College Town
college, education, gillete campbell county,
Gillette College is keeping backhoes busy as the campus continues an ambitious building program.
Construction projects include the first of four planned new dormitory villages, a new health and science center and other facilities, as well as other landscaping and infrastructure improvements. These join an administration center that opened in 2003, a central building that houses the campus bookstore, science labs, a coffee shop and more.
All told, the Northern Wyoming Community College District, which includes Gillette College, Sheridan College and Buffalo Outreach, has spent about $70 million in the last six years, and there’s plenty more to come, says Dr. Paul Young, vice president of institutional effectiveness for the district and dean of the Gillette campus.
“In the case of Gillette, I think it is safe to say that we are an emerging college town,” Young says. “Certainly, all the new buildings and grounds on nearly 100 acres on the south side of town create the necessary physical infrastructure.
“The campus is really becoming the focal point of a new neighborhood that includes the new county recreation center on the south edge of the campus with walkways that lead directly to our new student housing, new retail and residential development.”
Even in a good-sized town like Gillette, it’s hard not to notice the college when so much is happening on the ground.
On the academic side, things are just as busy as a new nursing program in partnership with Campbell County Memorial Hospital has come online. This joins a new culinary program and the roster of planned health and science-related programs that are well under way, Young says.
“We have a lot of new things up and running, and later in 2009 we’ll open our new technical-education center and our first residential village, which will have 96 beds in suite-style apartments in four buildings,” Young says. “People in the community are already referring to this as a crown jewel, and there’s so much more to come.”
The campus improvements have led to plenty of interest from the community, and campus tours are quickly turning into student enrollments, says Jeri Russell, director of admissions, who came to the college in late 2008.
“A lot of people didn’t realize we were growing as fast as we are, and that we’re going to be as big as we’re going to be,” Russell says. “When we show the tech building and the residence halls, parents are surprised and excited because it’s really a brand-new campus.”
Russell’s major task these days is communicating that sense of excitement from the faculty to the city and surrounding area, making sure that everybody’s not only buzzing about the campus, but also about the educational opportunities.
“We fit the needs of most students,” she says. “They can get a degree in two years, or spend those years preparing to move to a four-year institution. We also have a lot of other programs. We work with other colleges to feed students into their systems, but it’s really about opportunity, about spending less money and getting a very good education. We’re really about launching them into their future from here.”
And, Young adds, that future might be just down the street.
“The college really is connected to economic development, because many of our students may stay in the community, which will help it in turn be a magnet for other people from around the region,” he says. “It gives Gillette the feeling of being a college town, having an energy and attractiveness that makes people want to live in this community.”
Story by Joe Morris
