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MARION, AL – Marion Military Institute (MMI) celebrated the construction of its new Math & Science building with a groundbreaking ceremony on Aug. 15. Funded by a $35 million federal appropriation made possible by former U.S. Senator Richard Shelby, this 50,000-square-foot facility will be named Anthony J. Rane Hall. Designed by Barrett Architecture Studio to blend into the historic MMI Campus, with WAR Construction as general contractor, the building will feature brick veneer, limestone accents, and a galvanized, standing-seam metal roof.
Special guests attending the groundbreaking were Sen. Shelby, Alabama Community College System (ACCS) Chancellor Jimmy Baker and Auburn University President Dr. Christopher Roberts. Various elected officials and their local representatives also traveled to campus for the event, including Representatives for the Offices of Senator Britt, Congresswoman Sewell, and Congressman Palmer.
Addressing all those gathered under the tent on the quad, Chancellor Baker praised MMI for being a model in higher education: “This college is an advertisement for the state of Alabama,” he said. “We have kids coming here from more than 40 states. That’s good news, spread across this country, about the good things that are happening here—and the quality of graduates, their standard of behavior, the success they have, and the support they continue to lend this school.”
Senator Shelby then took the podium and referenced MMI alumnus Jimmy Rane’s vision for this campus project, due to Jimmy’s life-changing experience in Marion, thanks to his father Tony enrolling him as a teenager.
To close the ceremony, MMI President COL David J. Mollahan, USMC (Ret) touched on the building’s importance to the college’s curriculum, not only enhancing existing STEM courses but allowing for additions in basic engineering, cybersecurity, computer science and health sciences. Once the new building is complete, vacated STEM classrooms will be repurposed for new offerings in civics, ethics, moral reasoning, and others to support citizenship development.
“The entirety of our whole-person, classical education—along with new workforce pathways—are all strengthened, all because of this new facility,” said COL Mollahan. “Anthony J. Rane Hall will firmly establish more so MMI as a place where rigorous academics matter, where leadership and character education matter, where American ideals still matter, a place that continues to contribute young men and women with the fundamental intellectual leadership and character development of the kind desired in our businesses and industries—capable of strengthening our communities, and leading our military, our cities, our states and our country.”
After key players took part in the dirt shoveling tradition held on the construction site, guests moved inside to MMI’s Special Event Room for a catered reception.
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