FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Tuesday, Nov. 29, 2005
Contact: Dave Wellman, Director of Communications, (304) 696-7153
 

Marshall’s Mid-Ohio Valley Center breaks ground for expansion

HUNTINGTON, W.Va. – As the reputation of Marshall University’s Mid-Ohio Valley Center in Point Pleasant, W.Va., grows, so does enrollment – and the need for more facilities.

To meet the expanding needs of accelerated high school students, traditional college age students and adults who have chosen to return to school in the Mid-Ohio Valley, Marshall’s Board of Governors earlier this year approved a $2.5 million, 8,100 square-foot expansion of this six-year-old center. 

An original bond issue, with an outstanding balance of about $2.6 million, will be refinanced by the Mason County Building Commission, which will sell additional bonds of $2.5 million for the expansion.

Today, Marshall President Stephen Kopp and U.S. Congresswoman Shelley Moore Capito joined MOVC officials and others in a groundbreaking ceremony for the project. Construction is expected to begin next spring.

“This expansion will enhance our offerings to our students by allowing us to offer state-of-the-art chemistry and biology lab space and a nursing lab that will be second to none,” Homer Preece, director of the Mid-Ohio Valley Center, said.

The Mid-Ohio Valley Center, which is affiliated with Marshall’s School of Extended Education, was established in April 1994 and opened with limited operation and an enrollment of 11 students. From then until spring 2005, enrollment grew to more than 1,500 registrations.

“The future success of West Virginia’s economy is dependent on an educated workforce that can compete worldwide,” Capito said. “Marshall University’s Mid-Ohio Valley Center is helping keep today’s workforce competitive by training workers for high demand positions while giving tomorrow’s workers the opportunity to gain the skills they need to compete in a global economy.”

MOVC classes were conducted for the first five years at Point Pleasant High School, Wahama High School and the Mason County Career Center. Preece’s office and other administrative offices were located at Bank One.

“We expanded and expanded and got to the point where we were running out of room at the secondary level,” Preece said, referring to the need for a single, large facility.

The current $3 million facility was built on the campus of Pleasant Valley Hospital, and opened in 2000. Now, more expansion is on the horizon.

“When we moved in, the new building was the right size,” Preece said. “Within a year, we were back using county facilities again.”

Marshall President Stephen J. Kopp described the Mid-Ohio Valley Center as “an unequivocal success story and a testament to the power of university-community partnerships.”

“The civic and business leaders of Mason County, including Pleasant Valley Hospital, have been outstanding partners,” Kopp said. “Together, we are making a difference in the lives and career opportunities available to residents of the county and surrounding areas. I am proud of our faculty and staff at the Mid-Ohio Valley Center. Their achievements and success have created the conditions that have made this new expansion possible.”

The architect for the expansion, which will increase the size of the MOVC by about 60 percent, is Bastian and Harris of Charleston, W.Va.

###