At a time when many colleges of all sizes have been challenged by budget and enrollment shortfalls, Central College has launched a long-term project to not only lessen those potential weaknesses, but to strengthen the connection between campus and community.
Central College President Mark Putnam announced the Imagine More initiative at a special breakfast hosted by the Pella Area Community and Economic Alliance Thursday morning. Putnam says the project aims to deepen the ties between the college and the city of Pella through collaborative housing proposals, better integration of resources between the campus and business community, and — ultimately, the creation of more amenities and opportunities for students.
“We’ve asked the question of ‘what if you couldn’t tell where Central College ended and where Pella began?,” Putnam says. “If there was a much deeper level of integration, we think it has considerable virtues.”
Putnam says the college will work with the PACE Alliance to foster potential partnerships as it relates to on-and-off campus apartment projects, expansion of dining and entertainment options, and by getting more students active in what’s happening in the broader community.
“Mark was the president of the PACE Alliance board, and in that, we looked for partnerships wherever we could find them,” Executive Director of the PACE Alliance Karen Eischen says. “The strategies that were announced this morning reflect a sense of how we can integrate the community with the college even deeper.”