The Augustana Fitness Centre, currently located in the Camrose Recreation Centre, has been permanently closed as a joint use facility for both Augustana and the Camrose public. Originally opened on October 24, 2008, the Centre temporarily closed its doors on March 15, 2020, in quick response to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the future of the facility was already in question.
The facility has been struggling financially over the past several years and the closure of the facility was a budgetary decision. Augustana is facing a cut of 13.6% or 2.2 million dollars of base funding in the coming year. As a result, the campus has been seeking ways to reduce costs, one of which includes bringing most or all of its operations back into university owned buildings to reduce lease expenditures.
The Fitness Centre's primary purpose is to provide fitness opportunities and instruction to Augustana students. However, the public will no longer be able to utilize the Augustana fitness facility. It may be possible that employees will be able to use the on campus fitness centre depending on location.
Any public members of the former Fitness Centre will be eligible to receive prorated refunds for the unused portions of their membership passes. If you were a member, please send your name and mailing address to augfit@ualberta.ca in an effort to help us issue refunds. You may also call and leave a message at the Fitness Centre's office number: 780-679-1576. The Augustana campus apologizes to our public members who have been inconvenienced by this unfortunate change and we thank you for your patronage.
Augustana students and staff should keep their eyes out for future information about the new fitness facility in internal communications media. Any other queries may be directed to Randal Nickel, Executive Director of Student Life, at rnickel@ualberta.ca.