Kent State Board Approves College of Aeronautics and Engineering Building Addition

During its quarterly meeting last week, the Kent State University Board of Trustees approved an addition to the university’s Aeronautics and Engineering Building. The College of Aeronautics and Engineering opened in spring 2015, and since then, enrollment has grown enough to require additional space for faculty research and student classes and labs.

According to a press release, the building’s three-story addition will measure in at 41,449 gross square feet and feature classrooms, instructional and research laboratories, active teaching classrooms, cyber classrooms, networking labs, and faculty offices.

Kent State College of Aeronautics and Engineering addition

Design and construction documents are scheduled for completion by August. After bidding and contract negotiations, groundbreaking should take place in October 2021 for a 14-month construction process. The new facility would open to faculty and students in time for the spring 2023 semester.

The project’s estimated price tag is $19.6 million. Of this, $14.1 million is slated to come from 2020 bond proceeds, $4 million from local funds, and $1.5 million from philanthropic gifts to the university.

A press release states that enrollment in Kent State University’s College of Aeronautics and Engineering has increased by 52 percent since 2019 and by 7 percent since 2020, despite the coronavirus pandemic. A gap between the available workforce and industry needs sets up a wide variety of opportunities for new graduates.

About the Author

Matt Jones is senior editor of Spaces4Learning. He can be reached at [email protected].

Featured

  • Spaces4Learning Trends & Predictions for Educational Facilities in 2026: Part I

    We asked, you answered, and the results are in! Last year, we put out a call for submissions to collect our readership’s opinion on trends and predictions for K–12 and higher education facilities in 2026.

  • Texas State University Completes Stadium Renovations

    Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas, recently announced that it has completed a series of additions and renovations to its football stadium, according to a news release. Formerly known as the Bobcat Stadium End Zone Complex, the Johnny and Nathali Weisman Football Performance Center is an 85,000-square-foot expansion featuring hospitality spaces, banquet spaces, exterior concourses, and upgrades to the field house.

  • University of Kentucky Receives $150M Gift Toward New Arts District

    The University of Kentucky’s Board of Trustees recently received a $150-million gift from The Bill Gatton Foundation, according to a university news release, to build a new arts district on the campus in Lexington, Ky. The new district will feature a new College of Fine Arts building and a multi-hundred-seat theater, among other amenities.

  • Stanford Completes Construction on Graduate School of Education Facility

    Stanford University in Stanford, Calif., recently announced the end of construction on a new home for its Graduate School of Education, according to a news release. The university partnered with McCarthy Building Companies on the 160,000-square-foot project, which involved two major renovations and one new construction effort.