Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology expects by early next year to close on the acquisition of more than 1,100 acres of land, including the former home of Mari Hulman George, south of its Terre Haute campus.
“This is a game-changer for Rose-Hulman,” President Jim Conwell said Thursday in describing the purchase that will make the engineering institute's property six times larger.
Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels, now president of Purdue University, played a role in the purchase, Conwell said. Daniels, he said, serves as co-trustee, along with PNC Bank, of two trusts for Anton "Tony" Hulman Jr. and Mary Fendrich Hulman.
Conwell said Daniels contacted the institute about a year ago for a potential land purchase.
Conwell said he and Daniels met while Daniels was in Terre Haute on Wednesday as a keynote speaker for the Terre Haute Chamber of Commerce annual dinner.
"Since October of last year until now is when this really took off," Conwell said of the land acquisition.
Conwell said the institute has a strong connection with the Hulman family as this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Hulman family’s 1917 donation of a 123-acre farm tract to Rose Polytechnic Institute, as the school was then known.
A subsequent transfer of the assets of the Hulman Foundation to the institute in 1971 resulted in Rose Polytechnic’s emergence as Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology.
Rose-Hulman's purchase, which stretches south to Indiana State Road 42, includes Mari Hulman George's (daughter of Tony and Mary Hulman) former residence as well as a historic family lodge, a number of outbuildings, and acres of farmland and forested terrain.
Horses on the property will go to a rescue farm in Kentucky, Conwell said.
Conwell said Rose-Hulman, as part of the sale of the property, cannot discuss ownership of an oil well on the property.
“I am pleased that this property will remain in good hands,” Anton “Tony” George, Mari Hulman George’s son and a member of the Rose-Hulman Board of Trustees, said in a statement. “This expansion of Rose-Hulman’s footprint ushers in a new era of possibilities for the institute, building on a tradition of excellence as it focuses on enriching experienced-based, cross-cutting learning to prepare future generations of problem-solvers.”
Conwell said the initial challenge for Rose-Hulman was "what exactly would we do with the land and did we have to define anything immediately. Once we realized that it would be part of our strategic plan moving forward in a year or two, then it was pretty easy to make the deal happen."
Conwell said the institute did not erect its first building on the campus until 1922, five years after it had obtained its first property. It will be the same with this land, he said.
"We have a strategic plan in place that ends in 2018. We are going to start next year taking a look at the full realm of possibilities of what Rose-Hulman can and can't be," Conwell said. "Fortunately, we will be able to tie that land into that [strategic plan] and figure out what we will do with it at that point in time," Conwell said.
Matt Branam, Rose-Hulman's previous president, had discussed the idea of a charter school. Conwell said that is not something he is considering. "I have seen that he [Branam] had some concepts of a charter school. Whether or not we investigate that or not, I think, is part of the whole strategic planning process," Conwell said.
"I think the key part of STEM [Science Technology Engineering Mathematics] education and being experienced and hands-on allows us to begin to utilize that kind of facility. The first part would be, for example, let's say environmental engineering, which is a strong program here at Rose, you could look at watershed, you could look at stream flow and look at wildlife management," Conwell said.
"I don't necessarily know that we will use every square inch of it," Conwell said of the property.
Conwell declinded to disclose a purchase price, but said Rose-Hulman will pay for the land "out of a thing we call a quasi endowment, which is a way the board controls some funds. It doesn't come out of the operating budget or out any capital improvement budgets," Conwell said.
The president said the entire campus, alumni and board of directors will be engaged to help in planning how to use the land.
Conwell said, as Rose-Hulman president, he does not "own a corner on good ideas. Everybody has good ideas, just have to figure out how to make everyone use them and deliver them."
"It is a great problem, absolutely great problem to have," Conwell said of determining the property's future use. "Tony George, who is on our board, was really involved in making sure that Rose-Hulman was offered the opportunity for this land. We also had a long discussion on making sure it was totally contained, as opposed to potentially splitting it up for different things. We really want to control our own destiny, not only what is across the street, but what we use it for," Conwell said.