Ground broken for new Northern Diesel Technology Center

After a decade of planning, lobbying and fundraising, the first ground was broken Friday on Montana State University-Northern's proposed new Diesel Technology Center.

Gov. Steve Bullock, high ranking officials in the Montana University System and local officials marked the end of the planning and the beginning of the construction phase with a groundbreaking ceremony. The ceremony took place following a meeting of the Montana Board of Regents of Higher Education on the campus earlier in the day.  

The proposed $9.9 million, 3,200-square-foot structure will be where the Auto Mechanics Building is located.

The modern quarters will allow Northern to expand its curriculum in automotive and diesel technologies.

Northern is one of the few universities in the country with a four-year program in diesel technology. Most campuses offer an associate degree. Northern offer a bachelor's program as well as certificates and associate degrees.

"The students will now certainly have an opportunity to learn in this facility the valuable skills that will prepare them for the in-demand jobs of today and tomorrow," Bullock said. "MSU-Northern will greatly benefit from this facility as well and allow the campus to attract and serve students not just locally and regionally, but indeed nationally."

He said the enhanced facilities will provide dividends to industry, allowing Northern to churn out potential hires in a field hungry for trained employees.

Northern Chancellor Greg Kegel said, for him, the occasion was "heart felt."

For Kegel, the former dean of Northern's School of Technical Sciences, the day was the culmination of 10 years of planning and seeking out donations from the state, as well as from individual contributors and those in industry.

Kegel said 10 years ago, under a different chancellor, Northern   requested $800,000 for a new roof. In that process, though, it was found that the building, which was constructed in 1953 and had undergone five separate expansions, did not even meet the codes of the time it was built.

"So, 10 years ago we started a new project, we started a new design phase," Kegel said.

It was then that the push for a new building began, with architects laying out the design.

Kegel said he appeared before a number of committees and over the course of three legislative sessions received some of the money for the building, in addition to contributions from private donors and industry.

A press release from Northern said the building is $550,000 short of its $10 million goal.