NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Fisk University President Dr. Agenia Walker Clark announced a $1 billion initiative this week called "Quantum Leap," which includes building a data center on the historic Nashville campus.
Clark said the project is designed to position Fisk students not only to study digital advancements, but to help shape them. The project is expected to take more than 10 years to complete.
"What we do here at Fisk is academics, and if the academic leadership wasn't engaged or on board and willing to be a voice to this, then this project wouldn't have been announced yesterday," Clark explained.
At the center of the initiative is a $400 million innovation and data center. The search for a development partner is ongoing.
"Whoever the partner is that is going to co-locate with us, they're not doing it just because of that space and power and wanting to do a data center. They're also doing it because they're a part of something totally different," Clark said.
Clark acknowledged concerns about data centers and their impact on surrounding communities. She said this facility in North Nashville would be significantly smaller than proposals making headlines in rural communities, with less impact on the area.
"We have no intentions of doing environmental harm. We have no intentions to harm to our neighbors, who have been really good to us. And we certainly don't want to do any harm to our students," Clark said.
Clark said the project's goals extend beyond the campus, with investments planned for surrounding neighborhoods.
"We're going to begin in our community conversations determining how in advance of the center going online, what are the skills needed to be a part of this, so we here at Fisk can host training and developmental sessions," Clark added.
Beyond the data center, Quantum Leap will also revitalize historic campus infrastructure, expand academic resources and enhance student housing.
"If we're going to grow to about 1,500 students, how many beds do we need in our residence hall? About 80% of our students live on campus, so that gave us that number to back into it," Clark explained.
Clark said renovations are expected to begin within the next 9 months, with digital scans already completed on three existing residence halls and the main building to produce new engineering assessments.
"We just had some digital scans done of three of the existing residence halls so we can get new engineering representation of these structures and start renovations and improvements to them," Clark said.
Clark said she is confident in the HBCU's future. "We do plan on being here another 160 years," Clark said.
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Here’s a story offering a great example of how a common cause, and a little creativity, can “intersect” to improve quality of life. Our South Nashville reporter Patsy Montesinos shares how some neighbors decided to take action, following the tragic death of a 77-year-old in a hit-and-run along Antioch Pike earlier this year. See how they used “tactical urbanism” to make the area a little safer for all.
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