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Officials break ground July 31, 2008 for the new Emerging Technology Center at West Kentucky Community & Technical College. (pictured from left to right): Paducah City Commissioner Robert Coleman, Paducah Mayor Bill Paxton, Helen Mountjoy, Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary; Bradley Butler, WKCTC student, Dr. Michael McCall, President of the Kentucky Community & Technical College System; Dr. Barbara Veazey, President of WKCTC, Anne Gwinn, chair of the Paducah Junior College, Inc. Board of Trustees; McCracken County Judge-Executive Van Newberry; Dr. Tom Lester, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering. |
The possibility of rain couldn’t dampen the spirits of more than 150 people who attended a ceremonial groundbreaking for West Kentucky Community & Technical College’s Emerging Technology Center Thursday, July 31, 2008.
The 75,000-square-feet Emerging Technology Center is the first state supported new building to be constructed on the WKCTC campus in 20 years. The $16.5 million Center and adjacent $2.2 million Fred Paxton Engineering Wing will provide the region with a facility equipped to meet the needs of today’s technically advanced workforce.
Construction workers began clearing land beside the college’s Allied Health Building on Alben Barkley Drive for the new building more than a month ago. The new technology center will include industrial technology training and offer advanced engineering technology, which includes mechatronics, robotics, rapid prototyping and metrology. A Haas Technology Education Center and advanced classes in information technology will also be a part of the center’s programming. The center will serve as the gateway for business and industry training. The building is expected to be completed by early 2010.
 WKCTC President Barbara Veazey told the crowd that the community and region will be proud of the building. “The Emerging Technology Center will be an educational center that will take us into the future,” Veazey said, “and the Fred Paxton Engineering wing will allow our faculty to do research in first class facilities.”
Veazey said Fred Paxton, a publisher of the Paducah Sun and former Paducah Junior College Board of Trustee, was instrumental in helping bring engineering education to Paducah. Paxton died in April 2006. Veazey thanked the Paxton family for the continued support of the engineering program at the college.
“The Fred Paxton Engineering Research wing sets this community apart from other areas of this state and is made possible by those donors who continue to place community and education at the forefront of their thinking,” she said. “…this project could not be more pleased to have the Fred Paxton Engineering wing named after an individual admired as a leader and champion of a community he so loved.”
 The University of Kentucky College of Engineering, which offers chemical and mechanical engineering in an extended program in Paducah, launched the fundraising for the research wing by pledging $1 million for the construction. Peggy Paxton pledged $600,000 from the Fred and Peggy Paxton Endowment to the project.
Tom Lester, dean of the University of Kentucky College of Engineering called Fred Paxton a “visionary.” He “knew what this community could do and he was absolutely the right person to name the (engineering research) wing after,” Lester said.
Dr. Michael McCall, president of the Kentucky Community & Technical College System (KCTCS), said the groundbreaking made for a “red letter day for this community and KCTCS, but also for what it means for the future of the community.” In particular, McCall and Kentucky Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Secretary Helen Mountjoy both praised college officials and the Paducah community for understanding the importance of economic development to the Commonwealth.
Mountjoy said facilities like Paducah’s technology center are important incentives to attract businesses and industries to the region. She added that today’s emerging industries are looking for a well-qualified, readily available workforce. “With this building, you have positioned yourself to lead the pack,” she said. “What you are doing today says to the world that Paducah may be very respective of its past, but its’ eyes are firmly on the future.”
Individuals can see the progress of the construction of the new building by visiting the college’s Web site at www.westkentucky.kctcs.edu. Images from the site are shown on the Web site every 20 minutes throughout the day.
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