Community Support Leads to Major Upgrades of Rose State College Facilities Published September 16, 2015

$22 Million Bond Issue Passed in 2013 Brings Big Changes to the College

Midwest City, Okla. – With students returning to campus for the fall semester comes the sound of students in the halls, hacky sackers in the campus mall, and power tools tearing down walls.  The sound of power tools may be out of the norm right now on a typical college campus but at Rose State College, it is the sound of progress.  March 5, 2013 marked the beginning of a series of projects for Rose State College. On that day, the Midwest City and Del City communities approved a $22 million dollar bond to be used by the College for infrastructure updates and improvements.  Since that day, the College has selected the construction management and architectural firms and prepared the budget breakdown. Academic facilities will receive the bulk of the updates to the tune of $14.7 million, student facilities will receive $2 million, Information Technology infrastructure will receive $4.9 million and updates to digital signage at the entrance to campus will cost approximately $200,000.  The total budget comes in just under $22 million and is expected to be completed in the fall of 2016.

Projects completed to date include renovations in the wellness and aquatic centers. The updates in this building impact not only students currently utilizing the facility but community members who have memberships as well.  The Wellness Center also hosts health fairs each year to provide access to basic health testing such as glucose screening and blood pressure checks.  The health fairs have brought mobile mammography to the area for community, students, and staff. Renovations in this facility included a pool renovation, locker room updates, and re-roofing the complex. The Wellness Center storefront and the Student Center Lounge are scheduled to begin renovations this month.

The Information Technology infrastructure overhaul began at the start of the project in 2013. To date, workers have completed the Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) update to the phone systems and the fiber optic upgrade across campus.  IT is also receiving a new data center backup generator to power systems when electricity is not operational such as during storms or other outages.  An exciting project for students is the wireless internet upgrade.  Once complete in February 2016, the wireless internet will be enterprise capable. John Primo, Vice President for Information Technology at Rose State College, described the enterprise capable wireless internet as, “robust Wi-Fi that will support large groups of users at one time in the same area.” The enterprise capable wireless internet will be operational in all of the campus building and extend as far as the athletic fields for fans to utilize while enjoying a game.

The academic facilities received the largest portion of the budget because they are having the largest portion of the upgrades.  Each of the academic buildings are enhancing restrooms with modifications to meet ADA requirements, installing energy efficient LED lighting throughout the buildings, installing new classroom flooring and ceilings, creating common areas, and upgrading exterior door access with new power assist buttons and card access for security on those that require it.  The largest renovation is the Learning Resources Center (LRC) which was gutted and being rebuilt to expand the building and its contents by 15,000 square feet.  The new facility will provide a learning environment fit for the 21^st century complete with an updated library, new tutoring and testing centers as well as a café and coffee bar to fuel students.  The LRC renovation began in May of this year and is slated for completion one year from now in September 2016.

About Rose State College:
Rose State College is a community college offering more than 60 degree and skilled-occupational programs conveniently located seven minutes from downtown Oklahoma City. www.rose.edu