Bright & Shiny

New Facilities and Programs

As part of a multi-year initiative, TCC is creating “sticky spaces” on each campus, designed to enrich student and staff interaction outside the classroom. By outfitting certain areas with furniture and amenities needed to foster collaborative discussion, learning and socializing, TCC believes students and staff literally will stick around campus longer (and feel more comfortable doing so). The Learning Studio at South Campus and experiential classrooms at Northeast and Northwest Campuses are complete. These spaces provide flexible environments in which instructors can experiment with different ways of delivering their subject matter.

TCC introduced Innovation Forums on all five campuses as a cutting-edge process to provide TCC employees, as well as the general public, an opportunity to vet new ideas for projects and programs across the District and allocate funding accordingly. Innovation Forum liaisons guide employees through the three-step process to determine how well new ideas support TCC’s institutional goals. The following projects resulted from the three-step design process.

Math Emporiums opened last summer on South (pictured below) and Northwest campuses. Designed as part of the Academic and Facilities Institutional Plan (the platform on which the Innovation Forums were built), the emporiums encourage students to work at their own pace to better understand material, providing an effective way for students to meet developmental math course requirements. The emporiums provide computer stations for instructors, lab assistants and up to 100 students, as well as break-out rooms and testing areas. Construction is underway for a Math Emporium at Trinity River and soon will be for Southeast Campus.

TCC purchased the Bell Helicopter building at Alliance Airport for TCC Northwest’s Aviation Technology, Logistics and Flight Training programs. Renovation construction is underway in preparation for these programs to move to the new facility for the Fall 2014 term.

TCC broke ground on the Energy Technology Center (pictured at the top) on the northwestern edge of South Campus on March 3, 2014. Slated for completion in August 2015, the newest Center of Excellence in the TCC system will position TCC as one of the nation’s premier training institutions for commercial and industrial air conditioning. Building construction for the 87,000-square-foot facility will cost approximately $33 million. With 10 classrooms and 18 labs, TCC’s Energy Technology Center will be the largest of its kind in the nation and will accommodate much-needed expansion of the Heating, Air Conditioning and Refrigeration Technology Programs. In addition to these existing programs, TCC will introduce new programs including Geothermal Technology, Wind Generation, Active Solar, Oil and Gas Technology and Industrial Technology once the facility opens.

In partnership with the Arlington Independent School District, a new Early College High School will open in August 2014 at Southeast Campus. Early college high schools enable eligible students to earn high school and college credit simultaneously, allowing them to graduate with both a high school diploma and an associate degree.

Similar work is underway to renovate portions of the Multi-Purpose Classrooms (NMPC) building on the NE Campus for an Early College High School there in partnership with the Grapevine – Colleyville School District. Underscoring TCC’s commitment to offering an Early College High School on each of its campuses, district officials are working with the Fort Worth Independent School District to open an Early College High School at the South Campus in fall 2015.