On June 16 Bucks held a ceremony
to celebrate reaching the
highest point of construction on
the expansion of the Upper Bucks
Campus.
The ceremony was attended by
50 members of the Bucks community,
including Bucks President
James Linksz, executive director
of the Upper Bucks campus Rodney
Altemose, director of development
Gail Acosta, Bucks
Foundation Board President
George Komelasky, college staff
and administration, and several
local officials and college donors.
During the ceremony everyone
in attendance signed a steel beam.
After being put in place atop the
two-story structure, workers
placed an evergreen tree on top of
the beam. According toAltemose,
“the tree represents prosperity,
symbolizes that none were injured
during the building’s construction,
and protects all occupants inside
the building.”
The new building received a
Leadership in Energy and Environmental
Design (LEED) rating,
which means it has met the highest
standards for energy efficiency.
It will be heated and
cooled using geothermal energy
and features a vegetation-covered
roof to reduce storm water runoff.
Features of the building include
indoor and outdoor common
areas, a library, five computer
labs, a science lab, eight new
classrooms, quiet study rooms, offices
for faculty and staff and
community meeting rooms.
The project will expand the
Upper Bucks campus to 28,000
square feet, nearly doubling the
size of the 33,000-square-foot
campus. By contrast, the Newton
campus is 8,712,000-square-feet.
The expansion means that some
students who previously had to
commute to the Newton campus
for courses will be able to complete
their associates’ degrees
without having travel as far to attend
classes.
The expansion will also accommodate
the campus’s growing
number of students. When the
campus first opened in 1999 it had
about 150 students. Today, there
are over 1,000.
Acosta noted that one reason enrollment
is on the rise is because
of the economy. She said, “Besides
just students, many people
are enrolling to retrain and re-educate
themselves. Now we can
accept more applicants and offer
more opportunity.”
The project is estimated to cost
$15 million and will be funded in
large part from state and community
commitments with the remaining
estimated $2 million to
be received from private support.
The original building will be
retrofitted and attached to the new
building and is expected to be
opened this spring.