From Westchester Community College…

Con Edison has completed a $50,000 grant ($25,000 per year over two years) to Westchester Community College’s Gateway Center, currently under construction and scheduled to open in 2010. Con Edison representatives Sandra Miller, Director of Public Affairs, and Patricia Mulqueen, Manager of Community Relations, presented the second $25,000 check to Vice President Shirley Phillips and Westchester Community College President Joseph Hankin and Vice President of External Affairs, and Executive Director of the Westchester Community College Foundation, Shirley A. Phillips.

The grant from Con Edison will establish a Computer Assisted Language Learning (CALL) laboratory to teach English Language Learning. Funds will be used to equip the lab with computer work stations that will allow students to access specialized technology stations to practice their language skills both within traditional classes and during self-paced individual study.

After the check presentation, Mulqueen and Miller toured the Gateway Center construction site and met with Kevin Garvey, the college’s director of the physical plant. The visitors were particularly interested in the college’s progress toward LEED certification as a green building. Every phase of the construction process has been carefully monitored to ensure that impact on the environment is minimal.

The Gateway Center is at the heart of Westchester Community College’s commitment to addressing the educational needs of the county’s increasingly diverse population. With one in four Westchester residents born outside the United States, the Gateway Center will provide targeted programs for motivated students born outside the U.S. as well as traditional students. Programs housed within the Gateway Center include the college’s Business and Language programs, the Center for Entrepreneurial Studies and the Community College Consortium on Immigrant Education.
The grant reflects Con Edison’s active interest in building the capacity of the community and training a skilled local workforce. In the future, the company looks forward to hiring college graduates as a result of The Gateway Center.
“Westchester Community College is truly our community’s college,” says Miller, Director of Public Affairs, Con Edison. “We have seen many students who really found their paths to success at Westchester, so we are excited to support this important project.”