Students – Welcome to the new academic year. This will be a busy time on campus with some major construction taking place. Thanks to great support from our student government leaders last year and a strong community effort, voters approved a bond measure for COCC that funds construction of several new buildings. In addition, donations from a COCC Foundation capital campaign and money from the State of Oregon are providing additional construction dollars. You can already see the fruits of these efforts.

The first project is a classroom addition to Mazama Hall. You can see that work already well underway. This will provide five new classrooms, faculty offices and an elevator connected to the entire building. This project should be complete in time for Winter Term. We are constructing additional parking spaces north of the Library, adding more than 100 spots in the next few weeks. Also, on the lower part of the campus, we have begun construction of a new Culinary Arts facility. Later in the year, we will begin work on a new Health Careers Building near the Bookstore, and, a few months later, a new Science building just west of Deschutes Hall. Also this year, we will be building new campus facilities for COCC in both Madras and Prineville.

While this is very exciting and should help us better meet your needs, it will cause some discomfort – from noise, extra dirt and dust, and traffic and parking interruptions. We appreciate your patience.
We are also excited to welcome many new full- and part-time faculty and staff to various areas of the campus. With the growth we have seen – nearly doubling enrollment over the past four years – we are working hard to keep up and continue to provide the classes and the services to meet your needs.

Whether you are a new student to COCC or returning and coming closer to reaching your goals, I welcome you and wish you the best in this new year.