Central Wyoming College Spent 50 Years as Jackson's Guest. On Nov. 5 It Becomes a Host

"It's kind of hard to teach on things that are breaking down all the time," culinary professor Grace Lutz told KHOL 89.1 this fall. Lutz started out as a student in the program she now teaches. Back then she "floated from kitchen to kitchen," working in at least three different locations before she finished.

That one quote sums up how Central Wyoming College worked in Jackson for five decades. The college taught in leased classrooms, leased offices, leased labs and leased commercial kitchens. On Thursday, Nov. 5, CWC opens its first permanent Jackson campus at 2020 W. High School Road. Nursing and culinary students gain the most room. For everyone else in town, the change is that a guest just became a host. A college that owns its rooms can decide who else gets to use them.

Fifty Years of Borrowed Rooms

The renting went further than most people realize. Years ago, state Sen. Mike Gierau rented out his own restaurant, Jedidiah's, so the culinary program had somewhere to cook. For a long stretch, the college's main Jackson address has been a set of rented rooms in the Center for the Arts on Glenwood Street. Students there told KHOL the location was convenient but small.

A tenant runs on someone else's calendar. It teaches when the kitchen is free and grows only as far as the lease allows. It also stays hard to find. Students and administrators told KHOL they expect a stand-alone building to make the college far more visible in town.

Gierau explained to KHOL how the money came together: "When I go to the legislature and ask for money for a project, it's never the first money in. As always, the community's already stepped up."

What the Town Paid For

Two price tags are going around, and they cover different things. CWC lists the campus at $24 million, which is the construction cost for work that started in March 2025. KHOL's figure of about $30 million adds in the 2 acres bought from the Lockhart ranching family. KHOL also reported that much of the money was public. It began with the first local sales tax allocation in 2017, and about half the total came from federal American Rescue Plan funds set aside for health care projects.

That funding history is the best argument for the building serving more than its students. Local taxpayers made the first contribution, and the college's own plans for the space reach past its enrollment.

The building also has physiology, biology and chemistry labs, health care classrooms, a computer lab, and flexible space for career and technical training. KHOL says the footprint covers about a third of a football field. When its reporter visited, electricians were getting ready to hang a sculpture in the atrium: tumbleweeds shaped like a whale.

The Kitchen Is the Clearest Test

Of all the rooms, the commercial kitchen shows the shift from guest to host most plainly. CWC President Brad Tyndall described his goal to KHOL: "Our vision is to have the 'Culinary and Hospitality Institute of the Tetons.' There are so many great restaurants here; let's rock it." KHOL also reported that the industrial kitchen may host classes for anyone who wants to learn to cook. Lutz put it simply: "Having a home base will allow for the community to partake in classes."

The college already runs the program those classes would fit into. CWC-Jackson's community enrichment program offers non-credit classes in health, recreation, arts, languages, cooking and certification, in fall, spring and summer sessions. You can sign up through Eventbrite or in person. The current fall listing shows the program still in its old home. "Fall/Otoño 2026 – Bilingual Connections/Conexiones Bilingües" meets Mondays and Wednesdays from 6 to 7:30 p.m., Sept. 2 through Dec. 16. It costs $25 a month and meets in Room 118 at the Center for the Arts.

The kitchen is one test. The other spaces in the building split into what exists today and what is still planned.

Built Now, Planned Next

Here is what is already in place, according to CWC's October announcement, the grand opening page and KHOL's September visit:

• A building, nearly complete when KHOL visited in September, with a commercial teaching kitchen, nursing simulation labs, science labs and flexible training space
• A public grand opening with tours of all of it
• A stated plan for the campus to serve the wider community through professional development, language education, community enrichment, and partnerships with local businesses and organizations

Here is what KHOL described as plans or possibilities, not scheduled programs:

• Cooking classes for the public in the industrial kitchen
• Science labs opened to young people learning biology and chemistry outside of school
• Hands-on trade simulations. On one visit, Gierau tried a truck simulator and pictured safer driving on Teton Pass as a result.
• High school students walking a few hundred feet from next door to start earning college credit

Partnerships are how the college expects to close that gap. In October 2025, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported that CWC had teamed up with the Wonder Institute to build STEM programming, fabrication and robotics projects, career and technical outreach, and community workshops. Tyndall told the paper, "The level of programming that we can do is really going to be a function of partnerships. It's kind of the secret sauce of community colleges." The Wonder Institute was founded in 2007. It runs a community woodshop and silver studio on Deer Drive, plus a recording studio and editing station at Teton County Library. Its executive director, Gary Duquette, said in a press release quoted by the News&Guide that the partnership would help reach "students and community members alike."

The Rooms Left Behind on Glenwood

The move also frees up space downtown. The News&Guide reported that CWC-Jackson would be fully out of the Center for the Arts by December 2026. KHOL reported in September that the Center offered its current resident organizations the first chance to take over the college's rooms. So one building is opening on High School Road while another set of rooms opens up on Glenwood Street, all from the same move.

Who Already Walks Through the Doors

The building opens with an existing student body. In the 2025-26 academic year, CWC-Jackson served 249 nonconcurrent students and 420 concurrent enrollment students, and 38 students graduated. About 95% of students come from Jackson and the surrounding area, and the average student is 28. The new building can hold 200 more. Students in the nursing track also have a hiring pipeline to St. John's Health, which KHOL describes as the area's largest year-round employer. Dean Amy Madera summed up who the campus is for: "the students who will discover new possibilities here, the working adults who will gain skills to advance their careers, and the employers who will benefit from a stronger local workforce."

Thursday's Open House, Hour by Hour

The grand opening is free and open to everyone, and you don't need to RSVP. CWC says it will serve light refreshments.

1. 2 p.m. Welcome remarks
2. 2:30 p.m. Ribbon cutting
3. 2:30 to 5:30 p.m. Open house and campus tours, with chances to meet faculty and staff and hear about academic and workforce programs

The campus sits on a 2-acre site next to Jackson Hole High School, just south of town. Parking is limited. CWC suggests taking the START bus, walking or biking. The open house is the first public invitation to see the teaching kitchen, the simulation bays and the whale in the atrium for themselves.

Deirdre Griffith keeps an eye on projects like the CWC campus because buildings that train Jackson's nurses and cooks shape how the valley works all year. If you're touring the campus on Thursday and want to talk about how new community buildings are changing the south end of town, Deirdre Griffith would be glad to hear from you. Let's connect to explore Jackson Hole opportunities.