Southeast opens first Knox County campus; holds grand opening ceremony today (Oct. 12)

Knox County now has new educational opportunities thanks to the opening of a new Southeast Kentucky Community and Technical College campus in Barbourville, which is housed in the former Barbourville Nursing and Rehabilitation Center.

U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers was one of the many dignitaries, who was on hand Wednesday for the grand opening of the new facility.

This is a $2.5 million facility formerly owned by the Forcht Group, which was donated to KCEOC Community Action Partnership.

The campus opened for classes on Monday, Oct. 10, with face-to face, hybrid, and online classes available. Classes include: medical assisting, nursing assistant, welding, plumbing, education, and criminal justice, as well as a selection of general education courses.

“CEO Paul Dole and Becky Miller, who coordinates the WIOA programs, invited me to come look at the building and see whether we could use it,” said Southeast President Vic Adams. “I immediately knew that we had a great opportunity before us.”

According to a 2019 article published in US News & World Report, Barbourville is considered one of the country’s “education deserts.” Although it has one private college, Southeast was one of the closest public institutions and was located over 30 minutes away before the opening of the new campus.

“Southeast has not been represented in this area. Technical and health care programming have not been represented,” said Adams.

Officials held a grand opening ceremony Wednesday morning in Barbourville, which was attended by several dignitaries, including U.S. Rep. Hal Rogers.

The building has been renovated using approximately $6.5 million in grant funding. During the Gov. Matt Bevin administration, the college secured $1.8 million from the Work Ready Skills Initiative. In addition, KCEOC and Southeast co-wrote grants from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) for $3 million and the Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) for $1.5 million, totaling $4.5 million.

To purchase equipment, Southeast obtained an additional $2.25 million through ARC and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). KCEOC earmarked $400,000 from the state budget for overages and more equipment.

“We have been able to renovate and equip this building with $8-9 million without using any KCTCS or state-supported dollars,” said Adams. “We also have grants that will fund personnel and equipment maintenance for a three-year period.”

According to Adams, most programming will be fast-track, competency-based and customized for companies. The facility will have open, versatile spaces to accommodate employer needs as well as events for community organizations. In addition to college programming, the facility will house dual credit courses for area high schools. Southeast has a lease agreement with KCEOC who will retain ownership of the building.

“Right now, some equipment is still trickling in,” said Adams. “Because of the pandemic, we have had supply-chain issues, so we haven’t been able to open as soon as we had hoped.”

The college will begin offering phlebotomy classes in November and computerized manufacturing and machining in late fall or early spring.