San Diego Mesa College ongoing construction of the new Student Services Facility, which is adjacent from the I-Building, is slated to be completed and open in October.
“One of our challenges is to continue to teach and serve you and all of our students while we build and create a new state of the art campus,” Public Information Officer Lina Heil said.
Business Administration Chair Mark Abajian teaches in classroom K201B, which is located directly across from the construction site of the Student Services Facility.
“It’s like background noise to me now…like white noise. It’s more bothersome to the students,” Abajian said
The grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new Student Services Facility is tentatively scheduled to take place in the month of October 2012 and the staff and faculty members currently housed in the Modular Village will be able move into the new facility, according to Vice President of Instruction and Coordinator of Construction Tim McGrath.
The Student Services Facility will house Admissions, Financial Aid, Evaluations and Testing, Counseling, student government, Disability Support Programs and Services (DSPS), Information and Outreach, classrooms, conference areas and a Terrace Café. The project also includes a new express elevator between the lower parking lot and the upper campus, according to the San Diego Mesa College Prop S & N website.
Dean of Social/Behavioral Science & Multicultural Studies Dr. Charles Anthony Zappia started teaching at Mesa College 26 years ago, and said that the conditions of Mesa College has changed greatly since then.
“There was no air conditioning so it was stiflingly hot…the grounds were nice but the buildings were simply substandard,” Dr. Zappia said. “[The improvements are] long overdue, and very good, the new buildings going up and those that are planned and we have one for my school that we will be breaking ground for in the spring, they’re functionally what we need in the sense that they provide the facilities that we’ve long lacked and aesthetically they are very attractive… I’m particulary proud of the social behavioral sciences building that is a very nice design and eventually by 2017 when the entire prop s & n building campaign ends and this quadrangle you’ve probably heard about is finished in the middle of the campus it’s going to be a really beautiful place. I think it will be a place where students will want to spend some time which is not the case in present.”
According to McGrath, during the Christmas break materials and classes normally held in the H-Building will be relocated to the modular village. The Math and Sciences building being built near Mesa College LRC is 50% to completion in construction. It is scheduled to be completed Fall 2013 and open for student and staff use Spring 2014. Other construction in the future will include a renovation of the 2nd floor of the LRC which will include a language lab, six classrooms, UN space for students to practice the languages they are learning, a campus front door, clock, and coffee shop Tim McGrath said.