Ivy Tech’s campaign, Building communities. Changing lives., is a regional campaign to benefit the Kokomo, Logansport, Peru and Wabash campuses. The region-wide campaign consists of separate campaigns for each of the four communities. Funds raised in each community will be used to benefit the local campus according to its assessed needs. The regional campaign is a three-year pledge campaign to raise $4.25 million. The money will be used to support existing academic programs, initiate new ones, increase scholarships, and continue the growth and quality of facilities at Kokomo, Logansport, Peru and Wabash. The campaign stems from a 67 percent increase in enrollment throughout the region in the past five years which has resulted in the greater need to expand and enhance both programs and facilities.
Already, many changes are being made in Peru. Several health program courses are scheduled, including some first-year nursing courses, to provide Miami County students access to state-of-the-art equipment and training closer to their community. Plans also include the development of culinary arts labs that will allow students to begin on the path toward completion of the Culinary Arts degree at the Fort Wayne, South Bend or Indianapolis campus. The culinary kitchen also will enable the college’s Office of Continuing Education to offer personal enrichment courses to community members led by culinary faculty. The newly renovated auditorium with its theatre-style seating is scheduled for completion in early 2009. Additional equipment, such as lighting, sound and curtains, will be the next steps to creating a state-of-the-art space the entire community will be able to enjoy. Finally, the college also will be looking to add high-tech instructor stations, LCD projectors, document cameras, wireless Internet connectivity, software and more computers in order to provide the high-quality training employers and other colleges expect.
Milt and Jean Cole of Logansport have been selected as honorary chairpersons of the region-wide campaign because of their deep commitment to education and to Ivy Tech.
“Helping build communities is a fundamental role of community colleges across our nation,” says Milt, owner of Cole Hardwood in Logansport. “By providing academic programs that fulfill the need of our area employers to maintain a skilled workforce, Ivy Tech is vital to building the very communities in which we, our children and grandchildren live.”
The Dukes Health Care Foundation has expressed it shares Ivy Tech’s vision already by investing $180,000 in the college for a science a nursing laboratory. Sally Keith, member of the foundation’s board of directors, believes that Ivy Tech is important to Peru and Miami County.
“I think that the presence of Ivy Tech here in the community is just one of the most positive things that the Peru has done in a long time.”
In addition to the Coles, Peru Vision Campaign leadership also includes Deb Close, Sally Keith, Tom McKaig, Robin Singleton, Terry W. Smith and Larry West.
For more information about the Building communities. Changing lives. Vision Campaign, please contact Greg Aaron, executive director, Office of Resource Development, at (800) 459-0561, ext. 450.
Ivy Tech Community College is one of the nation’s largest singly-accredited statewide community college systems and the state’s second largest public post-secondary institution with nearly 120,000 students enrolled annually. Ivy Tech has 23 campuses throughout Indiana. It serves as the state's engine of workforce development, offering affordable degree programs and training that are aligned with the needs of its community along with courses and programs that transfer to other colleges and universities in Indiana. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools.
Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Region serves Cass, Fulton, Howard, Miami, Tipton and Wabash counties and includes campuses in the communities of Kokomo, Logansport, Peru and Wabash. To learn more about Ivy Tech, visit www.ivytech.edu.
Media Contact
David Gray
media relations coordinator
(800) 459-0561,
ext. 701