In preparation for the Grand Opening of the Public Safety Academy of Northeast Indiana on November 28, 2007 at 2PM, The Academy'€™s Director, Brent Johnson, is pleased to announce that the leases with the regional Academic partners have been completed.  One of the many novel aspects of the Academy is the presence of Academic professionals to work in concert with 1st responder trainers to produce future Public Safety leaders.  Part of this effort is leasing space and moving entire programs, individual classes, certificate programs and other educational opportunities on-site to the facility at Southtown.  To date, of the 16 offices and 13 classrooms available for lease, the educational partners have filled all the offices and 12 of 13 classrooms.

These lease payments will offset operating costs normally paid by the City of Fort Wayne.  The educational offerings range from vocational High School offerings from Anthis Career Center in Fire Science (Anthis will add a Criminal Justice Program in the Fall of 2008), to 3 Associate Degree program offerings from Ivy Tech Community College of Indiana (Paramedic Science, Criminal Justice and Fire Science), to individual courses, certificate programs and degree completion opportunities by Indiana Purdue University Fort Wayne (IPFW), Indiana Tech, and Tri-State University.  Additionally, Tri-State University will offer a new Bachelor'€™s of Science degree in Emergency Management that will allow for the articulation of course offerings from all of the aforementioned partners.  Tri-State will also offer a Masters Degree in Criminal Justice.  This tremendous educational support is one of the many reasons that the Public Safety Academy has attracted National attention and interest from the Department of Defense (DOD) (Homeland Defense and Technology Transfer), the National Fire Academy and the Federal Law Enforcement Training Center (FLETC).  The DOD efforts will provide beta test opportunities for 1st responders with emerging technology being developed in the national laboratories.  The Fire Academy and FLETC will export training to the Academy in 2008.