The Sinclair Community College Courseview Campus center in Mason can offer students in Warren County a chance to get a college education that meets the needs of the community in which it is located.
Although the campus opened in 2007 with one building, which is now referred to as Building A, a new building is now open and undergoing construction. This new building, or Building B, is expected to be done with its final phase in late October or early November.
“The new building’s purpose is to double our capacity to serve Warren and the surrounding counties by providing additional classroom, faculty, student-prep, as well as Workforce Development space,” Scott Markland, vice president of the Regional Centers said.
Building B is located just north of Building A and is within walking distance for students.
In total, the building has taken about eight months to complete and the finished product is something that the community and campus have been looking forward to.
“There was a big need for this new addition — the campus has grown by [more than] 200 percent since it opened in 2007,” Markland said. “There was a real need to apply capacity for meeting the increased needs of degree, certificates and workforce training in the area.”
Building B provides more computer labs, biotech and chemistry labs and general education classrooms for students. In addition, a classroom for Mental Health Technology students is available, where faculty can observe students practicing therapy sessions. “The general classrooms hold 24 to 26 students, the computer classrooms hold 26 and the labs are a little smaller in size,” he said. “So those lab classrooms can hold 15 to 20 students.”
Unlike Building A, Building B has a lower level, in addition to a mezzanine. On the mezzanine, is an area for students to complete homework and study, as well as additional rooms for faculty to meet with students before and after classes, something that was difficult to achieve in Building A.
“This building is going to enable us to double our programs, double our capacity and double our number of students,” he said. “In terms of new programs, this building is going to allow us to offer more general education classes, like biology and chemistry for example, that will benefit all majors and give us additional capacity for all programs and increase the number of new programs that we have to offer at this location.”
The Courseview Campus now has 42 degree and certificate programs that students can complete as of this fall, and are expected to grow quickly in the spring to 44 or 45.
Markland said he likes that the building will enable the campus to keep Tup and meet industry needs within the area and that it can provide students with a place, not only where they can talk to faculty, but also meet within groups if needed to work on projects.
“We’re very excited and the communities very excited,” Markland said. “The feedback that we’ve gotten from the surrounding community business leaders is that they appreciate Sinclair’s investment in Warren County.”