Friday marked the grand opening of Maysville Community and Technical College’s new Rowan Campus near Morehead.
The ceremonial ribbon cutting ceremony was held Friday with local and state officials on hand along with faculty, staff, students, community members and those who had a hand in the creation of the new facility.
“This truly was a community effort,” said Russ Ward, director of the Rowan Campus of Maysville Community and Technical College (MCTC).
“The 17 (Kentucky) counties and the two in Ohio, everyone was involved,” Ward said. “That is pretty incredible in a project. We had 10 months to complete this and the fundraising of Build Smart. I remember Dr. (Ed) Story, who really got this started, called me and Stanley Click and a couple other folks into his office and said, ‘I want to tell you about what is going to happen.'”
“He told us about Build Smart and we all kind of looked at each other and said, ‘What? How can we do that?’ He said, ‘You can do it.’ And we did,” Ward added.
Dr. Story retired as MCTC President in 2014. Click, who is also now retired, served as the college’s coordinator of academic programs.
The old Rowan County campus closed on December 11, 2017, to allow faculty and staff to prepare for the move. The new campus, located in the John Will Stacy MMRC Regional Business Park near Morehead, is now open for the spring semester.
“The reason we are here at this state-of-the-art facility is because of economic success, that is what is going to drive us and drive our community. It is going to drive the commonwealth and the nation,” said MCTC President Dr. Stephen Vacik.
“This facility is just the beginning of what we hope in the years to come, will be an expansion of programs and services to further advance our mission of service, located here in the heart of this regional business park,” Vacik added.
“We strive to provide quality education individual services and meaning advocacy for our students, our business partners and our community. We haven’t forgot where we came from and where we are going,” he said.
“When this project began, I had my doubts. I walked in brand new and I was told that within the next year I needed to raise nearly $7 million. ‘Good Luck,'” he added.
“This truly, truly is a community effort,” said State Representative Rocky Adkins.
“This is an effort that had a $21 million appropriations in the state budget but it was a Build Smart campaign that had been done for the first time and I had to come home after that and say, ‘Guess what Rowan County and region community. We have to raise $7 million.’ Guess what. We did. We did,” Adkins said.
“I have to thank the Rowan County Board of Education, without the help and commitment of the Rowan County Board of Education, who said we need the Rowan Campus building as part of our campus and part of our future growth,” he said.
“Out of the $7 million, the purchase of that was $5 million and that put this community well on its way to reach the goal that we had to reach to make the project become a reality,” Adkins added.
With the move, MCTC greatly expands its ability to serve the community. Enrollment at the Rowan County campus has skyrocketed in recent years to over 1,300 students per semester, causing problems for a 30-year old facility that was only designed to house 350 students.
MCTC can now accommodate 1,200 students with the new campus.
“Maysville Community and Technical College is celebrating its 50th year as an institution,” said Dr. Jay Box, President of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System.
“This is also the 20th anniversary of the Kentucky Community and Technical College system as a comprehensive community and technical college system here in Kentucky and that is the vision of a very good Governor Paul Patton and a general assembly who said that this is important and one of the most important people that got that deal passed in 1987 was State Representative Rocky Adkins,” Box said.
“Representative Adkins, I appreciate everything that you did for the Community and Technical College being successful and what it has meant to the residence of Rowan County and all of this part of Kentucky, thank you very much,” he added.
“Just recently we passed a new milestone we have served over three million employees working for employers working with workforce training in this state,” Vacik said. “That is something that we are very proud of.”
“In the last 20 years, 875,000 Kentuckians have passed through our doors at the KCTCS colleges. We have 16 comprehensive colleges and I used to say 73 campuses but today I can say 74 campuses and we are very pleased with that,” he added.
“Today we are here to talk about the future and the future is what this building represents,” Vacik said.
“This is not your father or mother’s old educational building. As you can see, this building, the state-of-the-art equipment and see the technology throughout the entire building, you realize where we are going with education. You realize when talking to employers, this is what they expect. They see the robotics lab, you see this is what employers are expecting out of us. We are pleased to be able to provide that kind of education in this type of this facility,” Vacik added.
The facility was designed by Omni Architects of Lexington and Trace Creek Construction served as the construction manager for the project.
“We are thrilled to be a part of MCTC’s expansion,” said Sam Howard, Founder and Chief Executive Officer for Trace Creek. “This new facility will attract students from all over Kentucky, and will be a great advantage for Rowan County.”
“Sam (Howard), I don’t know how smart you think you are but you are a smart guy for putting David (Howard) in charge of this project,” Vacik said.
“These guys did a terrific job as construction manager of this project. Not only did we get a quality product but you guys kept your promises. I want to tell you how very much I very much appreciate it. Thank you very much,” Vacik added.
Trace Creek constructed a state-of-the-art educational facility that provides students, faculty and staff with the well-designed space and technology they need to be at the forefront of higher education. The building includes a 87,500-square foot Postsecondary Center of Excellence in Advanced Manufacturing, which was developed in partnership with Morehead State University. This center provides instruction for technical skills as well as workforce training for industrial manufacturing, engineering, and space science.
“I want to talk about the team that basically did the construction and built this facility,” Ward said.
“I have to say something about this group. I have set on several construction meetings in the past, and it never fails that there is a period where something would go wrong and fingers would be pointed. It was their fault or they didn’t do what they were supposed to do,” he said.
“I can say that has not happened one time in my presence with this group. That is to commend them for their efforts. Rocky, to do a basketball analogy, ‘It was a dream team.’ I appreciate your efforts. Sam and David Howard. Sam, we are so glad that you are here. You could not have done a better job than picking David to head this project up. He is to be commended, there had not been one time that I ask him for help or direction, or direction on something, why we were doing something a certain way, that he did not know the answer, he was always right there. You should be proud of him,” Ward added.
MCTC’s Rowan County Campus also includes nursing laboratories, a student lounge, bookstore, science labs and a cafeteria.
MCTC’s Rowan County Campus has been registered with the US Green Building Council, and will achieve LEED Silver certification.
“MCTC Rowan Campus has been a great regional success story that has had a positive influence throughout the Commonwealth of Kentucky,” Howard said. “It is our privilege and honor to be able to contribute to MCTC’s future growth.”
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Information on the building
87,500 sq. ft.
Building:
• Structural steel framing
• Brick exterior CMU concrete/masonry unit interior
• Finished architectural metal panels
• Aluminum curtain wall
• Aluminum store front entry doors
Roof:
• SBS Modified Bituminous Membrane Roof
First floor classrooms consist of:
• Fluid Power (Hydraulic)
• Industrial lab
• Computerized machine tooling
• Machine tool computer lab
• Robotics
• Technology Classrooms
• Virtual Welding
• Basic Electric
• Mechanical Drives
• Motor Controls
• ITV lab
Second floor classrooms consist of:
• Medical Assisting lab
• Respiratory Therapy lab
• Nursing lab
• Science lab
• Computer lab
• I.T. Computer lab (Computer Repair)
• Math Computer lab
• Development Computer lab
• General Education classrooms
