A new academic building officially opened Wednesday on the campus of Mercyhurst University.
They held a ribbon-cutting and blessing ceremony for the new Center for Academic Engagement.
They say it'll offer students a hands-on, collaborative, high-tech learning environment.
The CAE building will house the University's intelligence studies, center for applied politics, and hospitality management programs.
The $10.5 Million dollar building took 14 months to build.
"What a year we've had. With the University status, this great new building, and we're very excited about what this portends to the future of Mercyhurst and the community." Said Mercyhurst University President, Dr. Tom Gamble.
Also Wednesday night, the University honored intelligence studies founder, Bob Heibel, with an endowed chair.
It's the 20 year anniversary of the intelligence studies program, that he founded at the university.
And it's now the world's largest full-time academic enterprise of its kind.
The endowed chair, in his name, will allow the university to attract top faculty in the field
"The students. This couldn't have happened without the students who were willing to take a chance on a completely unknown major. Those first 11 students that came in to the program here I was telling them there was going to open doors for them and so on and so forth. They had no idea and I wasn't sure myself. But life is good." Said Heibel.
Heibel is also a 25-year veteran of the FBI and former deputy chief of counter-terrorism.
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