In Response to Tremendous Growth, Virginia College in Mobile Moves to Larger State-of-the-Art Campus
Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2010
In April, students of Virginia College in Mobile will attend classes at a new, state-of-the-art 53,000 square foot campus located on Airport Boulevard. The private institution of higher education outgrew its 30,000 square foot campus near Bel Air Mall a year ago due to tremendous response to new nursing and cosmetology programs as well as other programs in high-job-growth areas. The new campus, which represents an investment of $4.5 million, will better accommodate current programs and the addition of new programs such as culinary arts, which is proposed pending regulatory approval.
"The students, faculty and staff are eager to move to our new campus in April," says Campus President Eric Berrios. "The transition to a larger and better equipped campus will improve the programs offered to our students, which will also help us better serve the employers who will hire them upon graduation. In addition to helping our students, we are proud to raise the economic level of the area and hope to attract more people and revenue."
The new campus is located in the Festival Centre on Airport Boulevard in a building that was formerly partially occupied by Phar-More, a discount pharmacy. Like other Virginia College campuses, the school chose to renovate an existing building to beautify the area and give back to the local community. Rob Walker Architects, LLC and Rives Construction of Birmingham oversaw renovations, and the Education Corporation of America Internal Facilities Design Team completed the exterior and interior design of the campus.
Virginia College in Mobile offers programs including healthcare reimbursement, medical billing and coding, medical office administration, pharmacy technician, surgical technology, administrative office management, computer aided drafting and design, orthopaedic technology and paralegal studies. The school also offers a salon management program and employs a staff to manage a student-operated retail facility, which will be open to the public this summer. Pending approval, the culinary arts program will also offer a retail café that will increase the school's contribution to the local tax base while giving students real world experience.
For more information about Virginia College in Mobile, the new campus or programs, visit www.vc.edu/mobile or contact the school directly at (251) 343-7227.