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MCC expands to East Valley
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| Sara Code/MESA LEGEND |
| MCC’s Red Mountain campus, being constructed on Power and McKellips Road will be open for classes in fall 2001. |
MCC at Red Mountain will open the doors to its $16 million facility for the fall 2001 semester and will serve a booming student population in the in the far East Valley.
The campus, located at Power and McKellips roads, will expand upon the existing facilities already there.
Joseph Pearson, Red Mountain campus dean, was one of the key players in the college’s three-year development to expand its facilities.
According to Dr. Larry Christiansen, president of MCC, the land for Red Mountain’s development was purchased in 1982, and 98 acres of Sonoran desert have been made available for future expansions of the Red Mountain campus.
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"Phase II" of Red Mountain’s expansion is expected to take place in 2004, as Christiansen intends to push for a bond proposal on the 2004 election ballot.
Existing funds under the 1994 bond issue have allowed for the construction of Red Mountain’s facilities.
Red Mountain, which follows Christiansen’s "one college, two-campus" model, will continue its relationship with the Southern and Dobson campus.
According to Pearson, 20 full-time faculty positions at Red Mountain have been filled, with five positions remaining.
Instructors from Southern and Dobson, however, have been encouraged to teach at both sites, and Red Mountain courses still will be made available at Red Mountain High School.
"There’s one department across both campuses," Pearson said. "That has played out very well."
Currently, Red Mountain’s new facilities, which consists of three main buildings, are 85 percent completed.
The Desert Willow building will house a library and commons; the Mesquite Building will house student and administrative services, and the Palo Verde building will house classrooms and laboratories.
The fourth building, currently under construction, is the Ironwood Building which will be the college’s central power plant.
Pearson was anxious to point out several special features at Red Mountain’s new facility, including a cyber cafe, fitness center, outdoor patio areas for classes as well as a "one-stop shopping" advisement center, where students will be able to seek advisement, register for classes and make payments in one are.
The facilities have been designed by DWL Architects and Planners Inc., as well as by numerous Red Mountain planning committees.
Christiansen believes that the development of a new MCC campus will not affect Southern and Dobson’s enrollment numbers.
"There are probably 2,000 students that are within the zip code of the six-mile service area of Red Mountain," Christiansen said.
"So theoretically, there are students who may choose to come to Red Mountain rather than drive to Southern and Dobson. We feel there are plenty of students in the market."
An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 students are expected to enroll at Red Mountain.
According to Pearson, construction should be completed on Red Mountain’s new facilities in June.
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