Additions and renovations to Jamestown Community College's rapidly expanding campus will continue.
A year after a new science center opened during the fall 2011 semester, another addition to the JCC campus has been announced.
On Tuesday, the JCC Board of Trustees met and approved a resolution to create a new media arts studio. The new studio is intended to accommodate future students seeking to earn an associate degree in media arts and to enhance the program as a whole.
Article Photos
A ceremony was held to dedicate the new waterwall in JCC’s Science Center on Tuesday afternoon. Pictured, from left, are Jim Griffin and Lance Spicer, board of trustees members; Becky Nystrom, biology professor; and Greg DeCinque, JCC president.
Submitted photo
The renovation, which is an estimated $750,000 project, will take place in the Hamilton Collegiate Center, adjacent to Artworks, the home of JCC's visual art and communication programs. It was made possible, in large part, due to a $2 million federal Title III grant that was awarded to the college last year.
"Preparing the future workforce to support the evolution of digital media and mass communications requires the college to provide state-of-the-art facilities and systems that include current technologies and platforms to address the needs of today and tomorrow," said Marilyn A. Zagora, vice president and dean of academic affairs. "We are grateful to the board for supporting this project which will allow us to fully capitalize on the equipment provided by the Title III grant."
The upgraded facilities and equipment will benefit several required and elective courses in the media arts and communications programs, including: Introduction to Television Production, Digital Video Production, Rhetoric of Vision and Sound, Introduction to Broadcasting, and Studio Production Practicum.
In addition, the new facilities will allow for course development in areas such as multimedia integration, television news production, and television drama integrated with theatre.
Funding for the new media arts studio will be provided by the state construction fund, capital chargeback revenue and JCC Foundation Support. Work is tentatively scheduled to be completed in spring 2014.
At the conclusion of the meeting, the board dedicated a new water wall which is located in the atrium of the Science Center. The water wall was added as a symbol of the hydrological cycle and as a reminder of the critical need to protect and better care for water as a life-giving resource.
"Water is a resource that we often take for granted but it is finite," said biology professor Becky Nystrom, who represented the faculty at the dedication ceremony. "(The water wall) is itself an important symbol to represent and recognize how precious water is. But it's also such a wonderful symbol because it ties together all of the sciences that we represent in this building."
The water wall was funded through donations made by MJW Technical Services Inc. based in Olean. Board of trustees member and former chairman Jim Griffin is a partner in MJW, providing radiological instrument calibration and consulting for diverse industries.
"On behalf of all of us, we really thank (Mr. Griffin and MJW) for the gift of this water wall," said Greg DeCinque, JCC president. "It fits the space absolutely perfectly, and I think that when people enter this facility, they're going to take notice of that."
The Science Center, which opened last fall, is home to JCC's natural sciences department which includes recently approved degree programs in environmental science and biotechnology. The building features a number of environmentally progressive elements.