This content was published: January 23, 2014. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.
The College Center, the heart of the Sylvania Campus, sees completion of Phase I renovation
Photos and story by Gina Whitehill-Baziuk
January 23, 2014
Written by Stephan T. Herrera
Monday, January 6, 2014 kicked off the start of winter term at PCC. That day also marked the completion and roll out of Phase 1 of the College Center’s (CC) Bond Remodel Project at Sylvania campus.
Students, staff and faculty were welcomed back to campus with a newly remodeled lower CC mall, as well as a new elevator on the north entrance of the CC building.
The new and improved lower CC mall features increased accessibility for students.
Students expressed how much they liked the “new open feel, common area seating spaces, and increased accessibility features”. Tei-Onna Haggard, Multicultural Center Student Leader said, “I think it’s great! It’s much more spacious and I’m able to navigate the CC mall much easier than ever before.
More seating allows students to take a break and connect in between classes.
The new lower CC mall has a much more open feel to it than before.
The Disability Services office was also relocated to the south end of the CC building. Heather Lang, Sylvania Dean of Students said, “We are thrilled that Disability Services is now part of the College Center building community – the main hub for student services and support on campus. It is a visible statement to students who experience disabilities, and those who do not, that we are an accessible and supportive college.”
Special thanks to author: Stephan T. Herrera, Sylvania Campus Program Assistant, Multicultural Center and Community Relations Office, Intern
PCC’s 2008 voter-approved $374 million bond program is increasing opportunities for residents to access quality, affordable higher education close to where they live and work. Additional classrooms, updated equipment and technology, and advanced workforce training programs are helping to pave the way for future employment options. For more information, visit www.pcc.edu/about/bond/about.
The new mall is awful – it scares me. I have low vision and I’m scared to walk across the mall b/c I can’t see the edges of the stairs or those crazy new drop-offs, where you walk past a bench and the floor suddenly ends and drops by 3-4 feet (what on earth is the point of those?). The new mall looks like something from the Soviet era – all hard edges and cold, hard surfaces. It’s brighter than the old mall, but I can see absolutely no functional improvement over the old mall except to scare the hell out of me and all the old and disabled people who are afraid of falling off the new cliffs in this area. The stairs on the south end of the mall look positively dangerous – narrow steps with steep risers and no handrail except at either end. Each step is about 30 feet long! – nothing to grab if you climb down in the middle and start to fall. I’m sorry, but the new mall seems like a terrible waste of money. I bet we’ll be told “You all told us you wanted it this way.”