WEST PLAINS, Mo.– Officials with Missouri State University-West Plains and the West Plains Area Chamber of Commerce will host a ribbon cutting ceremony and open house at 11 a.m. Tuesday, April 26, at 304 Garfield Ave. to celebrate the building’s new name, Garfield Hall, and its new purpose as home of the university’s TRIO Student Support Services program.

Everyone is invited to attend and tour the facility, which, until January, had housed the university’s respiratory therapy program.  That program is now located in the newly renovated Looney Hall, just two blocks south on Garfield Avenue.

In August 2010, Missouri State-West Plains received a five-year, $1.1 million grant from the federal TRIO program to provide comprehensive academic support services to low income, first generation and disabled college students in an effort to increase their postsecondary educational success.  The grant gives the university $220,000 each year for the next five years to provide academic and other support services to 140 eligible students in an effort to increase student retention and graduation rates, facilitate their transfer from two-year to four-year colleges, and foster an institutional climate supportive of their success.

Garfield Hall will house the personnel and infrastructure needed to provide these services to the students, TRIO Coordinator Karen Ryburn said.  In addition to her office, the building contains offices for two academic specialists; a multipurpose room that serves as a tutoring center, group study hall and workshop facility; and a computer lab.

“Our students make good use of the space,” she said.  “They work on projects and homework, and tutors help students with their writing assignments.  Students find the lab convenient for completing group projects and giving each other the support they need.”

For more information about the TRIO program, call 417-255-7941.  For more information about Missouri State-West Plains, visit the website, http://wp.missouristate.edu.