A variety of construction and renovation projects authorized by voters in 2007 are expected to begin in earnest within the next few months at the college’s Birdwell Lane campus.

College officials are busily meeting with engineers and architects to determine the best time to launch the myriad projects, but College President Dr. Cheryl Sparks  is hopeful the first substantial work will begin late in the spring.

“We’re going to try as much as we can not to impact classroom studies,” Sparks said. “Of course, that will be next to impossible, but we’re going to do the best we can.”

In 2007, voters approved $21.6 million in projects that will impact just about every building on campus. Among needs to be addressed by renovation are:

Among those needs are:

• Infrastructure concerns such as water, sewer and gas lines, underground electrical service and heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.

• “Building envelope” needs such as replacement of aging brick and mortar, windows, doors and gas and electrical services in laboratory facilities.

• Interior repairs and upgrades such as asbestos removal, and replacement of some floors, walls, furniture, fixtures and equipment.

In addition, the bond proposal was worded to allow trustees to replace buildings if renovation costs prove to be too prohibitive.

“Our goal is to maintain every structure we can,” Sparks said. “If we find the cost of rehabilitating the building is too high, we’ll look at tearing the building down ... but that’s not our first priority.”

Sparks said the college is truly taking a team approach to prioritizing and scheduling renovation projects. Officials are meeting with a variety of people — architects, college instructors and engineers, to name a few — to figure out the best way to proceed.

Portable classrooms from San Angelo will soon be on campus to be used as “swing space,” Sparks said — as classrooms one month, and administrative offices the next, for example — as buildings or classrooms become temporarily unavailable because of renovation work.

In addition, Sparks said college administrators have scheduled “field trips” to Texas Tech University, Midland College and Eastern New Mexico University to see how those schools handled recent construction projects.

These activities have one goal in mind — to smooth out the inevitable disruptions as much as possible.

“This is a very unique time for us,” Sparks said. “We are trying to rethink and envision new ways of putting spaces together ... and trying to see if we can better organize things when the time arises.”

Construction will also be a major issue at SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf this year, as work will begin on a new Workforce Training Center within the next few months.

The major issue facing SWCID, however, is the ongoing search for a new provost to replace Dr. Ron Brasel, who retired in 2007 after more than 20 years at the school.

Sparks said she remains hopeful a replacement for Brasel can be found within the next few months.

Contact Staff Writer Steve Reagan at 263-7331, ext. 234 or by e-mail at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it