COLUMBUS, Ind. —
More than 200 people watched and cheered as the new main building for Ivy Tech Community College was officially opened.
A ribbon-cutting ceremony was held Wednesday at Moravec Hall, 4475 Central Ave., in the Columbus AirPark area. The 80,000 square-foot facility replaces the now-demolished Poling Hall, which served as the main campus building since 1983.
While Moravec Hall has roughly the same square footage as Poling Hall, the new building represents a $32 million investment. Poling Hall cost only about $4.5 million.
While inflation was certainly a factor, “the new building contains labs that are so high tech that I think students are going to be attracted because of the real life experience they can get,” Columbus Area Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Cindy Frey said.
Those labs include advanced technology and sophisticated simulation labs to provide students with hands-on experiences, That includes a surgical technology operating room, nursing simulation lab, education learning lab, visual communications creative lab, information technology networking lab and data center.
Ivy Tech Director of Marketing Chris Schilling said the labs will assist educators in teaching several subjects that include business, education, dental assisting, surgical technology and nursing.
New this semester is the School of Entrepreneurship, he said.
“We offer students the opportunity to learn how to start up a business, how to run the business, how to get it off the ground and how to work with others to pursue that dream,” Schilling said. “There are those with an innovative spirit and this is a program for them.”
Jesse Brand, a Columbus native who serves on the college’s state board of trustees, said he can remember when Ivy Tech acquired the old Armory building at Seventh and Franklin streets in late 1968.
“This is a world away from that,” Brand said. “Having a college campus in our community that offers such an obtainable opportunity for higher education is such a boon for our residents. It means you do not need to leave Columbus to earn a degree and start your career.”
Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann said her first memory of promoting the new building was bringing an old, rusty pipe taken from Poling Hall to the statehouse to show the need for a new facility.
“This building was 10 years in the making,” Ellspermann said. “My instruction is that this campus needs to be flexible. It will need to grow with us over time.”
For more on this story, and more photos, see Friday’s Republic.
