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Columbus State Community College recently announced a significant upgrade and expansion to Union Hall, located on their Downtown campus. The $15 million renovation plans call for an additional 17,000 square feet of space.
“When the building opened 35 years ago it was state-of-the-art for the programs delivered at the time,” said Dr. Polly Owen, Dean of Career and Technical Programs, in a recent press release. “With technological advances in all of our healthcare and human services fields we need to bring the educational experience for the students to the current level, while planning flexibility into the facility so it remains relevant for future students.”
The design work is scheduled to begin in 2011 and construction will follow sometime in 2012.
According to a report released earlier this year, Columbus State has an annual economic impact on the region of $944 million. The Downtown campus serves as an integral part of the “Creative Campus” portion of the new 2010 Downtown Development Plan.
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With enrollment booming, I can’t help but wander when and if they would consider building another academic building on one of those nearby vacant lots.
It’d be really, really great news if they decided to build another parking garage in an attempt to kill some of their vast surface lots – this development is a good sign that they are dedicated to improving their downtown facilities though, maybe the garage is only a matter of time!
About damn time. Those programs are vastly underfunded. I took anatomy in Union Hall a couple of quarters ago, and even though they had a brand spanking newly prosected cadaver that you could see everything clearly on, they refused to use her because they didn’t want her to get any wear and tear because they weren’t sure when they’d get another new cadaver. Instead, we were stuck doing practicals on cadavers where everything looked exactly the same.
So there was definitely a vast difference in quality of classes in the old building (Union Hall) vs. the newer ones (TL, Nestor & Franklin Halls).
Agree with what jpunkster said about needing another parking garage. Although I learned fairly quickly that I could avoid the mad parking rush by scheduling my classes in the off time (Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays or early afternoon during the week).
Still, you get a decent education for the price ($79 per credit hour). I went to DeVry after graduating from CSCC and racked up more in student loans in 1 year there than I did at 3 years at CSCC.
Re: Parking / “Vacant” Lots.
The lots are jam packed during peak hours and even during non-peak hours these days, so I’d hesitate to call them “vacant”. ;) I agree that a new garage structure is necessary, and hopefully can be configured into a better mixed-use configuration than the existing garage. Maybe some classroom space or ground-floor retail along Spring/Cleveland to give the area a bit more campus vibrancy.