Just as students are breathing a sigh of relief at the end of finals at Allan Hancock College, construction crews are getting ready to start a host of projects on campus.
This summer kicks off a wave of construction projects at the college’s Santa Maria campus that are expected to last three to five years. College officials said this will probably be some of the most intensive construction since the campus was built in the 1960s.
The construction is being paid for with funds from Measure I, a bond measure that was approved by Northern Santa Barbara County voters in June 2006. The $180 million is designated for modernizing the school’s technology, upgrading facilities, and building new teaching and learning spaces.
College Public Affairs Director Rebecca Alarcio said funding from Measure I is separate from the general fund.
“The state budget crisis doesn’t affect our construction schedule, we’re not mixing apples and oranges. Our bond dollars are not intermingled,” Alarcio explained.
Construction will begin this summer at the Santa Maria campus with renovations to Building C and a parking lot expansion near Building C and in front of the Community Education building.
The parking lot in particular is important to the overall construction schedule, Alarcio said, because of the new Student Services building. Construction for that building begins in the fall and will “wipe out a good chunk” of parking on the east side of campus.
“We want to make sure students can get to college and park before the fall semester begins,” Alarcio said.
In the final design phase, Alarcio added, is a new fine arts facility. Planned near building K, the new 65,000 square-foot building will consolidate fine arts, performing arts, music, instructional media, ceramics, photography, and dance. Currently these classes are spread all over campus.
Technology modernization is also a key focus of the construction project. Allan Hancock is currently spending more than $1 million a year on new technology, such as new PCs and smart boards in the classrooms, according to Alarcio.
In addition to the classroom technology upgrades, the college is getting an upgrade to the computers that run the registration process. The hope, Alarcio said, is to make the entire registration process more user friendly.
“We’re working on an entirely new mainframe system that is going to give students a whole new level of access to their records; transcript info, grades, anything that a student needs, information-wise,” she said.
Cable and infrastructure requirements for the new upgrades will also require major trenching work to the student commons. There might be some detours required for students going about their business in the coming semesters, Alarcio said.
“The result will be really beautiful; we’ll have ripped up so much of our commons that we’ll be able to do some enhancements for our students—more seating and more areas for gatherings.”
Until all is said and done, Alarcio hopes people will pardon the dust, both proverbial and literal.
“In the short run, construction can be an irritant, but the end result is just going to be fabulous.”
Contact Staff Writer Nicholas Walter at nwalter@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in May 28 – Jun 4, 2009.