Officials tour, tout potential Gateway campus in Warren

By Sean Barron

The college has about 2,000 students, including several hundred from the Mahoning Valley.

WARREN - A main reason to set up an Eastern Gateway Community College campus in the city’s Courthouse Square is to make college entry, freshman and sophomore courses and programs more accessible to many people while stimulating economic growth and stability.

That was a main message delivered by several elected officials and college personnel during a press conference Sunday in the Atrium Building, 103 W. Market St., the potential site of EGCC’s expansion.

“The goal is to make sure every person in Ohio has access to the kind of educational opportunities to be successful,” Gov. Ted Strickland said after he and other political dignitaries and college personnel toured the three-story building. “This is an example of people recognizing the need that exists and going to work to make it happen.”

Strickland, U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, and EGCC President Laura Meeks are among those who have been pushing for a central campus in Warren. No opening date was announced Sunday, though it is hoped classes will be under way by fall 2010, Ryan noted. He also was unable to provide a cost estimate.

The college would likely occupy a portion of the Atrium Building’s first and third floors. Much of the top floor is office space now.

Instead of a main campus, EGCC, which began offering classes last fall, uses the facilities and, in some cases, the instructors at six sites: Choffin Career & Technical Center and The Valley Center, both in Youngstown; Mahoning County Career & Technical Center, Canfield; Trumbull Career & Technical Center, Warren; Columbiana County Career & Technical Center, Lisbon; and the Jefferson County Campus in Steubenville.

“The Warren campus won’t replace anything at all,” noted Ann M. Koon, EGCC’s director of public information, referring to some people’s concerns that a central location might diminish or end the college’s relationship with the career and technical centers.

Read the full story Monday in The Vindicator and on Vindy.com.