FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Heritage University to open new Tri-Cities location in Kennewick, Wash.

Toppenish, Wash. – Heritage University President Andrew Sund, Ph.D., has announced that the university will open a new location in downtown Kennewick, Wash. and begin offering freshman classes to students. The new site will admit its first freshman cohort at the new location for the fall 2023 academic year. The fall semester begins on August 21, 2023.

For the past twenty years, Heritage University has operated a regional site in the Tri-Cities on the Columbia Basin College campus in Pasco, Wash. This site offers transfer students an opportunity to complete their bachelor’s degrees in education, social work, criminal justice, psychology, and accounting. The new location in Kennewick will expand instruction in those fields to also serve freshmen and sophomore students. Additionally, the university will add a bachelor’s degree in business administration at the new location. Students attending Heritage University Tri-Cities will also have access to the nearly 40-degree programs offered by the university, including the Bachelor of Science in Nursing, Biology, Computer Sciences, Environmental Sciences, and Mathematics taught at its campus in Toppenish, Wash. “Students will have the opportunity to transfer seamlessly between the Tri-Cities and Toppenish, and some classes may be offered in a hybrid format where classes are delivered both in-class and online between both locations. The linkage between Toppenish and Tri-Cities will present a tremendous range of possibilities for students to study in their field of interest,” said Dr. Sund.

President Sund says the university’s decision to offer instruction to incoming first-year students in the Tri-Cities is a natural extension of the institution’s mission to make college accessible to anyone with the talent and drive to pursue a degree regardless of economics, culture, or geography. “We see this expansion in the Tri-Cities as a chance to enhance our collaboration with other higher education institutions, which has been a long-standing tradition in higher education. Our partnership with Columbia Basin College has been mutually beneficial for 20 years and will continue. I believe that our relationship will only get stronger over time,” said Dr. Sund. “We can work together to serve the people in the Tri-Cities who come from many backgrounds. Providing more choices for students is always better in higher education. Our goal is to increase the total number of students who graduate from college. Together we can increase the total college-going student population to benefit the entire community.”

Martin Valadez, the director of Heritage University’s regional site in the Tri-Cities, said this expansion will make it easier for students to achieve their dreams of pursuing a college degree. “Many Tri-Cities students are raising their families as they work several jobs, and we know they will benefit from having this additional opportunity to earn a four-year degree close to home.”

The new Heritage University Tri-Cities site is headquartered at the former Tri-City Herald building at 333 W. Canal Drive in Kennewick. Heritage will occupy parts of the building’s second floor with classrooms, offices, a reception lobby, study spaces and a break area. Administrators chose this site for its central location with easy access from all points in the Tri-Cities and proximity to services in downtown Kennewick. Heritage University Interim Provost Melissa Hill, Ph.D., said. “We are excited to play a larger role in the landscape of higher education in the Tri-Cities and be a part of revitalizing downtown Kennewick.”

For more information, contact Martin Valadez at Valadez_M@Heritage.edu or (509) 430-1081 or Davidson Mance at Mance_D@Heritage.edu or (509) 969-6084.

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