Regents hear of enrollment dip, view Plainview campus plans

by Jacob Tucker, staff writer

 

A new campus center in Plainview and spring enrollment were among the main topics of discussion during the February meeting of the South Plains College Board of Regents.

Coda Stephenson, an architect with BGR Architect and Engineers, presented the floor plans for the newest addition to the SPC family.  It will be located at 1920 W. 24th St. in Plainview.

The new center is projected to cover an area of approximately 50,200 square feet.  The members of the Board were shown a layout of about half of the new center.  This center will contain rooms for a cosmetology program, a nursing program, computers, ITV classes and staff/faculty offices.

 “This center will be staffed with a director and a few faculty members, but in the beginning there will be a total of about six or seven employees there in the center,” said South Plains College President Dr. Kelvin Sharp.

This sounds like a small number of students for a new college center, but it will take time for the new center to grow, according to Dr. Sharp 

New Science addition opens

by Amanda Hurt, staff writer

 

The Science Building at South Plains College has received a new, much needed addition. “We’ve been talking about renovating for two or three years,” said Darrell Grimes vice president for academic affairs. “We were in need of lab space, but funds were limited.” “So we started planning about a year and half ago for the new building.”

Construction on the new addition got under way in spring of 2004 and was opened to students last month. Students began their classes in the old classrooms, because the addition wasn’t quite completed yet.  Classes were  held in the new portion when construction was finished in mid January. The new building contains four spacious classrooms and seven new faculty offices to accommodate the growing Science Department at SPC.

One of the classrooms is used solely as a microbiology lab. But the three other classrooms are equipped with the necessities if they need to be converted into lab space.

“The new building has updated our microbiology lab, and it increased the number of students we can have in class,” said Leanne Smith, assistant professor of biology. “But it also made for much safer classrooms.”

Not only is the new addition a breath of fresh air for science professors and students, it also offers more modern equipment to go along with the ever changing science world.

“We’re very excited to have the wonderful facility,” said Grimes. “We have needed if for a long time, and I’m sure the students and faculty enjoy it.”