MORGANTOWN — Laurel College of Technology celebrated the opening of its new Morgantown campus on Wednesday, along with its partnership with Mon Health System and new health career programs set to launch in the fall.
LCT moved from its Westover site in February 2021 to its new home on Wedgewood Drive, in what was Mon Health’s Wedgewood Primary Care offices.
Doug Decker, executive vice president of operations and co-owner, said they had been delayed a couple times. “It’s an exciting day to finally officially celebrate the opening of our new building,” he said.
The Wedgewood campus offers several online programs along with nine on-site. Among the on-site programs are cosmetology, electrical technician and a variety of health care professions: clinical medical assistant, medical billing and coding, massage therapy, nursing and phlebotomy technician.
LCT, formerly Laurel Business Institute, started in Uniontown, Pa., in 1985, Decker said. It’s been in Morgantown for nine years, starting with the cosmetology school in Westover.
Decker acknowledged the community support that’s been key to its growth. Morgantown is an education hub, he said, and Laurel is pleased to be a part of the fabric to help grow the community.
The search for a new, bigger facility began in 2018, he said. Connections with United Bank’s John Fahey and Forge Business Solutions’ president and CEO Frank Vitale — who were both on hand for the ceremony — linked him up with Mon Health President and CEO David Goldberg and Mon Health Medical Center chief administrative officer Mark Gilliam.
That led them to the new building, Decker said. “It’s a fantastic community. There’s so much happening here, so much energy and excitement.” The move reflects Laurels local commitment. “We’ve built here, we’ve invested here, we want to say here,” and keep growing programs to train the workforce.
Gilliam commented, “What a great opportunity to transform something we have into something the community needs. We’re just very blessed that Doug and Nancy (Decker, Doug’s mother and LCT co-founder) made that commitment to move here.”
He elaborated on the Mon Health partnership after the ceremony. Mon Health was asked to participate on Laurel’s advisory board, he said, to give perspectives on community job needs, particularly related to health care programs and Mon Health.
Laurel was also looking to expand and Mon Health had this building no longer in use and available, he said. “That just kind of cemented the relationship from that point of view.”
Students will be able to undertake internships at Mon Health, he said, to get hands-on training and have a pipeline to job opportunities.
Campus Director Sherri Rimel said during the ceremony that LCT will offer two new programs at Wedgewood in September: cardiovascular technology (to conduct various electronic cardiac tests) and LPN-to-ADN, where LPNs can take an accelerated course to receive an associate’s degree in nursing and become RNs.
After the ceremony, she said LCT has about 120-130 students in Morgantown, and is growing.
“Mon Health has been a fantastic supporter of our campus, our college and our programs,” she said. They help Laurel fine-tune its health care programs, support students in their clinicals and hire them. “We’re very pleased to have them” as partners.
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