone by using his name. He was humble and generous … well at least we got half of it right," Van G. Miller Family Charitable Foundation Trustee Jim Walsh said.

The new space will feature theatre-style seating, a room partition to create two separate spaces for concurrent use, two digital presentation and projection systems, televisions, audio system, sliding glass windows and privacy screens.

"The quality of our facilities is central to a quality football program," UNI head coach Mark Farley said. "It impacts how we practice, how we compete, how we attract recruits, how we teach and how we represent our university."

The football team meeting room project is phase one of the UNI-Dome renovation plan. The remaining plans for the UNI-Dome renovation will be released at a later date. The football team meeting room project is part of Panthers Rising, a strategic plan to achieve unprecedented success.

If you are interested in supporting other capital projects, please contact Jamar Thompson, senior director of development for athletics at 319-273-7817 or jamar.thompson@uni.edu. More information can be found online at supportthepanthers.com under capital projects.