LCC Prepares for New Academic Year

LCC Learning Garden

Lamar Community College President, Dr. Linda Lujan, noted that summer enrollment is up almost 25% from last year. “This is exciting,” she told the Prowers County Commissioners on Tuesday, July 10^th, “We finished our regular year at almost 6% up and our target annual enrollment is about 5% a year, so this is nice to see.”

The college has begun the process to develop its 10 year Facilities Masterplan using the services of a Pueblo architect firm. They’ll conduct focus groups, campus and community forums and interviews with students to help future development.  This work will include audits of the college’s buildings, several of which were constructed at different time points.  Lujan added, “We hope to receive state funding for capital development, control of easements and a sense of where to plan any new buildings.”

On that note, the president said the LCC Foundation is beginning work on securing funding for the second of three dorm pods on campus. The Prowers House was conducted two years ago and plans for three dorms, housing approximately 24 students each, had been developed.  Lujan said the college is exploring USDA loans, low interest loans from angel investors and other options.

“We’ll need the room in order to help develop our plan for a men’s soccer team. One of them is housing for the players and even without the added sport, we had 14 men housed at the Blue Spruce motel in town, so we’re at capacity.”  She said discussions have been held with the county, city and school districts to find a suitable site for a field or even a complex which would attract and host tournaments for the growing interest for the sport in southeast Colorado.

The college is seeking a new rodeo coach for the program which has undergone some consolidation. “We’ve combining the equine program with vet science, agriculture, HTM, equine business management and rodeo,” she explained.  The college has welcomed a new librarian, Jennifer Read from Broomfield who has a masters in library science.  Lujan said she will bring some new and innovative ideas to the academic library.

Base Tower of Sculpture, Wings of Learning

There’s been no date set yet for the dedication of new Learning Garden on the front lawn of the Betz Building. LCC’s Agriculture, Construction Trades and Renewable Energy Technology students and faculty used funding from the Colorado Garden Foundation for its construction.  President Lujan said the dedication should occur this August, once student and faculty are back on campus, sometime after August 16^th.  Next spring the tall metal sculpture, Wings of Knowledge, that had been displayed north of the administration building, will be re-erected and dedicated to coordinate with the 80^th graduation ceremonies.

By Russ Baldwin