Commuter

Issue date: 11/16/06 Section: News

Construction at the Southside Center

In the heart of Southside Bethlehem where office workers for the Bethlehem Steel once toiled, students are shaping their futures.

Non-credit courses have been running at the Fowler Family Southside Center for about a year, but fall 2006 marks the first semester of credit courses for the NCC satellite campus.

For many people, the Southside campus has been a long time coming.

"I love it. It's two minutes from my house," says Anthony Serrano, a student at the Southside campus. "If you look out the window, you can actually see my house. It's much easier to do homework. Last year I had to get a ride (to the Main campus)."

Serrano likes the positive role NCC is playing in the revitalization of the Southside, but like the faculty and administration, he has higher hopes.

"In a couple years I think it will be a challenge (which campus is better)," he says. "I really think it will be a competition."

Students aren't the only ones impressed by the campus.

"I love it here," says reading professor Chris Boes, who teaches at both campuses. "It was forward thinking of the administration to have a presence in the Southside, and we need it. It's as legitimate as the Main campus."

Every room has the Smart Boards that Main campus students have grown accustomed to seeing in the classrooms. Emergency medical treatment courses use life-like "sim-men" for training students. Lights automatically come on in rooms when someone enters.

Even the elevator has its own voice, telling passengers what floor they're on, something the Main campus can't even claim.

Technology will have a special place with two departments from the Electrotechnology Applications Center being hosted on campus.

ETAC, part of NCC, does consulting for manufacturers for things such as making inks that pollute less using soybeans. It figures out ways for businesses to save energy. In 2002, ETAC received the Pennsylvania Governor's Award for Environmental Excellence.

Except for the top floor, the sixth, most major work has been completed, but "The hardest work is yet to come," Dean Paul Pierpoint says.

"It's going to get better," says Nicole Watson, a student studying for her GED at the campus. "Hopefully they put in a cafeteria."

Looking for something to eat on campus is the biggest concern echoed by students taking classes at the Southside campus. Pierpoint would like to change that by allowing local merchants to rent space on the first floor.

The Southside campus currently has nine credit courses and about 1,700 students, but Pierpoint hopes to have two to three times the amount of credit courses next year and more than 4,000 students when the renovation is finished over the next five years. If gambling comes to Bethlehem, Hotel Management likely would make up a large portion of those courses.

The arts won't be neglected either. The fifth floor features two full-size dance studios and an art room that looks out at the blast furnaces of Bethlehem Steel. Pierpoint wants to use the basement as a studio for sculpting.

The campus recently hosted an art show featuring artist Anthony J. Marraccini among others. Marraccini's art can be viewed on the third floor. Displays from the exhibit can still be seen around the building, especially on the first floor where entire rooms were turned into artistic expressions.

A concert was held on the third floor in September featuring musical artist El Topo that attracted Bethlehem residents. NCC hopes to host other community events at the Southside campus.

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