USU gets $1.2 million for new Tooele building
Tooele County is donating a $1.2 million building to the Utah State University Tooele Regional Campus due to the increase in enrollment and lack of classrooms, said Kathleen Robinson, executive director of the regional campus.
A presentation about the new facilities was held on Friday, Dec. 1. USU President Stan Albrecht, Provost Raymond T. Coward and Vice Provost Ronda Menlove attended the presentation.
Construction of the new building will start in spring 2007 and is expected to take a year to complete. It will be 6,000 square feet and hold seven new classrooms, a science lab, a commons area, a conference room and an office.
The campus now only consists of one building and relies on the Tooele County School District for classrooms.
“At our Tooele Regional Campus, we are out of classroom space and have been using the high school classrooms,” she said. “It will be great to have our students together at one location.”
Faculty and students are excited to have more than one building, she said, adding that it will bring a good state of mind for everyone involved.
“It will be good for the students to get together in one place that’s theirs,” Robinson said.
County Commissioner Matthew Lawrence said USU Tooele Regional Campus is very important to Tooele County. It not only offers educational opportunities, he said, but it works well with the economy, also.
Robinson said the building will bring a sizable amount of students back to the campus. They need to start construction of their third building, she said, in order to keep up with the increase in numbers.
Vice Provost Ronda Menlove said President Albrecht has been promoting the regional campuses. She said they have a lot of support, but need more from the state.
“We hope this donation will be just the beginning of increased support from the state Legislature,” Menlove said.
Robinson said, “We have great support from our local community. Commissioner Lawrence sits on our Tooele Regional Campus Advisory Board and was aware of the need we had for additional classrooms.”
She said this donation will help the students and establish the university as Tooele’s own. It will be an invaluable asset to the Tooele campus, she said.
Lawrence said when national firms look to locate in Tooele County, they ask many questions about the availability of higher education. He said a strong relationship with USU Tooele Regional Campus is critical for Tooele County. It brings a lot of business, he said, and it’s a good atmosphere to have.
The Tooele campus is one of USU’s three regional campuses and accommodates 1,800 students every year. It also offers concurrent enrollment for high school students. USU’s Regional Campuses and Distance Education makes higher education more accessible through its three regional campuses, seven full-service centers and multiple education sites in all of Utah’s 29 counties.
-shanmccl@cc.usu.edu