More than a decade ago, new bench tops in a renovated lab showed biology professor Kristin Byrd what the science building at Tarrant County College’s Northeast Campus could become.
“Can you imagine all of our labs to be new like this?” Byrd recalled thinking.
Soon she won’t have to imagine it. Byrd is one of the faculty members who helped plan the three-story, 84,438-square-foot science building that TCC broke ground on in October. The $85 million building is scheduled to open in fall 2028, when Northeast, in Hurst, turns 60.
“It’s exciting for sure, kind of relief that it’s finally happening,” Byrd said. “This has been a long time coming.”
The building will house specialized labs and offer study spaces and meeting areas. It’s part of a $225 million project at the Northeast Campus that includes renovations of three existing buildings, which will provide more than 224,000 square feet of new and modernized educational space.
The work is part of TCC’s $955 million construction program. Voters approved $825 million in bonds in 2019and the college used existing funding sources to cover the rest of escalated costs, according to a budget presentation in August.
Through the bond program, TCC has rebuilt the core of its Northwest Campus and expanded and renovated its Southeast Campus. The bonds also funded upgrades at South Campus.
“When Tarrant County voters supported the 2019 bond, they demonstrated their belief in Tarrant County College and the important role that this institution plays across our region,” board President Jeannie Deakyne said. “As trustees, we take that trust and our responsibility to be good stewards of their investment very seriously.”
Discussions of constructing the Northeast science building began after the bond package passed, Byrd said.
Faculty walked architects through existing labs, pointing out equipment and storage needs, she said.
For about a decade, students in Northeast science labs have been designing their own experiments and research projects, Byrd said. The lack of space limited their efforts. She hopes the new building will give them room to take those ideas further.
“Flow is a big thing in lab spaces,” she said.
Byrd is looking forward to more reliable equipment in the new building. In the current building, she said, equipment like autoclaves, which sterilize lab materials, sometimes break down and leave faculty waiting for repairs.
The current science building opened in 1968 at the same time as Northeast Campus.
The existing labs remain functional, chemistry professor Steven Rooney said, but they were designed around ideas that are now nearly 60 years old.
“A newer lab will give the students more opportunity to bring in different sorts of technology and communication devices,” Rooney said. “They can use their phones now and their iPads to collect a lot of data and everything.”
Faculty members have had the chance to explain their needs, he said, although accommodating everyone’s preferences required compromise. But he believes the new lab will provide great opportunities for students and faculty moving forward, and students will have more autonomy to complete their research with less step-by-step guidance.
The groundbreaking ceremony allows lawmakers and administrators to reflect on the current building’s presence.
State Rep. Salman Bhojani, D-Euless, said the plans for the new building made him think about current students facing the same financial barriers that he did.
Bhojani attended Dallas College Brookhaven Campus in Farmers Branch because he could not afford major-university tuition after moving to the U.S., he said. He later attended UT Dallas while working overnight at gas stations for $6 an hour, then studied law at night at Southern Methodist University.
“Education is the greatest equalizer our country has seen,” Bhojani said. “It doesn’t care about where you’re born, how much money your family has, or where you’re working at 2 a.m. in the morning. It only asks you to show up and work hard, and I’m a proud product of community college.”
Chancellor Elva LeBlanc got her start in the current building. She began college at Northeast and took biology in the science building before returning to teach on the campus for 10 years.
“What I experienced here as a student was really special,” LeBlanc said. “And I remember walking across campus and seeing the excitement, the excitement in the faculty, the excitement in the support services, the excitement always there, and you couldn’t help but get excited yourself as a student.”
The groundbreaking ceremony also opens room to think about the future.
“Years from now, students will walk through these doors who aren’t here today,” kinesiology student Hayden West said. “They may not know everyone who made this building possible, but they will benefit from the opportunity.”
Dang Le is the higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report. Contact him at [email protected].
The Fort Worth Report partners with Open Campus on higher education coverage.
The Report’s higher education coverage is supported in part by major higher education institutions in Tarrant County, including Tarleton State University, Tarrant County College, Texas A&M-Fort Worth Christian University, Texas Wesleyan University, the University of Texas at Arlington and UNT Health Fort Worth.
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Source: fortworthreport.org
