Glendale College continues to expand across the valley
By Jenny DuffyCopy Editor, The Voice
Currently Glendale Community College (GCC) is working to help students who live farther away in surrounding towns to get their degree through GCC by expanding into Surprise, North Glendale and Estrella.
The location in Surprise is to help students cover their basic classes. They offer courses in English, Math, and Biology and expect to offer more as time goes on. Classes are held at Valley Vista high school at 15550 W. Parkview Place and start after 5 p.m. twice a week.
The location in north Glendale has been there for some time, however recently they started construction in order to start a larger campus. Currently they provide 165 sections in 94 courses, but with ever-growing enrollment and course demands they needed to expand to accommodate more students. They were given 23 million by a past bond election to improve their schools. GCC North will be able to accommodate more students who are earning their degrees for Northern Arizona University (NAU) through GCC or for those who want to take as many classes as they can before making the trek down to GCC Main. "The expected completion date for GCC North is June-July 2008. We'll open the expanded site in Fall 2008," says Charles Jeffery, Vice President of Administration Services at GCC. The master plan for GCC north is a 40 year plan and will depend upon bond elections for the campus over that time period.
The location in Estrella is still years from completion. "A 90-acre parcel of land was purchased last year (2007), near 203rd Ave and Grand Ave. for a future site. No construction will occur in the near term. I expect any development will be delayed until the next capital bond, perhaps 2014 if the district's historical cycle holds," says Jeffery. Since construction depends solely on an elected bond, there are currently no master plans in place.
