By AMARIS ENCINAS
Pima Post
The six Pima Community College campuses in Tucson will soon be down to five.
PCC came to the conclusion that it would be best to close Community Campus, 401 N. Bonita Ave.
Community Campus currently offers Pima Online, Workforce Development, Adult Education for College and Career, Workforce Development and PCC-TV.
Community Campus was established in 1975 to provide educational services in alternative time formats and frames in non-traditional forms to give access to people that live and work in the community, said David Dore, Northwest, Downtown and Community campus president, in a recent email.
The sale of Community Campus was discussed on Nov. 14 at a Board of Governors meeting. “As a result of the education and facilities master planning process, the College determined that it had underutilized space, and could more effectively deliver educational services by relocating certain programs and services,” according to the BOG report. “The master planning process also identified that the College does not have adequate facilities to deliver certain types of programs, such as advanced manufacturing training, or to meet emerging student and community needs (i.e. space that facilitates current and future technology; collaboration; new instructional techniques).”
Programs such as PimaOnline will move to Northwest Campus in the G Building. Adult Education administration will move to the Downtown Campus, where all major bus lines run through. PCC-TV will align to the division’s work with the possibility of it being held at West Campus where all of the arts programs are. Lastly, Workforce Development will be relocated to Downtown Campus and combined with the new Center of Excellence of Applied Technology, via Dore’s email.
Intermountain Centers for Human Development is purchasing Community Campus. The company “provides the highest quality, evidence-based human services to facilitate self-sufficiency for individuals in their own communities and cultural contexts. Intermountain strives to be a model for human service organizations,” according to its website.
Intermountain is a Tucson-based company and mental health service provider that is located at 994 S. Harrison Road.
The purchase price is set for $6 million with fees associated with the sale of the property, attorney fees and closing costs not to exceed $50,000, according to the report. The close is set for no later than March 1.
After the property sale closes, the programs that are currently at Community Campus will run until the end of this semester. The college will relocate its programs and personnel from Community Campus by July 30.
Dore said his biggest concern were Pima students.
“Though negotiations for its sale are underway, the College plans to remain at Community Campus for the remainder of the academic year … Community Campus programs serve a total of more than 16,000 students, and because many of the services and courses are offered online, it is our hope that students will not be adversely affected by department moves. Instead students may benefit as services and programs will be better aligned to the campuses and student need,” he said via email.