Neosho County Community College: If You Build It, They Will Come
June
2013
Member Spotlight
Neosho County Community College (NCCC) was recognized at the Community College Futures Assembly annual meeting held January 31, 2011, in Orlando, Florida, as a finalist in the Planning, Governance, and Finance category, sponsored by Council for Resource Development. The presentation, titled, "If You Build It, They Will Come," highlighted the construction of the Ottawa Campus completed in nine months using no state or local tax dollars. As one of the 10 finalists, NCCC presented at the Assembly and one winner was then selected from each category by a panel of national experts. The Community College Futures Assembly, now in its 18th year, convenes annually as an independent national policy forum for key opinion leaders to work as a think tank in identifying critical issues facing the future of community colleges, and to recognize Bellwether Finalist colleges as trend-setting institutions.
Dave Peter, President of Board of Trustees, Dr. Brian Inbody, President, Ben Smith, Vice President of Operations,
and Dale Ernst, Dean of the Ottawa Campus
Dr. Brian Inbody had the following comments on the nomination:
I am so proud of the work that went into the financing, design, and implementation of the Ottawa Campus. It was so exciting that the Council for Resource Development and the Community College Futures Association recognized what an amazing task was accomplished... A state of the art learning college building complete with a simulated hospital, built in only nine months, at $118 a square foot, using no state or local tax dollars. It was a Herculean feat and it feels wonderful that we were recognized for it with a national award. The building turned out so well. The award is icing on the cake!
Dr. Inbody further stated that the project would never have happened without the courage and vision of NCCC Trustees, who provided the leadership and the will to get it done:
It took a large team of people to pull this off, including college personnel, our contractor, Loyd Builders, architects at Devore and Associates, engineers at Bartlett and West, and so many others. But special credit goes to Ben Smith, the Vice President for Operations and the project manager, who ran the day-to-day effort of getting this building built on-time and on budget. This award is for him.
