NEIT opens newest chapter with $120M in additions

John Howell
Posted 10/7/14

Richard I. Gouse, president of the New England Institute of Technology – which will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year – says the institution’s growth has come in steps.

Some have been …

This item is available in full to subscribers.

Please log in to continue

E-mail
Password
Log in

NEIT opens newest chapter with $120M in additions

Posted

Richard I. Gouse, president of the New England Institute of Technology – which will celebrate its 75th anniversary next year – says the institution’s growth has come in steps.

Some have been small, furthering the institution’s mission to prepare students for the state’s workforce in incremental stages. Others have been transforming. And some, like that now being undertaken, will profoundly change the college from largely a commuter institution to one accommodating students from across the globe with its own campus culture and enhanced sense of identity.

That’s a giant step, one requiring the construction of housing for 400 students and an addition to the already large main building in East Greenwich. The work is projected to be fully completed over the next three years at a cost of $120 million.

But as visionary as this latest chapter in the institution’s history is, it’s not what Gouse views as the most bold of steps in his career as president.

In an interview Wednesday, Gouse thought back to the early 1970s. The institute offered three certified programs and had an enrollment of 70 students. Gouse was not much older than many of the students, and probably a good number of years younger than some. He was 24.

Gouse thought New England Tech should be a college offering an associate degree, a designation that would require meeting certain standards and approval by the state. He didn’t think of the obstacles – rather, he was focused on the outcome and what that could mean for the future.

He remembers the amusement that greeted his request. After all, the institution operated from a factory building in Providence, and even as president, he had an office the size of a closet. Authorities who would determine the fate of his dream may have mocked his innocence. This was a reach.

“I really don’t realize how naïve I was,” Gouse said. After a pause, he concluded that probably worked in his advantage. “If you weren’t naïve, you wouldn’t do it.”

But he learned something from the experience – gaining the required approvals took about two years – which he applied to successive steps in the institution’s evolution.

“Over-preparing for things pays great dividends,” he said.

And listening to Steve Kitchin, vice president for corporate education and training, a lot has gone into the new New England Tech.

“This takes us to a 24-7 operation,” Kitchin said. As a commuter college, New England Tech hasn’t offered such amenities as a fitness center, college clubs and activities beyond the academic program. It has a housing coordinator who finds living arrangements for about 125 students who are from out of state. They are staying in New England Tech-owned buildings and rentals in the vicinity of the main campus or the facilities in Warwick on Post Road and on Access Road overlooking Route 95 with its signature wind turbine and building capped with solar panels.

With dormitories and students on campus around the clock, New England Tech will need to extend security, but that’s just part of it. Kitchin sees enrollment in the degree program growing from 3,000 to 3,500.

In a release, Gouse noted the expansion of the main campus in East Greenwich has already begun. Information technology facilities will be enlarged by more than 300,000 square feet to make the institution the region’s largest provider of collegiate-level, technology-driven training.

“These changes will also allow our college to offer new and expanded degree granting programs in such related areas

as information technology, advanced manufacturing, the health sciences, architecture, engineering and video/audio production,” he said.

Kitchin said the college would bond for the improvements. It has also moved to consolidate its properties, although with the growth of programs and federal grants like that for shipbuilding, it no longer is marketing its former main campus on Post Road in Warwick. Some of the Post Road properties that it acquired for expansion in Warwick have been sold since the acquisition of what was planned as Brooks Drug headquarters in East Greenwich, along with the former Rocky Hill Fairgrounds and the East Greenwich Golf and Country Club, which it continues to operate to assemble 226 acres.

For a while, it appeared virtually all of NEIT’s programs would be consolidated at the East Greenwich campus.

“They were closing many of their buildings in Warwick,” said Mayor Scott Avedisian, “and now they are full. This a great success story for New England Tech and Warwick.”

As part of that growth, the college recently completed expansion of its nursing “simulation” laboratory. This expansion, in addition to the original health science laboratories that opened in 2011, gives New England Tech one of New England’s largest and most comprehensive health science education facilities.

Kitchin said there will be “multiple” program announcements with further expansion of the college.

“There’s going to be some exciting things happening,” Kitchin said. He said many of these new programs would be driven by workforce needs as the institution responds to the economy. Will this growth impact tuition?

“We’re doing everything we can to keep tuition the least expensive private college in Rhode Island. We’re doing everything we can to hold the line,” Kitchin said.

As part of that, the college freezes tuition once a student is enrolled in a program.

Regarding the students, Gouse observed almost all were male and white when the institution started off. That’s changed, and today women make up a third of the enrollment and a diverse cross-section of ethic backgrounds are represented.

Since 2005, New England Tech has graduated close to 12,000 students with careers in more than 4,000 companies, of which more than half are in Rhode Island.

Of all the students, Gouse has a special place for Vietnam War veterans. As a group, Gouse found them motivated and anxious to move on with their lives. And this was at a time when New England Tech offered only three certified programs.

While Gouse says it sounds hokey, he attributes the college’s growth to those who work beside him.

“You can’t do it without the right people,” he said.

Comments

No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here