DANVILLE —
Danville Area Community College officials are bracing for more growth following a record-setting enrollment year — but there are signs the physical campus is stressing under the weight of that demand.
Bruce Rape, DACC’s business and technology dean, told trustees last week the college’s Technology Center was bursting at the seams following this year’s addition of the wind technology program.
The college saw respective 21 and 32 percent increases in spring and fall semester enrollment in the 2009-10 year, with Rape’s department showing a 57 percent jump in spring numbers.
“It was the year of the student,” he said in his year-end report at the college’s June business meeting. “We had students everywhere. The Technology Center is overrun.”
Rape credited his dedicated staff to giving students “more for less” and said the increased workload had not led to higher incidence of student complaints.
“Which tells me they did a very good job,” he said.
The director said of 50 students taking the wind-energy program in the first year, only one had dropped following the required tower climb. He said it looks as though the program will continue to be popular.
“I don’t think a day goes by somebody doesn’t call and ask me about the wind-energy program,” he said.
Officials are awaiting notification from the state for an “energy sector” grant allowing the college to build an on-site climbing tower up to 120 feet tall. Last year’s students used an off-site tower for class work.
Dave Kietzmann, vice president of instruction, echoed several trustee comments congratulating Rape for starting the wind-energy program from scratch and getting it online quickly, while balancing growth in other areas of the department.
“His division has been incredibly busy,” Kietzmann said.
Rape said college officials had discussed adding more alternative-energy programs — such as solar or geothermal technology classes — but were limited by the Technology Center’s physical space.
He said it would continue to be a challenge to meet enrollment needs of current programs — like the recently certified collision-repair program — which are expected to be in higher demand with recent equipment upgrades.
The college recently spent more than $100,000 on its automotive paint booth and is in the midst of replacing the horticulture program’s greenhouse thanks to a $500,000-plus gift from the Julius Hegeler II Foundation. Groundbreaking for the greenhouse will be at 11:30 a.m. July 7.
The upgrades and growth in programming have led to more than 400 area students pre-registering for DACC classes through its College Express program, which allows high-school students to earn college credit.
“It continues to go up,” Kietzmann said of College Express.
Officials say DACC is also experiencing growth pains at the Mary Miller Center, with expansion plans outlined in the college’s recently submitted capital improvements plan to the state.
The college is requesting more than $5 million for the expansion, which officials say would allow for growth of its health occupations program.
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