New Jim and Joan Bock Center dedicated

ANGOLA, Ind. – "The Jim and Joan Bock Center for Innovation and Biomedical Engineering. Isn't that cool?" Those were Jim Bock's first words when he and his wife, Joan, stepped to the lectern during the dedication for the building at Trine University on Friday, Oct. 4.

The $6 million, nearly 25,000-square-foot Jim and Joan Bock Center for Innovation and Biomedical Engineering opened in August. The brick structure is home to Trine's Innovation One (i1), an incubator for technology and business to help spur economic development in the region, and laboratories stocked with state-of-the-art equipment to support i1 and the Allen School of Engineering & Technology.

For 70 years, the Aero Building stood here, Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., Trine president told those gathered for the dedication as he gestured to the new building. "This facility supports the preparation of our students for the real world.  It's all about giving students opportunities on campus to learn to compete in a global workforce. It's about giving local industry someone they can turn to for help. It's about thinking for the future."

"With our new Jim and Joan Bock Center for Innovation and Biomedical Engineering, we will continue to challenge and prepare students, provide limitless opportunities for faculty and support rapidly expanding markets in communities worldwide," Brooks said as he acknowledged the Bocks for having a vision for transformation. The dedication was part of the weekend homecoming festivities.

"We're so happy we can do this," Jim Bock, a 1954 alumnus and Trine trustee, told the crowd. "We're looking forward to a successful program and for our students to be successful out in the world." The Bocks have long said they credit the university for his success.

In the Bock Center's lower level, the south end is anchored by a cast metals laboratory while the north end has a new plastics laboratory to support Trine's plastics engineering minor. The new minor is offered for the first time this year and has more than 30 students enrolled. Other laboratories in the building include rapid prototyping and motion analysis on the upper level that also has space for i1 offices and Career Services. Trine is the only Indiana university to have an entrepreneur-in-residence on campus through Elevate Ventures and that office is also on the second floor.

The Bocks gifted $1 million to Trine to help launch the vision for the Bock Center. Metal Technologies Inc., Rieke Corp., the Cole Foundation and others saw the university's vision and contributed to make the building possible.

After the dedication, Tom DeAgostino, director of Innovation One (innovation1.org) led tours through the building.

Cutline: Earl D. Brooks II, Ph.D., Trine president, and Joan and Jim Bock during the building dedication on Friday, Oct. 4. Photo by Dean Orewiler.