Construction on the William L. Sullivan Technology Center at Henderson Community College may be almost complete, but it's not likely that the $13 million facility will be used during the upcoming academic year unless adjustments are made to the governor's budget.
HCC President Pat Lake told the Lions Club Tuesday that's because Gov. Steve Beshear has not included the roughly $360,000 it will take to operate the building per year in the upcoming state budget.
That exclusion is just one of many the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) has dealt with over the years despite the 1997 Post-secondary Education Reform Act mandating increased certificate and degree programs at state community colleges, among other things.
And while the local community college has fulfilled its portion of that deal by expanding programs, it has done so with less and less money from the state, Lake said.
During this upcoming budget cycle, KCTCS and all universities have been told to cut their budgets by 15 percent statewide, Lake said. Locally, that means HCC will be forced to run its campus without about $626,000 in state money.
"Just think what you would have to do if you had to reduce your budget by 15 percent," Lake told the Lions Club members, some of whom operate businesses. "I hope someone comes up with an alternative that includes a budget" that doesn't reduce funding for KCTCS and state universities.
Despite ongoing budget woes, however, the long-time president added that he and other members of HCC are grateful to the man who has been a leader in helping the local college grow.
"If you see Bill Sullivan, please thank him for all he's done to help this institution," Lake said after he outlined much of what the new 53,000- to 54,000-square-foot technology center will be able to offer the local community. That building is expected to be completed next month.
The first floor will include rooms for agricultural technology and industrial maintenance technology, as well as a digital electronics lab, among other things.
The second floor will include a Success Center for tutoring, counseling, adult education and assessment, as well as faculty and staff offices. The third floor will have a board room, a video conferencing center, a catering kitchen and more sites for classrooms.
The entire building will be wireless, meaning that students and staff will be able to work on computers online without hooking up to cords and cables.
The new facility will also include a One Stop Center, which is a sort of consolidated employment center that will connect employers with the needs of under- and unemployed local residents.
"We were the first college in Kentucky to secure funds through a grant to have this One Stop Center located on campus," Lake added.
The Sullivan Center and the Academic and Technical Center (which is next door) will be connected via a second-floor walkway that will utilize space originally intended to be taken up by a larger Sullivan Center.
Lake said original plans for the Sullivan Center were for the building to be 65,000 square feet, but the size of the facility had to be reduced to cut construction costs.
Regardless of that adjustment, however, Lake said construction on the Sullivan Center has moved along very smoothly once it received funding. Of course, getting the funding for the new center took about 14 years, he added. But that has not taken away from the importance of the new facility.
"(Sullivan) is just an amazing guy," Lake said after the Lions Club meeting. "It's meant a lot to everyone at the Hill for his enduring support."
