By Rosemarie Davis and Cameron Mason
City Times
City College unveiled the design for its new Vocational Technology Center (VTC) that will be built on the southeast corner of campus between 16th and 17th Avenues and Broadway and C Street beginning in 2008.
The VTC is a five story, ultra-modern building that will house the cosmetology, nursing and photography programs.
“City College is recognized as one of the best colleges in the nation, especially for some of its unique vocational programs,” said Chancellor Constance Carroll in the San Diego Community College District newsletter. “The nursing, cosmetology and photography departments are excellent and deserve high quality facilities to match the high quality of instruction provided.”
The first two levels will house the cosmetology department, and a salon will be built on the first floor for cosmetology students to provide service to the public. A large plaza will be constructed in the middle to allow for a student gathering area and refreshment station.
The nursing department, which badly needs an expansion, will be located on the third story. There is currently a two-year waiting list to gain entry into the program.
“The programs and the VTC building will be very technologically advanced,” Debbie Berg, the nursing director at City said. “It will have more faculty and more faculty offices. It will be our new home and better place.”
Currently, nursing students are able to act out patient-nurse interactions with simulated patients that can cough and have heart rates.The VTC building will give each of the simulated patients its own room and in the rooms cameras will record the reactions of the students to the patients.
This will all be broadcast to other rooms so students can critique techniques and learn from them. The VTC will be a venue where the nursing department can enhance and grow from all the high tech equipment that will be offered.
The photography department will be on the fourth and fifth levels. In addition to several classrooms, the photography department will have a display gallery for showcasing their works.
For photography students, the new building can’t be built soon enough.
“It’s cramped as hell, and we need the space,” said Rebecca Saffran, photography major.
This 88,000 square foot building will also make available 700 parking spaces and provide a new center of operations for the campus police.
The VTC project is funded by the Proposition S bond, and the construction costs are estimated between $51.5 to 54.5 million.
Currently, there are 16,000 students attending City College and those numbers are expected to rise in the next decade to 25,000 students, according to administrators, so the VTC is a facility that will accommodate the growing student population.
“At 93-years young, City College has begun a historic development era to help meet the demands of our growing campus,” said City College President Terrence Burgess in the district newsletter.
To view the complete schematic design, visit http://www.sdcity.edu/facilities/vtc.asp.
