BRCC Breaks Ground — Kicks Off Work On Bioscience Building
May 07, 2018
- By VIC BRADSHAW Daily News-Record 5/4/18
“Graveltossing” would have been more appropriate.
Because crews broke ground on a new bioscience building at Blue Ridge Community College a few weeks ago, officials were left Thursday to toss gravel at the construction site on the south end of campus to commemorate the $20.8 million project aimed at helping prepare students for the modern and future workforce.
The more than 40,000-square-foot, two-story structure is probably a decade in the making, according to BRCC President John Downey.
“Everything came together beautifully,” he said, “in a building that’s really going to help economic development in the region, I believe.”
When the project is completed in time for the fall semester in 2019, the bioscience building will be home to the school’s nursing program and a second microbiology laboratory for the campus, said Bob Young, its vice president of instruction and student services.
New programs to train paramedics, histologists, and medical laboratory technicians are set to be launched there when the building opens, he said, and a physical therapy assistant’s program could be on the horizon.
But perhaps the main feature will be the bioscience-oriented manufacturing lab. The space is designed to emulate the rigid requirements of a biomanufacturing or a food-processing facility, including a vestibule and gowning room students will pass through before entering the clean-room area.
Companies such as Merck & Co. and SRI Shenandoah Valley are working in the bioscience space, and more are sought.
“With the attraction of SRI to the area, with the work that Merck is doing, changing from pill production to vaccine production, we began to hear the need for bioscience training in the region,” Downey said. “Then, through my economic development connections, I also heard that that’s one of the target areas we’d like to attract new companies in, and food manufacturers use bioscience techniques to keep things clean.”
The lab, Young said, will be the type many manufacturers will look at and know BRCC has the facility required to train their workforce, which should help localities in the region compete to bring those kinds of companies to the Shenandoah Valley.
Need Identified
The bioscience building, Downey said, has been in the planning stages for years.
When a statewide task force on higher education identified science, technology, engineering, math and health as workforce components critical to Virginia’s economy, a push was made to provide higher education facilities the resources to meet those needs, he said.
With SRI and Merck in the bioscience space and multiple food manufacturers in the Shenandoah Valley, plus the need for more space for nursing studies and new medical-focused programs, the bioscience building became a reality. Downey thanked many people, including the area’s legislative delegation, for helping advance the project.
BRCC’s nursing program, Young said, will benefit from more simulated training opportunities, including special mannequins to practice on.
“We’ll have a simulated hospital in this facility,” said Downey, “so students can practice before they go out and in a real setting.”
The new physical resources won’t just be used for degree-program classes. Downey said the college will develop noncredit courses aimed at improving skills, with a workforce-oriented certification the ultimate goal.
They also could attract students from outside BRCC’s service area.
“With the kind of unique facilities that we’re going to have,” said Downey, “there’s going to be students interested in coming to some of the programs.”
Carrie Chenery, executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Partnership, a regional economic development organization, credited Blue Ridge for working to develop programs that will advance the region’s economy.
“Their new bioscience facility will serve a critical industry-specific role for existing and prospective companies in the Shenandoah Valley,” she wrote in an email. “Everything from opportunities with our strong food-and-beverage manufacturing sector to our local healthcare supply chain will be supported through this new state-of-the-art facility and tailored curriculum.”
Young said the bioscience building will make things possible at BRCC that couldn’t be done without it.
“The big thing,” he said, “is it gives us that ability for new programs. You can’t run programs like [paramedic training] and medical lab technology and bioprocessing without having specialized labs. The state legislature has recognized that and said, ‘Yes, we need facilities like this.’”
John Downey, president of Blue Ridge Community College, speaks Thursday about the bioscience building under construction during a groundbreaking ceremony.
