Dedication notes that REDC will be transformational

Dedication notes that REDC will be transformational

Credit: Bill Owen Penn State President Graham B. Spanier addresses the crowd at the dedication of the Research and Economic Development Center at Penn State Erie. For more photos, click on the image above.

With a ceremony fitting the new 160,000-square-foot facility, the Research and Economic Development Center (REDC, pronounced "Red C") was dedicated in a community celebration of the completion of this project.

"This is a great day for Penn State," said Penn State President Graham B. Spanier. "This Research and Economic Development Center building is a building we are very proud of at Penn State. It is one of the best examples we have anywhere at Penn State of a building that brings together the key objective we have for Penn State: that is to be the top university in the country in the integration of teaching, research and service. This is a building where precisely these things come together."

The outdoor dedication ceremony was greeted by unseasonable warmth and sunshine as the REDC was officially dedicated Oct. 9. Penn State Erie Chancellor Jack Burke presided over the ceremony.

"This building holds out great opportunity and promise for us, and in turn, for the region," Burke said. "It is truly a regional asset, one that will create collaborations, connections, and synergies that don't now exist. We envision that what happens in the REDC will be truly transformational. Imagine new programs linking business and engineering that will help drive innovation and entrepreneurial activity in the region."

Tom Ridge, first Homeland Security secretary and former governor of Pennsylvania, feels this integration is exactly what is needed to assist the region.

"This center is precisely the kind of integration of multiple disciplines that this part of the state, as well as academic institutions, should look to in order to assist their community, their state, their regions in a very competitive global marketplace," Ridge said.

Ridge was governor at the time Commonwealth funds were released for the project, which was more than 20 years in the making.

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 Erie, making the campus one of the first institutions of higher education in the country to house its business and engineering schools under a single roof.

For photos, visit http://live.psu.edu/stilllife/783 online.

For more information about the Research and Economic Development Center at Penn State Erie, visit http://www.pserie.psu.edu/redc online.