COLLEGE PLANS NEW LEARNING RESOURCE CENTER; $14.2 MILLION FACILITY ONE OF SEVERAL CAMPUS PROJECTS.

Byline: Paul O'Donoghue Staff Writer

Plans are being made to build a new $14.2 million, three-story learning resource center at Moorpark College, one of several developments under way at the college, the college president said Wednesday.

Moorpark College President Jim Walker also said a $1 million renovation of the Physical Sciences Building is scheduled to begin in January as part of the college's growth.

``What we're doing is positioning the college by expanding the facilities to be able to meet the need of the future generations of students that will attend Moorpark College so that we are not only building new facilities but renovating old ones,'' said Walker. ``And it's very exciting to be able to do that so that our future students have what they need to succeed.''

Walker made the remarks at a briefing at the college for reporters on Wednesday.

The planned new 56,000-square-foot learning resource center, being planned for construction on the lawn in front of the existing library, would be almost double the size of the current facility.

Construction on the center is planned to begin in March 2001, and it would eventually would offer about 300 computers, offices and study space, he said. It is to be paid for by state capital construction funds, and is expected to take about two years to complete, officials said. The old library will be used for classrooms.

In addition, Walker said renovation of the Physical Sciences Building will begin in January. The $1.1 million renovation of the 30-year-old building will include creation of new labs and removal of asbestos.

The college has received $600,000 from the federal government that will be used to repair damage to the building and two others caused by the 1994 Northridge Earthquake, Walker said.

As part of the meeting, Maureen Harrigan, head of the college's biotechnology program, noted that only six of 20 places in the college's biotechnology course are filled - a situation college officials are trying to rectify through increased recruitment.

``That's what we're focusing on now. What we've done is gone to visit many of the courses in biology and chemistry at the college because many of the students are unaware that there is even a prerequisite and are unaware of what the opportunities are,'' she said.

Harrigan said that brochures and catalogs will be sent to local high school counselors and teachers to attract students, and that college officials may visit schools to promote the program.

College administrators began working with local industry giants Amgen and Baxter Healthcare in 1996 to develop the course, which trains students for jobs in the biotech industry.