Prairie Hall, the newest residence hall at Southeast Community College in Milford, is expected to be completed by Aug. 2.
Stacy Riley, assistant campus director and dean of students at Southeast Community College, gave an overview of updates happening at the SCC Milford campus during the Milford Chamber of Commerce members meeting Feb. 14.
Riley highlighted changes in facilities and programming, many of which will be implemented this fall.
Riley said the college is streamlining its advising models to better assist students in their academic goal setting.
She said this change comes about with the college’s switch from quarter to semester scheduling, which will begin in August.
The campus will not host students for classes over the summer so it can get all of its computer systems and procedures set up for semesters.
“The new scheduling is going to be kind of a challenge for some of our programs, but it’s in the best interest of our students and what they’ve asked for,” Riley said.
The change came about because of recommendations from the school’s accrediting body, the Higher Learning Commission.
Semesters more easily line up with most four-year institutions, making it simpler for students who want to transfer to a four-year college or university, and also provide a more cost-effective way for students to get their degrees in the 50-plus programs the college offers.
Riley said SCC’s academic transfer numbers are increasing because of a recent agreement with Concordia University. The college also holds transfer agreements with Bellevue University, Peru State College, Nebraska Wesleyan University and others.
“That really is going to be a game changer for our campus,” Riley said.
Read more about the transition to semesters at milfordtimes.net. Search “SCC to switch to semester calendar.”
In addition, Riley said the campus is changing its learning management system from a program called Moodle to one called Canvas. The system is the technology component for how students and staff manage information like grades and assignments.
“It’s going to be more user friendly for our students as well as our faculty,” she said.
Also this fall, the Milford campus will begin offering a Health Science Certificate, which will change the make-up of some of the buildings.
“We’ll be adding some more labs that are health-related,” Riley said.
Those labs will be on the second floor of the Eicher Technical Center in space currently occupied by part of the architectural program.
The architecture classes will move to the Lincoln campus where most of the architectural courses already are based.
“Our hope is that we continue to grow those relations with the communities around us in regard to health services,” Riley said.
Area stakeholders in the health sector will be invited to a breakfast in April to learn more about the program.
SCC has hired a new director for its Counseling and Assistance Program, which helps connect students to resources for dealing with general health and wellbeing, drug and alcohol abuse, dating violence, sexual assault and other potential barriers to education.
The college received the Garrett Lee Smith Suicide Prevention Grant and has trained staff members in Question, Persuade, Refer, a technique used to identify those at risk of suicide and connect them to help.
It also started a campus community food pantry this year.
“It has been very busy. There is an increased number of students on our campus that are in need of free food,” Riley said. “That’s been a really cool initiative to see grow for us.”
A number of students at SCC, she said, have qualified for scholarships and financial assistance from the Learn to Dream program, Peter Kiewit Foundation and other entities focused on students who are the first of their families to attend college or are in a low-income situation.
“That’s increasing across our nation and at SCC as well,” she said. “We’re working on programming to ensure students are getting the best care while they’re with us, so they can eliminate those barriers and really focus on those program classes.”
The first of four proposed new residence halls is set to open on Aug. 2, housing 154 students.
“We named it Prairie Hall. It’s coming right along,” Riley said. “It’s pretty exciting to watch that every day as you come to campus.”
The hall will have an open atrium area with a balcony to create community living space for students. The basement will have a community-style kitchen.
“They want to spend a lot more time together. We hope to provide programming to help them learn how to cook and stuff like that,” Riley said.
Prairie Hall and the college’s other halls are currently at enrollment capacity, with one building available for overflow housing if necessary.
Riley said the college is in the negotiation stages of planning on a second new residence hall. The college’s Facilities Master Plan calls for a total of four new halls over the next several years.
“The face of SCC Milford is changing, and we are very excited about that. I think it’s been a long time coming,” Riley said.
A new diesel technology and welding facility is set to break ground on Feb. 20, with estimated completion in December 2019.
“The reason why we pulled diesel out of our main building is they don’t have the space to complete the projects they need to,” Riley said.
She added that farm equipment is growing in size, so new bays will give students the space to learn and complete hands-on work.
“Our diesel truck and agricultural diesel programs are consistently full,” she said.
The college is in Phase One of its Facilities Master Plan, which will mean some new buildings will go up, and some old buildings will come down.
Nebraska Hall is currently a residence hall, but the college plans to turn it into a general-purpose classroom building.
Cornhusker Hall will be torn down.
“We’re excited that that’s going,” Riley said. “There are so many issues for our students, and it’s outlived the life of the building.”
The Heating, Ventilation and Air Conditioning building also will be gone. It was a used building that was moved to the campus decades ago.
The Dunlap Center, which houses the dining hall and campus bookstore, will be expanded to include more space for students and venues that can be rented out by the community.
“We’re really changing the footprint of our campus as far as how it looks,” Riley said.
SCC’s Beatrice location also has a new residence hall under construction and a new dining hall in the works.
In Lincoln, a $22 million health sciences building is being planned.
Those projects are part of the college’s Facilities Master Plan.
emily@sewardindependent.com
