The new Madison College building on South Park Street, which will be called the Goodman South Campus, is right on track for its much-anticipated opening, Madison College President Jack E Daniels III said. When classes resume this Fall, the new building will be opening right on schedule for the first day of classes on September 3.
Enrollment numbers have been strong, Daniels said, and the Goodman South Campus will be at the epicenter of revitalizing Madison’s south side.
“Things are progressing well and we’re on target for September 3rd,” Madison College President Jack Daniels III told Madison 365. “I have a hope that we will have a certificate of occupancy by the middle of August. Things are going right along on schedule.”
The ground broke on the new south campus building in June of 2018. Madison College committed to the new building in large part to help break decades-long perceptions of the south side and to give students, particularly those from underprivileged and underrepresented communities, a place that could serve as a resource and an opportunity.
At the time of the groundbreaking, President Daniels said that the new campus was all about making the community better and answering the call to break the multi-generational curse of poverty, as well as opening the door to the future possibilities that have escaped many people living on the South Side. Diversity and inclusion were words at the forefront of speeches given during that ceremony.
President Daniels asserted to Madison365 that those concepts are still at the forefront of what the new south campus is all about.
“Without question it’s diverse. We have artists who are creating their art pieces that are going to be inside,” President Daniels said. “The projection is that by the time it opens those pieces will be in place. The artists come from Black, Hmong, Latinx and Native communities.”
When school starts on September 3, students will be attending classes in a state of the art building with programs inside of it that have been staples of learning at Madison College. Liberal Arts, STEM development, CNA programs, and classes for medical assisting and a nursing program will all be there.
“We are running much ahead of last year in terms of enrollment,” President Daniels said. “The enrollment for Goodman looks very good. I anticipate the community taking advantage of what’s available to them. This is a full service campus.”
President Daniels says there will also be a shuttle bus from Truax Campus to the Goodman South Campus for students involved in classes at both places.
The Goodman South Campus is right across the street from Centro Hispano and just blocks from Urban League of Greater Madison, both of whom will be working closely with the school to provide resources and partnerships.
The fact that the building is indeed opening in September is owed to the tireless work President Daniels did in accelerating a process that, frankly, wasn’t expected to be completed for another several years. But thanks to donations from the Irwin and Robert D. Goodman Foundation as well as from Ascendium Education Group (formerly called Great Lakes Higher Education Corporation), the building was able to be constructed in one single phase.
