PTC grows in enrollment and with expanded facilities

With Fall, 2012 courses starting this week, PTC marks another year of remarkable growth. Compared to last year’s fall start, enrollment has increased by 2.3 percent, and students continue to register through the end of the week.

PTC administrators attribute the growth to a number of things, including a new medical assisting program, a new business information technology program, and more courses offered in alternative formats and schedules. In preparation for the fall semester’s anticipated jump in enrollment, the college had been busy building new classroom space, as well as repurposing and enhancing existing facilities for much of the summer term – a time where, historically, student traffic is limited. With a new medical assisting classroom and lab, an added classroom building located to the main building’s east, new office space for the college’s Child Care Resource and Referral staff, as well as two new storage buildings on the south side of the campus, the campus now boasts seven buildings and a total of 102,654 square feet.

“The additions and improvements go hand-in-hand with our overall goal of enhancing the educational experience of our students,” says PTC President Robert Musgrove, Ph.D. “It’s part of our mission in providing superior and relevant education, and to that end, it’s important to provide the right kind of learning environment supported with updated technologies to facilitate student learning,” Musgrove adds.

The campus’s most notable changes include its new, state-of-the-art medical assisting lab – a space specifically designed for students enrolled in the college’s new medical assisting A.A.S. degree. The combined laboratory and classroom boasts the latest in phlebotomy (blood-drawing) and electrocardiography training facilities and technologies, as well as patient examination tables and designated student learning and instruction space.

“I am so proud of all PTC has accomplished to bring this program and facility to fruition,” says Medical Assisting Program Instructor Nanci Milbrath. “With the curriculum we’ve established combined with a technologically-advanced lab equipped with all the right tools and more, our students have everything they need to achieve success,” Milbrath adds.

Additionally, to accommodate growth in all areas across programs, the college has added a modular building on the east side of the campus. The 2,016 sq. ft. structure also is equipped with advanced technologies to facilitate instruction and student learning, yet serves as a temporary solution for accommodating the college’s ongoing growth. Also new to the campus is a 1,144 sq. ft. prefabricated structure, built by students in Pine City High School’s Industrial Arts class, specially designed and created to house PTC’s Child Care Resource and Referral staff – a department previously housed within the college’s main building. The department is comprised of seven staff members, and their new office space contains offices and workstations for each, a restroom, and a kitchen.

“We have everything we need in the way of workspace and technology, and we’re just about 50 feet away from the main building,” says Child Care Resource and Referral Executive Director Wendy Walburg. “It’s so cozy and comfortable to come to work here; we affectionately call our new building ‘the cottage,’” Walburg adds.

PHOTOS AT TOP

TOP
PTC’s new medical assistant program classroom and laboratory.

MIDDLE
PTC’s new, temporary classroom located on the campus’s east side.

BOTTOM
PTC’s “cottage,” home to the college’s Child Care Resource and Referral department.