Donor-funded facility opens as one of the first air-supported athletic venues in Texas, pairing competition space with academic labs.
LONGVIEW, Texas — LeTourneau University dedicated its Athletic & Human Performance Air Dome Wednesday afternoon, opening a 120,000-square-foot facility that pairs NCAA competition space with academic laboratories as a key part of the university's Build with Purpose campaign.
The dedication and ribbon cutting drew trustees, donors, coaches, student-athletes, and city and county officials to the facility, which stands eight stories high and is among the first air-supported indoor athletic venues in Texas. It was funded entirely through donor gifts.
Inside, a 200-meter banked track with seating for 1,500 is built to host 
regional and national competition. The facility also houses the PING Performance Lab, team rooms, athletic training space, and academic laboratories for LeTourneau's human performance and sport studies
program and its biomedical engineering program — an arrangement that places students studying human performance inside the same building where athletes train.
LeTourneau President Steven D. Mason, Ph.D., framed the building in terms of the university's founder, inventor and entrepreneur R.G. LeTourneau.
"What I love about this dome, in the spirit of R.G.'s ingenuity and entrepreneurship and even evangelism and discipleship, is that this space captures it all — cutting-edge research,
academic and social space," Mason said. "Because at LeTourneau, we believe there's nothing we do — inside or outside the classroom, on the court, on the pitch, on the track, in the café, in any corner of campus — that isn't illumined and animated by Jesus Christ. This is a place where spiritual formation takes place."
Mason said the facility advances the university's long-term academic ambitions while opening the campus to the surrounding community.
"I think R.G. would be really happy if he knew the details of what an engineering marvel this place is, and I'm so glad we get to carry on this tradition of being a place of cutting-edge academics paired with spiritual formation," he said. "This is a premier lab space as part of our 2035 vision, so that we might become the national choice for Christian polytechnic education. It's also a place where we get to welcome the community — thousands of people streaming in, competitors and those cheering them on throughout the year. A resource for Longview and East Texas."
Tim Sceggel, Ed.D., vice president for athletics, pointed to the facility's dual role as a competition venue and an academic center.
"We're particularly excited about the gift that this is to the students at LeTourneau, both student-athletes and non-athletes alike, as this will be a phenomenal academic center," Sceggel said. "We're really thankful for the partnership between athletics and our human performance and sport studies program that's growing by leaps and bounds, under the leadership of Jordan Schools."
Jordan Schools, Ph.D., chairs LeTourneau's Department of Human 
Performance and Sport Studies and leads the university's Virtual Reality Research Program, which applies emerging technology to performance training and rehabilitation. She currently serves as president of the Christian Society for Kinesiology, Leisure, and Sport Studies.
Sceggel connected the building to the athletic department's stated mission.
"In athletics, we seek to cultivate disciples and pursue excellence," he said.
"This provides a learning lab for us to cultivate disciples, to come alongside student-athletes and help them grow in their relationship with Jesus as a result of their athletic endeavors. But then also, pursuing excellence at an elite facility like this one is such a gift, and something we want to steward well as we seek to win at higher levels, compete at higher levels, for the honor and glory of the King."
"The reality is, the more successful we are, the more opportunity we have to honor the Lord through that success," Sceggel added. "This facility opens the door in a huge way for us to be able to do that."
Wednesday's program included welcome remarks and the reading of the dedication plaques by Terry Zeitlow, Ph.D., a prayer of dedication led by Mason, and congregational singing of the Doxology. Ribbon cuttings followed at locations throughout the building, including the track, the Brand Academic Wing, the Herring Office Wing, the PING Performance Lab, the Oatridge Team Room, and the athletic training room.
Participants included benefactors Joe Bob and Lou Ann Joyce; Pat and Melanie Bertsche, chairs of the Build with Purpose Campaign Leadership Committee; Longview Mayor Kristen Ishihara; and Gregg County Judge Bill Stoudt.
Beyond intercollegiate competition, the Air Dome will offer indoor track, tennis and pickleball access to the Longview community. LeTourneau broke ground on the project in November 2024 and inflated the dome in September 2025.
