MOORPARK COLLEGE GROWING; OFFICIALS LOOK TO FUTURE AS NEW BUILDINGS RISE.

Byline: Gloria Gonzales Daily News Staff Writer

With a season of celebrations marking the 30th anniversary of Moorpark College just over, President Jim Walker is looking to the future.

``These are exciting times at the college,'' Walker told a group of business and community leaders at a recent meeting of the Moorpark College Corporate Round Table group. ``We are building our curriculum and programs, and we also have several construction projects under way. We've refurbished the administration building, doubled the size of the student health center, expanded the Disabled Students Center, and the new science building is going up on the quad.''

In addition to the highly visible construction on the quad, within the coming year the college will also expand its Child Development Center, add two new parking lots and planning to put a commercial driving range on campus.

And those are the short-term expansions and improvements. Fund raising and planning has also begun for improvements to Griffin Stadium and for a new library.

The construction and remodeling boom is just in time to meet increased demand. The college's enrollment is at an all-time high of 12,600 students per semester, and that number is expected to reach about 15,000 over the next five years, Walker said.

``And that enrollment can rise unpredictably,'' Walker said. ``We hear last week that Pierce College will cut its enrollment. . . . We don't know how that will affect us.''

Construction on the college's new math and science building is under way.

The new building will be fully networked, with digital computer projection screens and student computer ports in each classroom.

``So every teaching station will have access to the network,'' said Floyd Martin, dean of the Math-Science Division. ``In the future, teachers won't write on the blackboard, they'll just plug in their computers and project the information on the screen.''

The classrooms will have no tablet-armed chairs or desks, but tables with computer and Internet link-ups. The building is designed around computer technology, with a raised floor to accommodate yards of fiber-optic cable and a file server room.

The building will also house computer science, mathematics and biology labs, and a special ``clean room'' and microbiology lab. The 27,000-square-foot, $5 million building should be ready for classes in about 14 months.

While math and science students must wait an additional year for their new building, work was completed on the college's new health center this semester.

Previously, health services were scattered at different offices on campus, with counseling in one building and health screening tests in another. The new Student Health Office offers general medical care, gynecological screenings, dermatology clinics and counseling services in one location. The office now occupies 1,200-square-feet in the north wing of the administration building.

``The health center is now a comfortable place to provide wellness activities as well as medical and psychological care for students, and localizing care allows us to better serve students,'' said Sharon Manakas, the college's health services coordinator.

The new center also includes two newly equipped, private exam rooms, a separate counseling office, a reception area, a quiet room and a peer health education room. The separate areas allow for greater comfort and confidentiality while providing education and care, Manakas said.

The college also has plans for improvements to Griffin Stadium and the track. Those improvements could be complete within the year, according to Bryan Krill, a former Moorpark College track star, a current coach and an Olympic track and field hopeful.

``Now we have a dirt track. It's a very hard surface that gets muddy when it rains, making it impossible to train,'' Krill said. ``We want a good track for training . . . and a track that could be an asset to the entire community. It would be available to anyone who wanted to walk or jog on it, and we could sponsor community and regional events, such as track meets or the Special Olympics.''

The dirt track also kicks up dust when it's windy, and the hard surface increases the chance of injury, Krill said.

Improvements would also include permanent seating, which would complete concrete bleachers spectators now endure, and a new ticket booth and stadium entranceway.

Krill and other supporters of the stadium effort hope to raise $1 million for the effort. Sponsors can have names engraved on individual seat plates for $100, or for $20,000, they can have a track lane dedicated in full color with the name of their family or business.

In addition to the math and science building and the stadium, the college will add two new parking lots within the coming year, which should quell neighborhood complaints about students taking up parking spaces on nearby residential streets, an inevitable consequence of growth, Walker said.

All the work makes for a bustling atmosphere on campus, students agree.

``Since it's a two-year college, most of us won't be here when the work is done, but there's a sense of energy on campus,'' said Abdullah Bassyoni, a 21-year-old computer engineering student. ``It feels like they're spending money to make this a better place for students.''

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PHOTO Brian Krill, an assistant coach at Moorpark College, is involved in a campaign to have the stadium's crushed-brick track replaced.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News