Fullerton College faculty celebrated Friday morning with the ribbon-cutting of the newly finished Instructional Humanities Building.
The building stands as the first new building on campus in about a decade, with the express goal of creating a fully dedicated space with the Humanities division in mind. English, English as a Second Language (ESL), foreign languages, and Reading and Communication Studies all fall under the Humanities umbrella.
The campus did not have a building solely dedicated to the Humanities before its construction. Instead, various other departments were used to hold Humanities classes.
This changed with the approval of Measure J, a voter-approved bond passed in November 2014. It provides Fullerton College, Cypress College, and the North Orange Continuing Education with $574 million for significant upgrades to technical job training facilities, aging classrooms, and veteran amenities.
The project began construction right before the COVID-19 pandemic and was overseen by BNBuilders, Inc. and Roesling Nakamura Terada (RNT) Architects, Inc. The final building measures approximately 74,927 square feet and cost about $54 million.
The building stands between the 1400 and 1200 buildings housing the social sciences and physical education departments. It is three stories tall and was designed in the same architectural style as many other buildings on campus.
Originally meant to take place in the first quarter of 2022, the ribbon-cutting ceremony was pushed back due to a surge of COVID-19 cases caused by the Omicron variant. However, students and faculty belonging to both Fullerton College and the greater North Orange County Community College District and persons who were pertinent to the construction of the new building attended the ceremony.
Headed by Fullerton College Interim President Gilbert Contreras, the ceremony primarily consisted of persons who had a hand in the construction. They gave their thoughts about the completion of the project, mostly expressing gratitude for the building’s completion.
They spoke about what it means to current and future students and faculty of Fullerton College. One guest, in particular, student Ita Palma, performed an original interpretative poem she made about the building itself.
After the ceremony ended, the ribbon-cutting commenced, and the building was open for public viewing with live music and hors d’oeuvres provided in the building’s courtyard. In addition, guests were allowed to tour around the building at their leisure or with an appointed tour guide to see its various facilities.
For more information regarding the building and other projects underway at Fullerton College, visit the campus projects page on Fullerton College’s website.
