Berea College celebrates opening of new, high-tech building to educate students in high-demand fields
April 25, 2025
BEREA, Ky. – After years of evaluation, planning, fundraising and construction, Berea College is celebrating the opening of its newest facility, the CMIT Building.
Funded using a combination of philanthropic support, capital reserve funds and financing, the CMIT Building brings together computer science, digital media and information technology to send well-educated students into these in-demand fields to continue to develop the Commonwealth and Appalachia.
The name CMIT uses an acronym for Communication, Media and Information Technology, the programs housed within. The acronym is often spoken as “commit,” recalling the Eight Great Commitments central to Berea College’s mission.
The building opened to students at the beginning of the 2024-25 school year and is one of two classroom buildings being constructed to replace spaces in the Danforth Technology Building, which was built in 1958.
“This isn’t just a building—it’s a launchpad, said Berea College President Cheryl L. Nixon. “Whether students are coding, filming, editing or designing, this space fuels their talent and turns imagination into action.
“This building is more than brick and glass—it is possibility made visible,” President Nixon added. “It is opportunity taking shape. And it reflects the heart of Berea College—our unwavering commitment to access, excellence and innovation.”
The CMIT building brings together collaborative disciplines and spaces previously scattered across five campus buildings, including:
Some key features of the CMIT building are movable walls that allow users to maximize and modify spaces according to their changing needs, abundant natural light and inviting, student-selected furniture for common areas.
Signature spaces include the IT department’s three tiers of help desks, with Tier I modeled after Apple stores with accessibility and customer service in mind. Tiers II and III provide advanced technical support by Dell-certified student technicians.
The CMIT building boasts a brand-new makerspace, where the intersection of physical and digital creativity technologies will be on display. This largest space in the building provides a flexible, hands-on environment that promotes interdisciplinary collaboration and community for students, staff and faculty across campus. Tools and educational workshops provide opportunities for teaching and learning, labor and student-directed projects.
“The students advocated for a makerspace on campus even before I joined the college,” said Jasmine Jones, faculty member in Berea’s computer science program and founder and director of the makerspace. “I’m happy to have been able to help turn their dream into a reality and to see all the exciting new ways students are able to innovate by integrating computing, arts and design in the future of technology.
The CMIT Building is also the new home of Berea College News and Radio (BCNR), featuring three television sets, a news anchor desk and an on-air studio to highlight original online programming from students, faculty, staff and members of the Berea community. An additional sound stage designed to mimic a professional filmmaking studio allows students to build sets, test light and sound equipment and bring their filmmaking visions to life.
“CMIT has allowed Berea College News and Radio (BCNR) to consolidate its facilities from four locations around campus to one centralized set of high-tech studios,” said Jacob Dickerson, faculty advisor for BCNR. “Our production set is more than double the size of the old one, and we’ve been able to add podcasting and audio production capabilities. The new studio has given students a wonderful opportunity to engage in more creative and complex projects than could be done previously. We have also been able to provide space and support for projects by various departments across campus.
Revamped spaces will be available 24/7 to serve the innovative Student Software Developer Program, where students create in-house applications for the College using modern technology. These bespoke applications reduce the need for the College to use outside developers, saving the College more than $100,000 to date while providing students with real-world software-development experience.
An immersive technologies space, which doubles as a theater, will house robotics instruction. For years, the College has strengthened Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) education in the region by facilitating College, community and corporate collaboration through the For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology (FIRST) Robotics Competition. Created by the global non-profit FIRST and assisted by corporate sponsor Novelis, Berea College students train teams of high school students to build and program robots and compete at the state and national level against other teams’ creations.
Finally, the CMIT Building features a donor recognition wall and, for the first time, named spaces in the facility include donor stories and quotes, creating a special connection to the many supporters who believed in Berea’s students and made this building possible.
“Going to Berea changed my life,” says alumna and software engineer Alexandra Yuhas, a member of the Class of 2018. “I owe so much of what I’ve been able to see, learn and do to Berea, and I felt like it was important to me to give back in some way. The technology field is ever evolving, and it’s important that Bereans have access to the best resources to prepare them to be successful in this industry.”
The children of Berea alumni Roy Davenport (Class of 1950) and Cherry Cook Davenport (Class of 1951) were moved by a similar sentiment.
“Berea was a miracle opportunity, and our parents made the most of it,” explains their son, Steven Davenport. “The magic of this wonderful place has resounded in our lives and now the lives of our children and their children. Lending a hand with CMIT honors not just our mom and dad but also the remarkable men and women who opened the doors of Berea to them.”
The CMIT building was constructed for approximately $24 million and funded through a combination of philanthropic support, capital reserve funds and financing. Berea College is one of 13 institutions rated Aaa by Moody’s Investor Service, its highest, allowing money for capital projects to be borrowed at very favorable rates to ensure the best facilities for students for decades to come.
Phase two of the technology building project is expected to begin in 2027.