MUSCATINE, Iowa — Muscatine Community College honored recently-retired president Vic McAvoy on Friday by naming its newest building after him — the McAvoy University Center.

The 6,200-square-foot building was a dream of McAvoy’s. The center serves as the official home for the college’s Continuing Education Department and its Business and Industry Center. It is also the classroom home for both the Iowa Wesleyan University and the St. Ambrose University MBA programs at MCC.

“During his more than 20 years as president, Vic was the heart and soul of Muscatine Community College,” Eastern Iowa Community College District Chancellor Pat Keir said. “As much as any one individual, he is the reason the college has grown to become what it is today. I couldn’t be happier that the center will be bearing his name.”

Muscatine Community College, along with Clinton and Scott Community Colleges, comprise the Eastern Iowa Community College District.

McAvoy retired on June 30. He began his duties as MCC president in 1986 and was the longest-serving president in the college’s history.

“When Vic first announced his plans to retire, we immediately began thinking of

ways we could honor him for his long-term commitment to the college,” said current MCC president Jeff Armstrong. “We couldn’t think of a better or more appropriate way than to name the University Center in his honor.”

During McAvoy’s tenure as president, the college more than doubled its enrollment to 1,711 students this past fall, and added on-campus housing and the Muscatine Technology Center. The college’s foundation now presents more than $300,000 in scholarships to students, compared to $2,500 in 1986.

The college’s foundation recently appointed McAvoy as executive director and he has an office in the McAvoy Center.

“Greater Muscatine has been my home for a long time and it will continue to be,” McAvoy said upon his retirement. “I’m excited about the opportunity to continue to work with the college foundation.“

The McAvoy Center is located in the 1400 block of Park Avenue, just west of MCC’s main buildings. Funding for the $400,000 center came from a 2007 bond referendum approved by the voters in the Eastern Iowa Community College District. Funding from that referendum is also being used toward a new science wing soon to be opened on the Muscatine campus.