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Ivy Tech’s Kokomo Service Area to present honorary degree to Mike Fincher

Last Updated on May 9, 2019 by cassnetwork

KOKOMO, Ind. — Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Service Area will present an honorary degree to former Logansport Mayor Michael Fincher in recognition of his many contributions to the College and his community. The honorary Associate of Science in College and Community Service degree will be presented at the Ivy Tech Kokomo commencement set for 6:30 p.m. May 10 at the Kokomo Event & Conference Center.

Mike Fincher

“Mike has been a champion of Ivy Tech Community College in Cass County for many years,” said Chancellor Dean McCurdy. “Personally and professionally, he has lived by his mantra of ‘progressive, aggressive, and innovative leadership.’ We are proud to honor him for all his work in making a new Ivy Tech campus a reality for the Logansport community and for his support of scholarships to support students who attend there.”

Knowing the value of education, soon after his election as mayor in 2003, Fincher began to say, “We need a new Ivy Tech facility in our community. What do we need to do?” Through his leadership, community members and other elected officials rallied to send a clear message to the Indiana General Assembly: A new facility was necessary, they said, to provide the citizens of the community with quality educational space, space that could increase postsecondary degree attainment and increase workforce and economic training while continuing to offer an affordable college education.

Under Fincher’s leadership, the City of Logansport donated $250,000 to the project as well as $3 million in infrastructure support, preparing the site with needed streets and utility access. Thanks to the community support, the legislature approved funding for the nearly $20 million project and, in 2008, ground was broken for the new 81,000-square-foot facility. Within seven years of his election as mayor, the new building opened in 2010. Once the campus was opened, the City of Logansport gave an additional $100,000 to establish three endowed scholarships benefitting Logansport students.

In 2010, Fincher was honored with Ivy Tech’s Changing Lives Award and, in 2014, the City of Logansport and Cass County were honored with Ivy Tech’s Benefactor of the Year Award for their vision and support of the new Logansport Campus.

After graduation from Delphi Community Schools, Fincher worked on many local construction projects, including Mackey Arena, Logansport High School, and the Cass County Courthouse, as a member of International Association of Bridge, Structural, Ornamental and Reinforcing Ironworkers Local 379 from 1966 to 1984. He served as Logansport street commissioner and later as the first director of the Cass County Solid Waste Management District. After serving 10 years as a Logansport city councilman and two terms as mayor, Mike was elected to serve as Eel Township trustee from 2014 until his retirement in 2018. He also has been very active in the Knights of Columbus at the local, district, and state levels.

Fincher and his wife of 51 years, Mary Kay, are the parents of three children and grandparents of 11, and have passed on their interest in Ivy Tech. Their youngest son, Chet Fincher, was a carpenter foreman for the construction of the Logansport campus. Now business representative for the Indiana/Kentucky/Ohio Regional Council of Carpenters, Chet Fincher represents the labor sector as a member of the Ivy Tech Kokomo Region Board of Trustees.

SOURCE: News release from Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo Service Area

Cass County Online