Purdue, Indiana University Partner at Crown Point’s Academic Learning
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Indiana has its fair share of college towns. For starters‚ there’s West Lafayette‚ Bloomington and South Bend. Then there’s Terre Haute‚ Evansville and Valparaiso‚ to mention just a few others. Now‚ with the opening of the Academic Learning Center‚ Crown Point can join that scholarly list.
About 1‚500 students began taking undergraduate and graduate-level courses at the $9.1 million center in August 2005. The Academic Learning Center serves as a feeder school for Purdue University Calumet but is part of a unique arrangement that teams Purdue with its traditional state rival – Indiana University.
“We haven’t found anything similar to this – two schools with a combined partnership – anywhere else in the United States‚” says Dorothy Briestansky‚ director of the Academic Learning Center. “It’s a collaborative effort we instituted to get educational opportunities to the most people in this fast-growing area.”
Through a unique arrangement‚ students enrolled at Indiana University Northwest share several freshman- and sophomore-level classes with Purdue students at the Academic Learning Center. Meanwhile‚ IUN offers courses in business‚ education and six other areas in which Purdue students can earn credit.
The 48‚000-square-foot center – northeast of Crown Point off 101st Avenue and Broadway – is part of a 386-acre master-planned site being developed by Purdue Research Foundation and Holladay Properties. Known as AmeriPlex at the Crossroads‚ the project also includes the adjacent Purdue Technology Center of Northwest Indiana. The high-tech business incubator opened in early 2005 and is modeled after a similar center at Purdue Research Park in West Lafayette.
Within its first year‚ the center attracted 13 full-time tenants and three affiliate clients. The technology-based companies are either developing new products or improving the technologies of existing products.
“We’re tapping into the demand of the community‚” says John Hanak‚ executive director of the technology park. “I would say that things are moving along better than we had expected.”
Meanwhile‚ Briestansky says‚ the Academic Learning Center is filling a higher-education void for residents in southern Lake and Porter counties and northern Newton and Jasper counties. The two-story center‚ which can accom modate 2‚000 students‚ features 20 multimedia classrooms‚ four com puter classrooms‚ videoconferencing rooms‚ an online library resource center‚ a fitness center‚ study areas and administrative offices. Space also has been set aside for a childcare area.
Briestansky says being next door to the Purdue Technology Center has its advantages.
“We’re partners‚” she says. “We’re asking them what their needs are. We work with them so that students can get internships and other opportunities.”
In fact‚ Briestansky says‚ “I’m always stopping them and asking‚ ‘How can we serve you better?’ Her staff‚ she adds‚ often puts out lollipops and other candy in baskets as a goodwill gesture.
“We try to make learning enjoyable by giving them the services they want‚” she says. “We make you want to come to school.”
Story by Edward Navarro
Photo by Brian McCord
