REDC Dedication Unites Local, Regional, and State Communities
Building pledges Opportunity for today, Promise for tomorrow
Specifically designed to promote interaction between students and faculty, business and engineering, academia and industry, and campus and community, representatives from each of these groups will gather to dedicate the Research and Economic Development Center (REDC) at Penn State Erie, The Behrend College, on Monday, Oct. 9., at 12:15 p.m.
The outdoor dedication ceremony will be held under the building’s signage at the front entrance of the REDC, across from Smith Chapel. Tours of the building will follow, and the event is open to the public.
“The REDC marks a milestone for Penn State Behrend and Pennsylvania, serving as a regional asset for entrepreneurship, innovation and opportunity,” Jack Burke, chancellor of Penn State Behrend, said. “This new facility fosters collaboration, research and economic development.”
The dedication will include Burke; Kurt Buseck, chair of Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows; Graham B. Spanier, president of Penn State; Thomas Ridge, first Homeland Security secretary and former Governor of Pennsylvania; P.C. “Hoop” Roche, past chair of Penn State Behrend Council of Fellows; and Meredith Straub, president of Penn State Behrend Student Government Association. Ridge, who is the featured speaker for this event, was governor at the time the funding was released from the Commonwealth for the REDC.
The $30 million, 160,000-square-foot Research and Economic Development Center houses the Sam and Irene Black School of Business and the School of Engineering at Penn State Behrend, making the college one of the first institutions of higher education in the country to house its business and engineering schools under a single roof.
The REDC is the latest in an unprecedented building boom at Penn State Behrend. Since 1981, when Burke joined the college as its chief operating officer, Penn State Behrend has added eight new academic buildings, six traditional residence halls, nine apartment buildings, a bookstore, a child care center, the Mehalso Observatory, the Smith Chapel and Carillon, Logan House, Junker Center, and the Knowledge Park business complex.
The REDC will connect Penn State Behrend with Knowledge Park, the college’s 200-acre research and technology park, creating an environment conducive to teaching, research and technology transfer for all of western Pennsylvania.
For more information about the Research and Economic Development Center at Penn State Behrend, visit www.pserie.psu.edu/redc online.