CONTACT: Della Elliott, GCCCD Public Information; (619) 644-7690

della.elliott@gcccd.edu                                                                                                                                                                         

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                                                       Feb. 4, 2008

Opening grand for Cuyamaca College

Communication Arts Center

Landmark $44 million facility brings program improvements,

performance venue to campus

EL CAJON – –  The new semester has started at Cuyamaca College with a flourish, with a record enrollment of nearly 8,900 students and the opening of a $44 million facility that’s transformed the college’s communication and fine arts programs and is predicted to become a cultural centerpiece in East County.

Like the rich tones resonating from the college’s new 9-foot Steinway grand piano during last week’s unveiling of the communication arts center, the message is crystal clear: Cuyamaca College has come of age.

Thursday’s grand opening of the 90,000-square-foot facility is the third such fete for the college in less than a year, capping a dramatic makeover of the campus that only months ago held assemblies inside a gym for lack of a better meeting place. Now, with a spacious student center that opened in the fall and a communication arts center housing a beautifully appointed 360-seat theater that doubles as an assembly hall, gone are the days when bleachers and basketball hoops served as backdrops for indoor gatherings.

And thanks to Prop. R, the pivotal $207 million bond measure approved by voters in 2002 that has helped fund the massive construction at both Cuyamaca and Grossmont colleges, students are benefiting from many more “smart” classrooms and labs, equipped with the high-tech tools that are a much-valued and necessary instructional component in today's digital world.

Like the science and technology center that opened last spring to address the steady enrollment growth at Cuyamaca, expected to reach 15,000 by 2015, the communication arts center was built in response to the needs of the arts and communication disciplines: English, English as a Second Language, reading, speech, American Sign Language, music, fine arts, theater arts and assisted learning.

Touring the massive facility, which took nearly 2 ½ years to complete, and sensing the awe it’s engendered from faculty and students, it is easy to understand the hyperbole of last week's ceremonies and celebrations.

“With today's official opening of the newly built communication arts center, Cuyamaca College is truly becoming a college of distinction, and with our rising enrollments, we are a college of choice,” Dr. Geraldine M. Perri, college president, said to the capacity crowd gathered for the Thursday morning ceremony. “I am extremely pleased to welcome you to this magnificent new facility – the long-awaited, greatly needed, highly functional and beautifully designed communication arts center.”

Even the chancellor's usually straightforward manner and speech were prone to emotion during last week’s ribbon-cutting.

“During my drive here this morning, I couldn’t find the words to describe this fabulous, fabulous building,” Dr. Omero Suarez said after thanking taxpayers for providing the resources for the project and praising the governing board for its foresight in seeking the public’s support for Prop. R. “We have traversed a very hard and difficult road to get here today. I can’t even imagine the headaches the architect walked away with after meeting numerous times over years with key people to put this together. It truly is a dream come true.”

Suarez also praised the “great planning and cooperation” between the district and college to bring the project to fruition and to develop a college “poised to become one of the outstanding community colleges, not only in the state, but the whole nation.”

An estimated 700 attended the day’s grand opening celebrations, which began in the morning with students and faculty in a readers theater and American Sign Language performances, a music instructor’s recital on the Steinway, and the traditional ribbon-cutting, all in the new theater, a centerpiece of the facility with an elegance rivaled only by its acoustical excellence.

Governing Board President Bill Garrett noted in his remarks that at the groundbreaking ceremony in 2005, then-Board President Wendell Cutting predicted the communication arts center would be “an architectural statement, not only for this college, but the entire East County.” Garrett said the college and district are firmly committed to opening the theater to community use, a move which would be of mutual benefit to the public and the college as word spreads about Cuyamaca’s new buildings and classes.

The community got its first look at the theater during an evening premiere Thursday featuring the newly formed Cuyamaca College Chorus, more performances by the ASL Choir, a second piano faculty virtuoso, the nimble-fingered playing of a Taylor guitar, and a rousing, toe-tapping medley by a Deering Banjo trio. An open house followed the evening performances, with the new center coming to life with an assortment of demonstrations and activities from a hip-hop dance class, a debate by the joint-college forensics team, drawings of a live model by Cuyamaca art students, and much more.

