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Marketing and University Communication UW-Green Bay, CL 815 2420 Nicolet Drive Green Bay, WI 54311-7001 (920) 465-2626 E-mail: hildebrs@uwgb.edu Last update: 9/27/07 |
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In
the News Archive - Year:
June 10, 2004 UWGB hopes to open downtown center By John Dipko
The proposed UW-Green Bay Downtown Learning Center would include classrooms, an office, a reception area, conference room and storage space, said Jan Thornton, university director of Outreach and Extension.
The center would be on the left side of the concourse leading to the former Boston Store site on the first floor of Washington Commons.
The lease is pending with the state Department of Administration, and approval should happen "any day now," Thornton said.
Scheduled to open in August, the center would offer existing Outreach and Extension programming such as workshops, seminars, courses for teachers and management-development programs, Thornton said.
Four hundred hours of programming have been arranged for the center, she said.
Depending on furniture arrangement, the classroom could hold up to 50 people, she said.
"The programs are designed for and targeted to community audiences," Thornton said. "We'd like to support a healthy downtown, and the center also helps make our programs accessible to those we're trying to attract."
The use of space downtown would be a way to "connect with the community and make this Green Bay's University of Wisconsin," UW-Green Bay Chancellor Bruce Shepard said.
The university's main campus is on Green Bay's east side.
Financing details and other terms of the proposed lease were unavailable Wednesday.
Scott Hildebrand, director of marketing and university communication at UW-Green Bay, said the center would be funded through dollars generated from outreach and extension programs, not tax dollars.
One staff person from the university Office of Outreach and Extension will direct operations at the center and be on site as needed, Thornton said.
The office serves more than 7,000 people from the business, education, government, medical, social and human-services sectors every year.
"As our downtown changes and as we revitalize our downtown, an educational component is something that we've been working on," said Green Bay Mayor Jim Schmitt.
He sees UW-Green Bay's downtown presence as just a start and said he hopes to see the university's downtown presence grow and other educational facilities following suit with urban satellite campuses.
"It brings people downtown, and it brings this creative class we're seeking," he said. "It's good for the economy and I think the students are going to enjoy being educated in and recreating in and spending time in the downtown area."
Russ DeMille of Development Associates, which owns Washington Commons, could not be reached for comment.
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