FOR RELEASE: April 30, 2018
CONTACT: Marketing and Communications at 406.791.5306
GREAT FALLS, MONTANA – The University of Providence is hosting a groundbreaking ceremony for the new University Center on May 3, 2018, 12:30-2 p.m. The celebratory ceremony and reception will include guest speakers, a musical performance, and a light lunch following the ceremony. Guests are encouraged to enter campus from 20th Street.
Speakers include Roger Witt, the chair of the board of trustees, as well as Great Falls Mayor Bob Kelly and officials from Providence St. Joseph Health. Kody Diekhans, a UP student, will perform the opening and closing hymns.
“This ceremony marks a huge change and step toward our bigger, bolder vision for the university,” says Tony Aretz, president of the University of Providence. “We’re excited to provide our students new resources, as well as open up our doors to the Great Falls community with a premier business and conference facility.”
Along with a new classroom, lecture hall, and collaboration rooms, the University Center will house Argo Central (which includes admissions and a one-stop-shop for student services), administration offices, the Galerie Trinitas, and a multipurpose meeting space that can be used for large banquets or meetings. The classroom, which can be used as a small conference room, will hold up to 30 and the lecture hall, which can be used as a large conference room, will hold up to 75. The multipurpose conference and banquet room will accommodate 350 seated at large round tables and 850 in rows of chairs.
The University Center groundbreaking is part of a $25-million investment which also includes a wrestling facility set to open this summer and updates to the Student Center, set to open this fall. These projects are a result of the renewed partnership between the University of Providence and Providence St. Joseph Health.
“Our goal at the University of Providence is to provide our students with a great college experience,” says Aretz. “We saw a need—our students are changing, and as a result their needs are changing. We are meeting those needs in a competitive way by enhancing student experience in learning, leadership development, and student engagement.”
The University of Providence is a private Catholic university located in Great Falls, Montana. Founded in 1932, the university includes both a School of Liberal Arts and Sciences and a School of Health Professions.
