Jacqui Streety, editor-in-chief

 

This semester brought record numbers of students to South Plains College and with that more room to accommodate the growing number of students.

Among the construction projects at SPC is the new diesel laboratory. The 12,000 square foot extension to the Automotive/Diesel Technology Building is almost double the size of the original facility.

The new structure will have three considerably sized access doors and a large open area for applied training, as well as a hooded vent in one area to run diesel engines. Also, a chassis dynamometer, which replicates highway operating conditions under a load, will be moved inside of the new assembly to allow automobiles easy access for testing.

Whitney Owens, assistant professor of diesel service technology, says of the new shop, “There’s a shortage, nationally, of diesel technicians as older technicians retire and new technologies come along … this addition creates a higher standard for us and will make it more appealing to new students.”

SPC’s welding course will get 42 welding stations in an extended building which doubles the room to 12,000 square feet of lab and classroom area. The independent oxyacetylene welding and gas cutting stations will have an arc welding machine at each station.

“In the past, we had 12 gas welding and cutting stations, which limited us to gas welding and to 12 people at a time,” said Stracener, assistant professor of welding technology..

This new facility became necessary when the enrollment for the welding program nearly doubled last spring with 33 students. “An extended steel yard will be added along with a new gas manifold and gas storage area”, noted Stracener.

Construction for an additional science building is underway. The addition is 10,000 square feet which will hold four large labs and six offices for the Biology and Science Departments. The first part of the projected to be completed will be a microbiology lab followed by plumbing so they can be set up as biology or chemistry labs.

“New works stations are much more modern and will provide more room for the students to work,” said Dr. Samuel Wages, chairperson of the biology department and professor of biology.

Supplementary instructors have been hired to assist in meeting the demand for training added allied health workers. “Courses for our allied health students such as microbiology and anatomy and physiology are really filling up,” said Wages.

As campus construction is completed, there will be an additional 5700 square feet of space in the auto collision repair building to house another pain booth and storage as well as a new track and field house, an expansion to the warehouse and a parking lot for almost 200 vehicles.

The annex to the warehouse will hold offices for the college’s network technicians and additional storage space. Once the network technicians move to their new building, new space for the refrigeration air conditioning program will become available.

The erection of a new commercial music building will also begin this fall.

The entirety of the construction is being paid for out the college’s local budget and accrued local funds authorized by the Board of Regents.