The Regnier Center at Johnson County Community College

About the building

The Regnier Center is named for Vic and Helen Regnier, who developed housing and commercial properties in Johnson County for five decades. In June 2003, the Victor and Helen Regnier Charitable Foundation gave JCCC a $5 million challenge gift to support the construction of the new building. The foundation is co-directed by the Regniers' three children: Robert, Cathy and Victor Jr.

The 160,000-square-foot building, opened in late 2007, contains a technology core, with the possibility of additional enhancements to accommodate innovations. The core complex contains:

• Both credit and continuing education classes and labs in computer applications and information technology, including Cisco, Microsoft, Sun, Oracle and other leading technology vendors
• Credit classes in biotechnology, interactive media and video game development
• The Center for Business and Technology’s training rooms, classrooms, assessment center, computer labs and conference center
• The Small Business Development Center, including an expanded resource center and room to work with local entrepreneurs
• The college’s Information Services staff, who provide computer network, academic and administrative support to students and faculty

About technology

Although there is no crystal ball to show what technology will be like in five years, the college does know how to design a structure that is easily able to adapt and integrate new technology. We are planning to cover all of the infrastructure and communications issues through a thoughtful design that will send copper and fiberoptic wiring to each room and workstation (with additional channels for easy growth). We are also designing the building to support wireless technology throughout, which is what we expect students and other visitors to the space will use. In addition, we are planning to engineer each work area and classroom with ample electrical support. During several visits to other technology facilities around the country, we saw that designers have gone so far as to put circuit panels on the outside of each classroom, providing enough power to feed a small house, much less support whatever technology may be inside the classroom. By designing communications and electrical support into the infrastructure, any new technology will easily integrate into and operate in this building.

The college continues to offer an ever-growing number of online courses each year. JCCC will be able to offer most of the classes that will be presented inside the building over the Internet. All of the classrooms in this new facility will be equipped to stream both audio and video of current class presentations over the Internet, so that those who cannot attend a class in the classroom may still participate by sitting in front of a computer connected to the Internet.

About students

The Regnier Center will meet the needs of a diverse clientele. It will be a site of choice for companies whose employees need training and retraining in business and technology fields. It will also serve individuals who want to "freshen up" their skills, who need to meet employer or professional requirements for periodic education, or who may be—as either traditional or nontraditional students—just beginning career preparation. Students may take classes for academic credit and/or continuing education units—whichever suits best their career or academic goals. Some students prefer the speed that continuing education offers; others want college credit and a more extended classroom experience, so they enroll in credit classes. Either way, JCCC can provide what they need. Offerings will be available "on ground" and through nontraditional methods to provide the greatest access for businesses and individuals.

Because of the cyclical nature of the job market, JCCC has every reason to believe that this current downturn will be replaced with a need for trained technology workers. But even in the current job market, the need for high-tech workers exists. Since technology changes rapidly, current workers may not have the skill sets required for a particular technology job. In this situation, JCCC (and its new building) will provide a real service—the retraining of workers who need exposure to and understanding of new technologies to become effective contributors to the workforce.