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Ivy Tech Lafayette dedicates Porter Energy Center

Ivy Tech-Lafayette is celebrating the life of one of its instructors who died on the job.

Energy technology program chair Craig Porter suffered a fatal fall from a training tower in November, 2011. Wednesday, family, friends and administrators dedicated the Energy Center on campus in Porter’s honor.

School of Technology Dean Susan Ely says the lab and the work done there will continue his legacy.

“To make sure that there’s never a time when someone would say, ‘Oh that name sounds familiar,’ but not really have a clear indication of who he was or what he desired for our campus or our community.”

She says the Center is a living testimonial to what was important to Porter, which the college has embraced as its own. The facility features a home run on renewable energy, which is generated by a 30 foot vertical wind turbine and solar panels, and a battery system with a three-day supply of power. Ivy Tech students in the Energy Technology program learn from those devices and the diagnostic controls inside the building.

Chancellor David Bathe says naming the one-of-a-kind Energy Center in Porter’s honor is a fitting tribute.

“There is just a collective sense of memory and commitment to Craig and this Center will always be a reminder of that to us,” he says. “His legacy is the people who will continue to be influenced through his vision.”

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