When Muskegon Community College officially opens the doors to its Carolyn I. and Peter Sturrus Technology Center at 388 W. Clay in downtown Muskegon on Thursday, Jan. 11, the public is invited to join the celebration.
The festivities take place between 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m., with remarks and the ribbon cutting ceremony set for 5 p.m. followed by tours of the $14.81 million facility. Light refreshments will be served. Parking is available in the college’s lot along Clay Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Streets.
MCC President Dale K. Nesbary will emcee the ceremony. Several speakers will make remarks, including MCC Board of Trustee Chair Donald Crandall, MD, and Peter Sturrus, who along with his wife Carolyn, made a generous $1.5 million donation in October to name the facility.
During the Fall 2017 semester, the college began offering classes in the Sturrus Technology Center’s few completed classrooms and labs. However, when Winter Semester 2018 classes begin on Tuesday, Jan. 16, all 75,000 square feet of finished space in the renovated facility – the former home to the Muskegon Chronicle and the Masonic Temple – will be in use.
The acquisition of a downtown campus location was one of four projects that were part of a $24 million millage approved by Muskegon voters in November 2013. Acquired in September 2014 as part of MCC’s 2010-2016 Strategic Plan, the Sturrus Technology Center houses Applied Technology programs in CAD, Electronics/Automation, Engineering, Machining, Metal Casting, Materials, and Welding. The Center is also home to MCC’s Experiential Learning Program.
The Center also encompasses the Rooks|Sarnicola Entrepreneur Institute with its state-of-the-art Richard and Ann Kraft Rapid Prototype Center, funded by a $300,000 gift from the MCC alumnus and his wife. This Lakeshore Fab Lab, sponsored by the Grand Haven Area Community Foundation and the Community Foundation for Muskegon County, has 3-D printers, mini-mills, robotics, laser etching and vinyl making capabilities for entrepreneurs to create and test their ideas. Satellite locations for both the MCC Bookstore and Best Financial Credit Union are also located there.
In June 2015, local developer Jonathan Rooks donated the 23,790 square-foot former Masonic Temple to MCC for its Entrepreneurial Studies program and related business-generating activities. Nick Sarnicola, a West Michigan native and highly successful entrepreneur, and his wife, Ashley, then created a $200,000 permanent endowment through their Next Gen Foundation to the Foundation for Muskegon Community College to support an annual $10,000 cash award for the best business idea generated by an MCC entrepreneurial program graduate.
In February 2015, MCC received a $4.1 million grant to purchase equipment for educational programs in high-wage, high-skill, and high-demand occupations. The College earmarked most of those funds, part of the statewide $50 million Community College Skilled Trades Equipment Program, to buy equipment for the Sturrus Technology Center. MCC’s allocation required an additional $2,641,987 in matching funds.
The widespread regional support for the Sturrus Technology Center includes many named areas within the building. To date, they are: the CWC Textron Foundry Lab, the James and Florence Jackson Pattern Shop and Finishing Room, the Northern Machine Tool Co. Machine Technology Lab, the Arconic Foundation CAD Computer Lab, the Arconic Foundation Additive Manufacturing Lab, the Arconic Foundation Automation Lab, the Arconic Foundation Metrology Lab, the Robert Slager Applied Technology Lab; the Dr. Donald and Nancy Crandall Experiential Learning Lab; the DTE Foundation Classroom, the Canteen Vending Student Lounge, the Dale and Connie Nesbary Student Lounge, the Dr. Alan Steinman Student Lounge, the Warner Norcross and Judd Lobby, the Consumers Energy Foundation Atrium/Lobby, the Judith Toxopeus & John W. Kleeves Upper Elevator Lobby; the Larry Wright Waiting Room, the Neil Sanders Office, the Wayne G. Deur Vestibule, the Arild and Margaret Nielsen Reception Area, the Fremont Area Community Foundation Makerspace Storage Area, the Comerica Foundation Storage Room, the Greg and Barb Marczak Corridor, and the Fisher Family Fund Basement and Main Floor Corridors.
The Sturrus Technology Center renovations were designed by the architectural firms of C2AE, MMA and Prein & Newhof and completed by Clark Construction.
For more information on the Sturrus Technology Center Grand Opening, contact Trynette Lottie Harps, Dean of Community Outreach, at (231) 777-0559.