Three Rivers College will hold a dedication ceremony for the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center on Thursday, April 27, on the college’s Poplar Bluff Campus. The dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony will be held at 10 a.m., followed by tours of the building and its facilities.
“The Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center has represented a huge leap forward in Three Rivers’ ability to serve and educate our students,” said Dr. Wesley Payne, President of Three Rivers College. “We’re excited to come together to celebrate and dedicate this building with members of the Plaster family and Foundation, whose generous donation helped make this project possible.”
The Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center includes the college’s first lecture hall, as well as 13 state-of-the-art, Smart Board-equipped classrooms. In addition, the structure also contains a two-story, FEMA-certified safe room able to withstand 200-mile-per-hour winds, and is capable of sheltering 3,000 people.
In addition to the dedication ceremony, the college will host an open forum featuring Dr. Stephan F. Gohmann from the University of Louisville at 1:30 p.m. in Room 108 of the Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center. Dr. Gohmann will speak on entrepreneurship and economic freedom. This speaker series is made possible by the Charles Koch Foundation.
Naming rights to the new “Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center” were secured in 2015 by the Robert W. Plaster Foundation, a charitable organization in Lebanon, Mo., in exchange for a significant seven-figure donation to be used toward the cost of the building. The donation also made the building the new home of Three Rivers’ business programs, as part of the Plaster Foundation’s emphasis on business, free enterprise, and entrepreneurship education.
“I am excited about the new Robert W. Plaster Free Enterprise Center and the opportunities it will bring to the students of Three Rivers,” said Dr. Dolly Plaster Clement, executive director of the Plaster Foundation and daughter of Robert W. Plaster. “Dad knew that a good education multiplies the effect of hard work and gives students a better start toward success in life.”
“The American Dream is possible because of the opportunities available to us in the Free Enterprise system. A good education, hard work and opportunity add up to success. And success brings resources to improve our lives and the lives of those around us.”
