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.