Grand Re-Opening of Library, Dedication of Mike Miller Plaza Set for July 28

KILGORE — Kilgore College will hold a public ceremony July 28 to officially re-open the Randolph C. Watson Library and dedicate the new Mike Miller Plaza on the Kilgore campus. The grand re-opening and dedication are set for 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. in front of the library. Refreshments will be served and tours of the renovated library will be available, according to a KC news release. Built in in 1967, the library underwent a $2 million redesign and renovation over the last year with Transet Co. serving as project manager.

Designed to transform the role and function of the traditional library, the bottom floor of the Watson Library now has computer pods, lounge areas with new furniture, and a coffee shop. Upstairs now contains the traditional book area with large glassed-in rooms for group study and two large computer labs. Maximum guaranteed prices for the library project and renovations of the Lee Mall area were unanimously approved by the KC Board of Trustees at their July meeting in 2015. The board also approved roughly $1 million to construct a park area in the central portion of campus where the Martha Pfaff Ivan Liberal Arts Building was located prior to demolition in 2014.

Money for construction of the Mike Miller Plaza and new plant garden area was donated by Mike Miller upon his death in 2007. It features a star design in the center of campus and a new plant garden located on the west side of the new park. Miller, originally from Henderson, attended KC, where he began a long and distinguished relationship with the college and the Rangerette organization, according to the news release.