A major provision of Prop. R was the formation of a citizens bond oversight committee to ensure bond monies were spent as promised to taxpayers.

El Cajon Police Chief Cliff Diamond, a member of the district CBOC, praised the center for the excellent programs it houses, as well as the four other major Prop. R projects now serving students and the community: the science buildings at both colleges; the Grossmont College Digital Arts and Sculpture Complex, and the Cuyamaca College Student Center.

“There are also the major renovations of facilities such as the automotive technology center here and the library and tech mall at Grossmont,” he said. “And those under way, such as the exercise science and wellness center at Grossmont. Barely five years ago, none of these projects existed.”

Diamond added that the CBOC will continue to carefully monitor costs, programs and plans in its judicious oversight of the Prop. R program.

One person credited several times for the development of the communication arts center was District Facilities Director Dale Switzer, who joined Board President Garrett in unveiling the brass plaque commemorating the center’s opening.

Programs transformed

The sweeping expanse of the center is as impressive as the transformation of the programs and departments housed in the new facility. The general-education classes required for transferring to four-year universities will broaden in scope, educators say, with all that the facility now offers.

Before the facility's completion, art classes were contained in a single tiny studio, the music program lacked resources for its classes, much less a performance venue, and the reading lab consisted of little more than a bookshelf.

The music program, which previously featured a single classroom and a single piano lab, now has the tools needed for students to develop a solid foundation in music.

“I feel very fortunate to be part of this transformation,” said music instructor Pat Setzer. “We're eager to serve our students with new programs and courses, and also, to give to the community that so generously provided the resources to build this facility, a host of art and cultural events.”

He said before Thursday’s grand opening that the center enables the college to implement a program in music education and to plan additional programs such as music industry studies and music technology.

“We are now offering performing ensembles such as the chorus, the rock, pop and soul ensemble, and in the fall, concert band,” he said. “We want to be a clearinghouse for cultural and artistic events for East County.”

Setzer said the addition of the assembly hall and the practice and rehearsal spaces make it possible for the college to offer a music education transfer degree recognized by San Diego State University. Setzer added that the program, which targets students interested in becoming music teachers, complements without duplicating the music program at Grossmont College.

For the performing arts department, the center provides a host of opportunities that were also previously non-existent, said Setzer, who described as “thrilling” the center’s transformation from a vacant hillside from which 57,000 cubic yards of soil were excavated to the three-story landmark it is today.

Mirroring the expansion of the music program is the fine arts program, once relegated to a single, cramped art studio and an adjoining classroom. It now boasts four spacious studios with high ceilings and  large windows maximizing the rooms’ natural lighting.

            The classrooms, laboratories and independent learning facilities designed by NTD Architecture will exponentially expand and improve Cuyamaca’s offerings. In addition to the theater/assembly hall, the center features a 100-seat digital theater with a 27-foot screen and superior surround sound audio for multimedia presentations. Also included are the four art studios, eight music classrooms, 11 practice rooms for music, eight Steinways, including five grand pianos, 16 classrooms, and a writing center, as well as a ballet studio, offices and ample storage areas and dressing rooms.

A total 31 new sections of classes in ASL, art, communication, English, ESL, music, and theater arts are being taught in the center, which opened the same week as the start of the spring semester. Some 218 sections of classes are offered in the center, where every program, for the first time ever, has its own dedicated classrooms, rather than shared space that is less than ideal for learning and instruction.

This benefits programs like ASL, which can now configure its classroom with students seated in a semicircle, rather than rows, to allow for better sight lines.

The communications program will also benefit from dedicated classrooms and the latest teaching tools. The two classrooms and one speech forensics lab are equipped with DVD recording equipment so that students can be taped and critiqued right away on their speeches.

The same theme of enhancement and improved offerings is reflected in other programs and departments: a reading lab that was previously little more than a bookshelf now has ample room for titles; the staff of the student newspaper, The Coyote Express, now actually has an office.

For more information about the colleges, go to the Web sites, www.grossmont.edu and www.cuyamaca.edu. Cuyamaca College is located at 900 Rancho San Diego Parkway in Rancho San Diego. Grossmont College is at 8800 Grossmont College Drive in El Cajon.