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By Jim Stammerman
IU Southeast this year will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of the opening of its 177-acre campus on Grant Line Road in New Albany.
The campus came about through the leadership of the late Garnett "Tuffy" Inman, who served as mayor of New Albany during the 1960s and was a Big Ten wrestler for IU during the 1930s.
IUS was established in 1941 by President Herman Wells as the Falls Cities Center in Jeffersonville. For many years, the center provided extension courses and was located in a former library building, a former bank building and a renovated office building in downtown Jeffersonville.
Inman, who saw an opportunity to develop a new campus for his alma mater in New Albany, quietly worked with community leaders to assemble the tract of land that would become today's IUS campus.
A fund drive was organized to raise money to purchase the land, and in 1966, IU officials announced that a new campus would be developed at the suburban New Albany location, at the base of the scenic Floyds Knobs.
There are now ten buildings on campus, including the Paul W. Ogle Cultural and Community Center which was opened in 1996. Ground breaking for a $9 million project to expand and renovate the science classroom buildings is planned this fall.
The campus was dedicated on Oct. 26, 1973, and planning is underway to organize a celebration of that event.
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