Contact: Cherie Yurco;
cmyurco@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — Oct. 11, 2021
(DALLAS) — Dallas College held a grand opening celebration last week for its state-of-the-art Construction Sciences Building. Approximately 300 attendees, representing industry partners and community and education leaders, were in attendance.
Dr. Joe May, Dallas College chancellor, thanked the Construction Education Foundation (CEF) for its 20-plus-year partnership and collaboration in bringing the LEED Silver building to fruition.
“At Dallas College, our mission is ‘to transform lives and communities through higher education,’ and this new Construction Sciences building is the latest tool to aid us in this regard,” he said. “Our goal for this building is to serve as a vehicle for putting people in our community back to work in high-demand construction and skilled trades jobs.”
Dallas College Chancellor Joe May cuts a wooden “ribbon” celebrating the grand opening.
Dallas College Board Vice Chair Phillip Ritter spoke of the many people and partners that moved the building forward from conception to reality. “This facility, with these partnerships, is an example of what is possible when you collaborate with Dallas College for the benefit of our students and economy,” he said. Countless hours of consultation and more than $2.5 million in monetary and in-kind donations have helped build and equip the Construction Sciences Building.
“When we were dreaming about what we aspired to achieve here, we wanted to bring to life an elevated image of a career in the construction industry, and we wanted a place that would look collegiate and professional. We also wanted to design a building as a teaching tool so students could learn from a working facility, in real time, and there are examples of that all around the building,” said Dr. Christa Slejko, Dallas College North Lake Campus president.
Dr. May cut a “ribbon” made of wood with a Hilti reciprocating saw before the guests toured the facility and watched teaching demonstrations in its high-tech laboratories. The building is designed as both a functional campus and a living laboratory with exposed systems, components and materials throughout.
Through this 97,000-square-foot building, Dallas College and its partners will train apprentices and craft professionals in construction trades as well as field engineers, supervisors and construction managers. Purpose-built, interactive, high-tech classrooms with adjacent laboratories for teaching demonstrations and active learning support the high-quality instruction. Covered exterior lab space allows for outdoor equipment use, mock-ups and assembly installations in various conditions and temperatures, as well as materials storage.
Dallas ISD Wilmer-Hutchins E-TECH Early College High School students already began their construction education in the new building this fall. “The opportunity to develop industry connections and learn market-aligned skills — for free — will undoubtedly place them on a path toward lifelong success,” said Dr. May.
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