Entering a new era
Ivy
Tech breaks ground
on classroom addition for
growing Madison campus
The school already has outgrown its current facility
By
Don Ward
Editor
(May 2006) – The Ivy Tech Community College family
celebrated a milestone April 27 with the groundbreaking of its new building
at the Madison, Ind., campus. More than 200 people and several dignitaries
took part in the celebration, which kicked off a $19.7 million expansion
project that will add an 80,000-square-foot building and renovate the
existing 22,000-square foot building facing Clifty Drive.
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Photo
by Don Ward Officials
taking part in the April 27 |
The expansion, when completed in November 2007, will increase
student classroom capacity from 500 to 2,500, officials said. Ivy Tech's
spring 2006 enrollment topped 1,000 students. For several years, classroom
space has been made available at the Venture Out Business Center to
accommodate the campus' growth.
"Ivy Tech made a commitment to Madison in 2000, and the city of
Madison has made it possible for this successful capital campaign. It
just shows the level of commitment by this community to this much-needed
expansion," said Ivy Tech Region 5 Chancellor Jim Helms.
"And this comes at a time when Ivy Tech Community College has set
forth a statewide strategic plan for excellence, which will add programs
and degrees at many of our campuses."
Today's Ivy Tech system includes about 100,000 students at 23 campuses
statewide plus several other locations where courses are taught, Helms
said.
Helms joined several speakers at the podium to praise the fund-raising
effort that produced $1.2 million to be used for technology that will
go into the new building. That effort was co-chaired by Madison Mayor
Al Huntington and River Valley Financial Bank CEO Matt Forrester.
Huntington, Ivy Tech President Gerald Lamkin, Ivy Tech Southeast Regional
Board of Trustees chair Gary Moeller and Madison campus executive dean
Don Heiderman each took turns at the podium to celebrate the occasion.
They were joined by State Rep. Billy Bright, R-North Vernon, and State
Sen. Jim Lewis, D-Charlestown. Afterward, the group posed for photos
in a groundbreaking ceremony.
"It takes lot to make something like this happen – a lot of
hope, drive and determination to not give up," said Huntington,
who made several trips to Indianapolis to help lobby the state Legislature
on behalf of the expansion funding.
"I've always said Ivy Tech is Madison's college, and pretty soon,
graduates will be able to drive by here and say proudly, 'That's where
I went to college."
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Photo
provided The
future addition will increase student |
Huntington noted that the college helps the community
in areas of workforce development, recruiting and attracting new industry.
Moeller said the success of the project reflected "great vision,
strong leadership and incredible teamwork." He praised Lamkin for
"understanding the vision of the needs down here (in southern Indiana)."
Heiderman recounted how that in August 2000 when he took over as dean,
college officials tried to obtain $3.5 million to build a 19,700-square-foot
connector to a second classroom building that has since been torn down
because of an environmental problem. The effort failed to garner enough
architectural and engineering money to even get started.
"Now today here we are getting ready to build a new 80,000-square-foot
building for the second-most crowded (Ivy Tech) campus in the state,"
he said.
The renovation to the existing building, first occupied in November
1983, will help make it look like it was constructed at the same time
as the new one, Heiderman said.
Architectural plans for the expansion were done by The Estopinal Group
of Jeffersonville, Ind., and Hastings and Chivetta of St. Louis, Mo.
Construction will be managed by Geupel Demars Hagerman of Indianapolis.