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GTCC Trustees Name New Campus After Long-Time College President

News from Office of Marketing and Public Information             
Jamestown, NC 27282

Contact: Bob Burchette 336-334-4822, Ext. 2566                                 ROBurchette@gtcc.edu

Coretta Montague 336-334-4822, Ext. 2487

GTCC TRUSTEES NAME NEW CAMPUS AFTER LONG-TIME COLLEGE PRESIDENT

Guilford Technical Community College officials broke ground in northwest Guilford County Thursday morning (Aug. 26) for the school's fourth campus, and named the 100-acre campus in honor of longtime GTCC President Donald W. Cameron.

Cameron, who has been president of the college since Feb. 14, 1991, was caught by surprise by the announcement by Board of Trustees chairman Coy Williard.

The symbolic shoveling of dirt by college officials and other county and community leaders marked the beginning of Phase I construction of what previously had been called the Northwest Campus. It is located on N.C. 68, two miles north of Piedmont Triad International Airport.

The initial phase will include site development and the construction of three buildings and a parking deck at an estimated cost of $65 million. The project is to be completed by the spring semester of 2013, according to Dan Sitko, the college's director of construction.

Arthur Samet, president and CEO of Samet Corporation, said building the campus will "bring hundreds of new jobs to the area." Samet was among speakers for the program that included Williard, Cameron, Guilford County Commissioner Bruce Davis, architect Donald Baus, senior associate of Perkins Eastman, and David Congdon, president and CEO of Old Dominion Freight Lines.

Grammy winning singer/songwriter/ actor Larry Gatlin opened the ceremony by singing "America."

The campus will be home to the N.C. Center for Global Logistics, which will be a cooperative effort of 19 colleges in the region. Each college will have a representative on site at the new facility. The center "will be the epitome of regional collaboration," Congdon said.

The 52-year-old college has other campuses in Jamestown, Greensboro and High Point; and two aviation campuses near PTI Airport. About 15,000 students are enrolled in curriculum programs, and enrollment for all programs is about 42,000 students.

The construction is being financed from bond referendums approved by Guilford County voters in 2004 and 2008.

Phase I construction of the new campus will include buildings for:

•    The N.C. Center for Global Logistics and the Center for Business and Industry. This building will have 97,500 square feet of floor space, which will be used for academic programs for business and industry, logistics and continuing education programs.                                                                                                           •    Transportation and Welding Building, which will have 147,007 square feet of floor space that will be used for transportation department academic programs related to automotive, heavy equipment, auto- body and welding classes. The student support services office also will be in this building.
•    Central Energy Plant, which will have 5,477 square feet of floor space, will supply energy to the entire campus.
•    A three-level parking deck will have 79,477 square feet, and will accommodate 206 vehicles. There also will be a parking lot adjacent to the deck.

Development of the entire campus will continue to be done in phases and is expected to take 25 to 30 years to complete, Sitko said.

Some programs will be relocated from the Jamestown campus to the new campus. These include automotive, auto-body, heavy equipment, logistics and welding.  The transportation facility on the Jamestown campus will be renovated to house the Physical Plant, Construction and Shipping and Receiving Departments. The welding building space reuse has not been determined.  Space vacated by the logistics program will allow for growth in other programs on the Jamestown campus.

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Photo ID - GTCC President Donald W. Cameron and wife Jayne Cameron at groundbreaking for new campus.