Your future, our focus
POWELL, Wyoming — Northwest College invites the public to tour its newest instructional building Tuesday, Oct. 7, during a 4 p.m. dedication ceremony and open house in the Yellowstone Building.
Located across from Hinckley Library on Seventh Street, the new 47,000-square-foot building houses nursing, allied health, criminal justice and law enforcement education programs, along with a community conference center to accommodate workforce training programs, conferences, community events and larger-venue demands.
The college’s communication, social science and education divisions reside in the new facility, as does NWC’s powerhouse forensics team.
The Yellowstone Building is also home to some of the college’s most sophisticated instructional technology, including a firearms simulator used by the criminal justice program and a suite of clinical labs with simulation mannequins that replicate real symptoms for nurses in training.
Funding for the $13 million building was provided in large part by the Wyoming Legislature, which contributed $9.38 million toward construction. This is the first time in NWC’s 68-year-history that it has received general fund appropriations from the state legislature for capital construction.
The NWC Foundation raised over $800,000 to help with costs, and students are contributing through a new $5-per-credit-hour facilities fee. The college drew from budget reserves for the $2 million balance.
Through this multipronged funding approach, the college was able to build the most expensive building on campus without seeking to raise taxes in Park County through a public bond issue.
Nearly 60 percent of the total spent on construction, architectural, engineering and other services went to Wyoming businesses, resulting in over $7 million turned back into the state economy. Park County contractors and service providers realized 36 percent, or $4.7 million of the pie.
The Yellowstone Building was designed by CTA Architects Engineers of Billings, Montana, with general contracting services provided by Sletten Construction of Wyoming, Inc.
Parking is available just west of the Yellowstone Building, off Seventh Street.
