New Graduate Center has historic roots, modern convenience

In August, IU Southeast opened its Graduate Center, located in the McCauley Nicolas Building in Jeffersonville, the city where the Southeast campus originated 61 years ago.

Those roots were planted in 1941, when the university first opened classes at Jeffersonville High School as an IU extension center. Three years later, the campus opened at Warder Park in Jeffersonville. In 1973, IU Southeast moved to its present location on 180 rolling acres in New Albany.

During a news conference last July on the north lawn of the McCauley Nicolas Building, Jeffersonville Mayor Tom Galligan presented IUS Chancellor Sandra Patterson-Randles with a $100,000 check on behalf of the city’s Urban Enterprise Zone Association for a grant to establish the Graduate Center.

“Today we write a new chapter in the history of Indiana University Southeast and its relationship with the city of Jeffersonville,” said Patterson-Randles during the news conference.

Graduate students, many of whom live and work in Louisville, have expressed their satisfaction at how convenient the building is for them. The School of Business’ master of business administration degree program and the School of Education’s master’s degree and administrative leadership programs are currently offering classes there. The Division of Continuing Studies is conducting non-credit training in computer software as well.

Larry Mand, vice chancellor for information technology at IU Southeast, managed the project. Hinson Contracting was in charge of the interior construction, and John Petrysian, coordinator of network services for IU Southeast, served as on-site project director and overseer for implementing faculty technology for the facility.

Mand said the Graduate Center gives IU Southeast “a wonderful presence, both in the Louisville market and in Jeffersonville.”