Gateway Community and Technical College President and CEO G. Edward Hughes has been awarded the prestigious Founders Award by the Covington Business Council for his visionary leadership to establish an Urban/Metro Campus in the city. The award was presented at the CBC Foundation annual dinner Aug. 1.
Hughes is a graduate of Catawba College and received its Distinguished Alumni Awardin 2005.
"There is no person more appropriate to receive the Covington Business Council Founder's Award than Dr. Ed Hughes," said Pat Frew, executive director of the Covington Business Council and CBC Foundation. "Dr. Hughes has led an amazing effort to take the idea of a new urban campus in the heart of Covington and make it a reality this past year. He believes with his very soul in the renaissance of Covington, a renaissance that will bring jobs, visitors, new businesses, students and faculty to downtown Covington."
"I'm honored to accept this award on behalf of the dozens and dozens of community leaders, government officials, concerned citizens, Gateway's board of directors, faculty, staff and students, the Gateway Foundation, and our planning consultants," Hughes said. "When we announced the campus initiative, it was done with a partnership of the city, the county, the library and the public schools. Everyone has devoted many hours of collaboration, negotiation, discussion, and visioning, and all of the participants are worthy of recognition."
Gateway unveiled a master plan for the Urban/Metro Campus in November. The campus, estimated to cost $80 million over the next decade, features the adaptive re-use of nine existing properties, along with new construction, in an overall framework that will transform the region's urban core into a vibrant college community with opportunities for economic development as well as postsecondary education.
Coupled with Gateway's existing Urban Center, the expansion will provide nearly 300,000 square feet of space for instruction, student services and related academic purposes. The first newly acquired property is being renovated now and is expected to open as the Gateway Design and Technology Center in August 2014
"This campus has been 10 years in the making. It not only will change the lives of the students who find new hope within its streets and walls, it will create as yet unimagined economic development potential for the river cities and the whole region," Dr. Hughes said when announcing the master plan in November 2012. "The goal is to imbed the college into the community and enable even greater collaboration between the two."
The new campus will be partially funded by the sale of an outdated campus, which Gateway or its forerunner has occupied since the 1960s in a residential area of the city. Proceeds will be supplied by up to $5 million in funds to be raised by the Foundation. "The Foundation board of directors, under the leadership of Lee Flischel, has made an enormous contribution to the success of this initiative," Hughes added. "We cannot thank them enough."
Gateway and the Kentucky Community and Technical College System have committed more than $12 million to support initial phases of the campus. Gateway will seek remaining funding from the Kentucky General Assembly in 2014.
"For the surge in development, the promise of new retail and restaurants and the catalytic effect the campus is beginning to have on neighborhood housing and business, we are pleased to bestow the Founders Award upon Dr. Hughes," Frew said.
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