El
Paso Community College held a town meeting Tuesday, February 28, at
the Valle Verde campus. At the meeting faculty, staff and students
had the opportunity to suggest ideas that would improve the Valle
Verde grounds and facilities.
"The college is developing a long term facilities plan,"
said Instructional Coordinator, Dr. John Lencyk. Lencyk hosted the
meeting and is chair of the Institutional Effectiveness (IE) Committee
for the Valle Verde campus.
"For those of us who have lived on this campus for almost 30
years now, we've seen how it's grown, how it's changed, how it was
developed for 10 or 11 thousand students. The campus is not equipped
to serve our 16,000 students," said Lencyk.
(L-R)
Bobby Ortega (Campus Dean), Claude Mathis (Dean of Communications
and Performance Arts) & John Lencyk (Instructional Cordinator)
discuss improvements.
Photo by Uriel Marquez Hernandez
Lencyk
will be compiling a report, which will be submitted to EPCC president
Dr. Richard Rhodes. This report will be presented sometime in May
and will help the college administration figure a budget for future
improvement projects.
"We already know that the infrastructure is strained to the maximum.
Everything from bathrooms, to facilities, to cleaning poses problems.
There are so many of us on this campus now, hence the need for a long
range plan," said Lencyk.
"When the college develops a project list of what needs to be
renovated, remodeled or built, we rely on your ideas, your suggestions,
and your recommendations for what ever you want," said Lencyk.
Some students who attended the meeting had suggestions for improvement.
"We need an extension on the cafeteria," said German Murguia,
music major, "And more food to choose from, like a buffet."
Zachary Boston, performing arts major, also had concerns about the
food services at the school. "We need to have a McDonald's here
in the food court," said Boston, "And, plus, we need to
have more workers in Subway. It goes so slow when they have only one
person there, especially on the weekends."
Boston also had ideas about the computer laboratories. "We need
to have privacy screens between the monitors," said Boston. "There's
no privacy when you're trying to check your e-mail and there's a lot
of people around."
According to Lencyk, other campuses will have their own town meetings
and the IE committees will be in charge of each campus.
"Students are strongly encouraged to give feedback," said
Bobby Ortega, Valle Verde's Division Dean of Architecture, Arts, Math,
and Science. According to Lencyk, suggestions will continue to be
collected over the next few months until May as a report is compiled.
During the town meeting, Lencyk called on those in attendance to offer
their ideas. Copies of forms designed for submitting suggestions were
passed out and are still available until May.
To make suggestions or get more information please contact Dr. Lencyk
at 831-2875 or visit his office at the Valle Verde campus in room
A2308. Glenda Hill, the IE chair-elect, is also available for suggestions
at 831-2533 or in her office, room A2717 at the Valle Verde campus.
