University of Hawai'i University Relations Media & Publications Honolulu, HI 96822	(808) 956-8856 Telephone (808) 956-3441 Facsimile ur@hawaii.edu E-Mail
For Immediate Release:	September 24, 1998
Contact: Donna Paoa - Moloka`i Site Administrator (808) 553-3605

Officials Mark Beginning of Construction for New Moloka`i Education Center Facilities A new era for the University of Hawaii's Molokai Education Center began this week with the official start of construction at the Center's new site in Kaunakakai. Groundbreaking ceremonies on Monday (September 21) marked the culmination of a years-long effort by UH, community and private sector interests to build new and larger facilities for the Center. Following legislative approval of more than $4 million dollars for the project in 1997, Molokai Ranch presented a plan to the Board of Regents under which the ranch would donate land, build the new facilities and turn over the completed project to the university. Molokai Ranch has provided two acres of land for this phase of the construction. The university has a ten-year option to purchase an additional 3 acres from the Ranch for possible future expansion. When completed, the new campus will include more than 11,000 square feet of floor space to house administrative offices, distance learning classrooms for the interisland SkyBridge and cable television systems, an additional multipurpose classroom and a library. It will replace the current cramped and rapidly deteriorating facilities located in the old Molokai Electric Building where programs have been offered since 1986. The project will also include landscaping, construction of informal outdoor meeting areas and a parking lot. Under terms of the public-private partnership agreement between UH and Molokai Ranch, students, faculty and administrators should be able to move in for the fall semester in 1999 - an estimated 18 to 24 months sooner than might otherwise be possible had the state undertaken the project. The Molokai Education Center is administered as a part of Maui Community College. It currently serves about 225 students, offering distance learning and on-site instruction in liberal arts, agriculture, business, nurses aide training, accounting, building maintenance, human services and office administration and technology.

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