This content was published: November 5, 2012. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
PCC’s Southeast campus gets a new president to help oversee a massive expansion
Photos and story by Gina Whitehill-Baziuk
Jessica Howard worked her way through the crowded tent on Portland Community College’s Southeast campus Tuesday afternoon, greeting lawmakers, college administrators and everyone else who stopped her to say hello.
Jessica Howard, speaking to U.S. Rep. Blumenauer, took over as the president of PCC’s Southeast campus in August. Howard, who previously worked at San Antonio College, inherited a campus in the early stages of a $34 million makeover.
The ceremony to celebrate the start of a $34 million expansion project was a watershed moment for PCC and Howard, who took over as the Southeast campus president in August.
The expansion will add a library, a student commons, a bookstore, greenspace, new classrooms, science labs and retail space. Enrollment is expected to grow from 11,000 to 18,000.
“It’s a very exciting time to be here,” Howard said Tuesday, a few hours before the ceremony. “Southeast Portland has been historically underserved. So I think it will meet a large need.”