Nearly two years after its operations and conference centers were destroyed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the World Trade Institute of Pace University (WTI), a major institute for international trade education, is reopening its doors at new facilities on Pace’s campus in downtown New York.
Contact: Crystal Parmar, 212-346-1188, cparmar@pace.edu or Bill Caldwell, 212-346-1597, wcaldwell@pace.edu
WORLD TRADE INSTITUTE OF PACE UNIVERSITY REOPENS
IN DOWNTOWN NEW YORK
WITH NEW FACILITIES, UPDATED PROGRAMS
Destroyed on 9/11, institution plans eventual return to original site
NEW YORK, NY – SEPTEMBER 2, 2003 – Nearly two years after its operations and conference centers were destroyed in the attack on the World Trade Center, the World Trade Institute of Pace University (WTI), a major institute for international trade education, is reopening its doors at new facilities on Pace’s campus in downtown New York.
A reception and ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held at WTI’s new location, 163 William Street, 18th floor, on Thursday, September 4, from 6 to 8 p.m. The 45,000 square foot space is intended to be temporary, since the Institute hopes eventually to move back to its original site.
The space now includes 20 classrooms, breakout rooms, a multipurpose room and administrative offices on five floors. It is nine blocks from Wall Street, across from City Hall, and adjacent to the Broadway/Nassau stop for multiple subway lines.
The facilities were made possible thanks to the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) obligating more than $4.1 million — the largest reconstruction grant awarded for temporary space for higher education post 9/11 — to the state of New York to help Pace recover from damages sustained in the September 11 attacks on the World Trade Center.
The Institute was originally located in space Pace University rented on the 55th floor of One World Trade Center. Miraculously, all of the staff and participants there on September 11 were evacuated to safety. In the weeks immediately afterward, working from makeshift quarters in midtown Manhattan with borrowed computers and personal telephones, the WTI staff began to rebuild its administrative infrastructure and restructure its disrupted class and program schedule. WTI then relocated temporarily to offices at Pace’s Midtown Center, where the Institute has operated for the past year.
“We welcome back the World Trade Institute to the downtown community,” said Pace University President David A. Caputo. “Pace remains committed to re-establishing the Institute’s headquarters at the World Trade Center site, and to helping the global economy that increasingly is dependent on international trade.”
Under the leadership of Executive Director Donna Sharp, the WTI staff has restructured the Institute’s curriculum, reestablished relationships with its students and the international trade community, and significantly expanded the scope of WTI’s international trade and logistics educational programs.
The new space will let WTI schedule courses at more convenient times than the midtown facility permitted and relieve potential schedule conflicts with other university programs.
“This year marks the World Trade Institute’s 30th year as a leading provider of international trade and commerce education, and promises to be one of our most exciting times in recent years,” said Sharp. “Our updated programs and facilities are designed to provide an improved learning and working environment for our talented students, instructors and staff.”
The Institute offers a broad curriculum of international trade and logistics classes through its School of International Trade and Commerce and its Language Center, as well as seminars on a wide variety of timely topics. It provides an educational forum to promote global commerce in the public, private, and non-profit sectors with a curriculum of international trade and transportation courses that is one of the country’s most comprehensive. Subjects include logistics, finance, trade documentation, regulations, customs law, importing and exporting, internet technology, and marketing. (www.wti.pace.edu)
Pace is a comprehensive, independent University with campuses in New York City and Westchester County, and a Hudson Valley Center located at Stewart Airport in New Windsor. Nearly 14,000 students are enrolled in undergraduate, graduate and professional degree programs in the Dyson College of Arts and Sciences, Lubin School of Business, School of Computer Science and Information Systems, School of Education, Lienhard School of Nursing and Pace Law School. (www.pace.edu)