A capital improvement plan was unveiled Monday by Wright State President David Hopkins for WSU’s branch campus located in Celina as part of the university’s Rise. Shine. campaign.
The proposal calls for the addition of an academic building and a recreation complex among other improvements as part of a five-point plan.
Lake Campus administrator Julie Miller said that the campus currently welcomes over 1,200 students, roughly 200 more than what the campus was designed to hold. Miller said with the expansion of the Lake Campus, she expects the campus will be able to welcome over 1,500 students.
Part of the reason the enrollment is growing is due to new academic programs, including nursing and business, at the Lake Campus.
“We are pretty thrilled,” Miller said.
Miller said it will be at least two years before groundbreaking on the new connector building, which is expected to hold the campus’ library, career services, business enterprise center and specialized science labs.
WSU also announced the purchase of 38 acres of land from a family in Celina to help the branch campus grow its footprint.
“This is prime real estate – adjacent to the Lake Campus – that will allow us to grow and expand for years to come,” Hopkins said in a statement.
Miller said that the university would use the land to house an advanced manufacturing center.
“It will be a teaching and learning center for manufacturing sciences, robotics, and maybe some of the engineering courses in manufacturing at the facility,” Miller said.
There are also plans for an agribusiness and food science institute on campus.
“It is one of our budding programs we will be looking for community support,” Miller said.
Miller said that a final cost has not been determined for the Lake Campus improvements, but administrators at the campus have been asked to raise $5 million in support of the project.
