Officials break ground on new CCPE building

Published March 3, 2017

Cal State Long Beach officials broke ground Friday on a $30 million College of Continuing & Professional Education building that will give the college a central location for its students, faculty and staff.

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Currently, students and faculty use classrooms spread across the campus, according to Jeet Joshee, dean of CCPE.

“This is the first building for the college, so clearly it is a dream,” Joshee said. “We’ve always needed instructional space for the students and faculty.”

The 35,000 square-foot building, located near Health and Human Services, is expected to be completed by Summer 2018 and ready for students that fall. Construction is in its early stages, but President Jane Conoley, Provost Brian Jersky, Mary Stephens, vice president of Administration & Finance, and Joshee helped the process by shoveling a few scoops of dirt during the groundbreaking ceremonies.

“I think, but others in the audience are more expert, our last new building from the ground up was the Hall of Science and that was about 12 years ago,” Conoley said. “So, it’s been a long time between brand new buildings.”

The three-story L-shaped building will feature high-tech classrooms, a courtyard set up for additional learning and zero waste. Conoley called it a “great example of blending high technology in the learning community environment, and it shows our commitment to sustainability.”

Joshee said discussions for the new building began in earnest a half-dozen years ago, but ramped up the past 2-3 years.

“What a wonderful day it is,” he said. “It’s been a long process but with a very good result.”

Jersky said the new CCPE home will allow students and faculty to be more innovative and enable CSULB students to further their education after graduation. He called CCPE “a link to the outside world.”

“As you can see, this building will create an outstanding learning facility for students and our faculty,” Jersky said.

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