Illinois Wesleyan University held a groundbreaking ceremony Tuesday for a new facility that will provide spaces for students of all areas of study to meet and collaborate.
Plans for the Petrick Idea Center have been in place since 2021, but were significantly scaled back. The center will be an addition to the already-existing Ames School of Art and Design, prioritizing its completion over a residence hall idea that the university scrapped in 2024.
The new center is funded entirely by donors — costing $17.25 million — and is expected to open in Fall 2026.
The center is named after long-time supporters of IWU and lead donors, Ellen Petrick and her late husband, Dave.
“Dave’s career in running a very successful business — driven by his ongoing focus on innovation — is an experience he very much wanted to share with this university,” said IWU board chair Timothy Szerlong. “He envisioned a physical space for students to bring new ideas and build their own dream in virtually any field of study.”
According to IWU president Sheahon Zenger, the trend toward entrepreneurship in young people helped inspire planning for the center.
Zenger said the Petrick Center will be a place for students to turn big ideas into reality.
“It’s a few things,” Zenger said. “It’s makerspaces, prototyping facilities, it’s a small amphitheater, it’s collaborative classrooms and offices, it’s an incubator space for student startups, audio and video recording spaces, and on and on and on. What it really is is a space for students and faculty across all of our colleges and schools to collaborate. ... It’s a place for a music major to interact with business faculty and learn how to create their own business."
Zenger said 70% of high school students are either involved in something entrepreneurial, or want to be after graduation, noting IWU wants to appeal to those students.
“We think something like 40% of our students already have a side hustle — this can be their headquarters. We can surround them with folks in the community who can help them further expand, or maybe define what it is they’re really doing,” Zenger said.
The Petrick Idea Center expands on the Ames School of Art and Design, portions of which will be renovated as part of the project. Zenger said he thinks art, physics and business students may benefit the most.
Petrick Idea Center Director John Quarton said the university will become a vibrant hub once the center is built.
“It’s not owned by any one department,” Quarton said. “This is going to be an asset for everyone to take advantage of. That’s faculty, staff, students and anybody in the community that wants to partner with them.”
Quarton said the public will be welcome to explore the center alongside students.
“You’ve got a lot of people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s and above who are finding a need [for] a creative outlet to create small businesses,” he said.
Senior elementary education major of IWU and entrepreneur, Marissa Hagler said she is most excited to see the creativity the center will bring.
“I think it’s going to be a wide range — especially being connected to the art building. There could be music and even [students] starting tutoring businesses,” Hagler said.
Hagler is the owner of Hurdling Through Hard Times, a business with a corresponding podcast meant to help people struggling with mental health. Hagler started it in 2021.
“That is going to be my main focus using the center,” Hagler said. “I bring on guests that are talking about certain things like OCD or anxiety or depression but also sharing my own experiences because a lot of it is people thinking that they’re all by themselves and they’re the only ones feeling what they’re feeling,” she said.
Hagler said she will use the new center to continue her podcast.
“There’s going to be a podcast studio, radio station and everything set up in there,” Hagler said. “I already use the one that we have on campus, so the one that we have on campus currently will be moved into this building. It will be 10 times better than it is right now.”
