Agenda

President Obama set an ambitious target when enunciated “a new goal: by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.” To achieve that percentage would mean more than doubling college enrollments, to about 40 million students, by 2016. In this presentation, academic leaders from the two-year and four-year sectors will discuss innovative approaches that rely on collaboration rather than competition. The centerpiece of the presentation is the new 3+1 model, which allows students a convenient and affordable path to the baccalaureate degree.

Walter Bumphus, president and CEO of the American Association of Community Colleges, recently joined Motorola Solutions Chairman and CEO Greg Brown in calling for improved ties between colleges and industry. “If we are going to solve the skills shortage, it’s going to take community colleges and CEOs talking to each other to identify job trends and skills that are needed now and in the future,” said Bumphus. “Communication is critical to do a better job of aligning education and training programs with the jobs that are out there.” This panel, consisting of workplace and college leaders, will discuss current approaches taken in the Chicagoland area to address this critical connection.

The Technology Education Center (TEC), a 178,000 square foot building completed in 2009, houses the Automotive Technology, HVAC, and other technology department programs in a new steel, glass, and precast concrete panel building on the west side of campus. The building was awarded LEED Silver and is appreciated for its artful exterior and well-working instructional environments.

The Berg Instructional Center (BIC) renovation and Student Services Center (SSC) replaced the deteriorating BIC exterior with a new, modern panel and glass exterior and bright, comfortable, inviting interior spaces. The 475,000 square foot renovation and new 65,000 square foot Student Services Center has been re-thought and received a complete makeover, including a reorganization of faculty and administrative departments, expanded and light-infused student commons throughout, updated classrooms and labs, and the addition of the new Student Services Center, a one-stop-shop for student services that gracefully connects the SRC and BIC with a large naturally lit commons.

The Culinary and Hospitality Center (CHC) (completed 2011) holds one of the more unusual groupings of departments on campus. Expressively housed in an idiosyncratic modern panel and glass design building with warm, natural interior materials and lush landscaping are culinary kitchens and bakeries, a boutique hotel run by College of DuPage students, two gourmet restaurants open to the public, a culinary amphitheater, and the college’s TV station and video production departments. Recent landscape projects on campus, including grounds for all of the new building projects, have introduced many new gardens, decorative plantings, and welcoming exterior student environments, designed with careful consideration for shading, water conservation, and seasonal variety and bloom.

The 61,100 square foot Homeland Security Education Center building houses the college’s current criminal justice and fire science programs, as well as the college’s Police Department and Suburban Law Enforcement Academy training center. It serves as a multi-jurisdictional site to train regional and national emergency response agencies.

The new Health and Sciences Center (HSC) Building is located in the existing Russell Kirt Prairie and houses a combination of laboratory, classroom, office, and other instructional and support spaces. It co-locates the school’s Health Careers and Natural and Applied Sciences programs into one shared facility. Completed in October of 2009, the new 188,500 square foot building boasts a 125-seat tiered lecture hall, 20 new classrooms, 22 natural sciences laboratories, and 14 health sciences laboratories. The DNA-sequencing-inspired pattern of the building’s glass façade fosters a modern architectural expression and promotes the functional purpose of the facility as a health and science education environment. The new HSC Building is the first building on campus to achieve LEED-Gold Certification.