PROVIDENCE / 4:10 p.m. -- A $6.65 million expansion of the Liston Campus
at the Community College of Rhode Island
began this afternoon with a ceremonial groundbreaking here.
The construction will increase building space from 78,000 to 108,000
square feet and alleviate overcrowding, the school says. It will include
a two-story, 30,000-square-foot addition of the northwest end of the
existing building and a 20,000-square-foot renovation to the first-floor
faculty and student services office.
Five new classrooms will be added, along with computer and science
laboratories. It will also expand the child-care center and provide
additional parking.
The campus is located at One Hilton St., near the Rhode Island Hospital.
Since opening in 1990, the number of students enrolled at the campus has
increased from 650 to 3,411 full- and part-time students. Classes are
held seven days a week, days and evenings.
"It is critical and timely that the facilities expand to accommodate our
growing community of learners," said President Thomas D. Sepe.
Construction is scheduled for completion in the spring of 2004.
The start of construction had been delayed for several months "for a
variety of reasons," Nancy Abood, assistant to the president, said after
the ceremony.
"I have no doubt that once the addition is completed, the classrooms
will fill," she said.
Governor Almond; Sarah T. Dowling, chairwoman of the Board of Governors
for Higher Education; and Jack Warner, commissioner of the Rhode Island
Office of Higher Education, attended the ceremony and addressed some 150
students and faculty members.
Former student Mai Donohue, a native of Vietnam, explained the role the
school played in her life, according to Abood. Donohue enrolled in the
school after raising seven children. She graduated from the community
college in 1997 and went on to graduate with honors last year from the
University of Rhode Island.
Sepe said the campus serves a broad cross-section of the community.
"This campus, perhaps more than the other two, is more than a facility
-- it is a community, a diverse community that is 71 percent female and
43 percent minority," Sepe said.
"It is a community of opportunity -- for single mothers, for immigrants,
for individuals who are the first in their family to attend college."
The $6.65 million project is being funded through a bond issue passed by
voters in 1998.
The architect is Robinson Green Beretta Corporation of Providence. The
contractor is A.F. Lusi Construction Inc. of Smithfield.
