By JENNIFER TANGEMAN
Staff and faculty at the new Logansport Ivy Tech campus are working to prepare the building for students to arrive in two weeks.
Monday all of the school’s administrative services, like admissions, financial aid, the bookstore and faculty advising, began operating out of the new campus.
“We started moving in last week,” said Kevin Bostic, vice-chancellor and dean of the Logansport community college. “We’ve been unpacking boxes and figuring out where to put stuff.”
Bostic said all of the exterior work to the new building is complete, and final detail work such as hand-rails and benches are under way inside.
Gwen Gore, who has worked in the school’s book store at its Eastgate Plaza location for the past 10 years, helped label book shelves and prepare the store Monday.
Gore said the book store at the new location is larger than the existing one. The new book store also has a small coffee shop.
“It’ll be super,” Gore said. “I think the students will like it and things will sell better.”
Gore explained additional storage and display room will make for smoother operations.
Bostic said the book store will expand its services somewhat, too, with a selection of best-selling books as well as text books and a bigger selection of college gear.
Heather Radenstorm, a medical assistant student and book store worker, said she is looking forward to classes in the new building this coming semester because of the additional space.
“It’s not so congested,” Radenstorm said. “Before we felt like sardines.”
The expansion of room was also a popular improvement among faculty and staff.
“I’m so excited over storage space,” said Julie Byrd, the programming chair of information systems. “It’s so cool.”
Byrd also explained she will no longer have to share her lab space with other programs at the school.
“That is the best thing for me,” she said.
Rather than having one lab for numerous programs, Byrd will oversee two separate labs, and the nursing and medical assistant programs will have two labs.
“They have been moving all of their equipment because they are sharing with other programs,” Bostic said. “Now they can personalize their space more.”
Byrd’s daughters also helped her celebrate the new campus by giving their mother a personalized brick for the school’s brick campaign as a Christmas gift.
Kathy Holland, a business administration student, visited the new school Monday to locate where her new classes will be.
“I keep telling people we need a GPS for in here it’s so big,” Bostic said.
The vice-chancellor and dean explained student volunteers will be present during the first few days of classes to direct people throughout the building. The 1,300 students enrolled for class in the spring semester will begin Jan. 11.
• Jennifer Tangeman is a reporter for the Pharos-Tribune. She can be reached at 574-732-5148 or jennifer.tangeman@pharostribune.com.
