One of the oldest community colleges in California, MJC has two main campuses in the city of Modesto and serves more than 18,000 day and evening students each semester.
Located near the city of Sonora in the wooded Sierra Nevada foothills, Columbia College is a primary resource of adult learning for residents throughout the Mother Lode region.
Project: Science Community Center and Great Valley Museum
General Use: Science Instruction and Museum
Square Feet: 109,000 gsf
Status: COMPLETE
Architect: Lionakis
Contractor: Brown Construction
Budgeted Cost: $59,650,000
Construction Start: May 2010
Opening: May 2013
Project Goal
Expansion to reduce wait lists for anatomy, biology, chemistry, microbiology, and physiology. The project will include the SME division office, science labs, prep rooms, lecture classrooms, and faculty offices. The Great Valley Museum will have natural history exhibits, a lecture room, museum store, and outdoor exhibits.
Overview
This proposal provides for a new Science Community Center, to be constructed at Modesto Junior College West Campus. This facility will include the Great Valley Museum (GVM), instructional labs and lecture rooms supporting Geology, Astronomy, Earth Science, Botany, Zoology, and Biology with a planetarium and observatory. The MJC Science Community Center will fulfill multiple purposes in that it will serve as an instructional facility for our students, while also meeting the growing need for science education and science literacy in our community. This new Science Center will allow MJC to provide leadership in science education, literacy, and outreach.
Additional classroom space will accommodate the growth that life sciences have encountered, promote new partnerships within the local educational community, and allow for greater student success and provide experiences not now available to MJC students. Additionally, bringing programs to state-of-the-art capabilities only further enhances community outreach, fosters new educational experiences for the entire community, and documents the college's commitment in providing the best possible product for both its students and the community it serves.
The community looks to MJC to be a leader in science education, literacy, and outreach. The New Science Community Center, consisting of new laboratories, classrooms, the Great Valley Museum, will allow MJC to provide that leadership. This facility, with its additional classroom space will provide for the growth the Science, Mathematics, and Engineering (SME) division has encountered, promote new partnerships within the local educational community, and allow for greater student success and provide experiences not now available to MJC students. This facility will bring a much-needed facility to the region and will have the potential for revenue generation.
News
The project has been completed
Project Status Updates
Current Bulletin: 5/29/2013
Previous Bulletin: 5/7/2013
Earlier updates have been archived. Please contact the webmaster for access.
Links of Interest
MJC Science & GVM Presentation (4.4MB)
