Celebrating the completion of renovations on the 27-acre site, officials and guests tour the new South Education Center, which includes a four-story, 110,000-square-foot building and parking structure. The center opens for summer classes on June 11.

Pictured above, left to right: Palomar Community College District Governing Board Secretary Mark Evilsizer; Superintendent/President Dr. Joi Lin Blake; Board President Paul McNamara; and Board Trustee Nina Deerfield.

RANCHO BERNARDO, CA ― Palomar College officials unveiled the new South Education Center, a highly anticipated southern campus in Rancho Bernardo, during a ceremony on Monday, May 7. Located at 11111 Rancho Bernardo Road, the new center represents a major southward expansion for the college, serving students closer to home by adding a variety of core classes in an expansive four-story building designed to be an innovation and technology center.

“This beautiful new education center is all about students, from the design of the site to the classes we will be providing here,” said Superintendent/President Dr. Joi Lin Blake. “Throughout our design and construction process, supporting and enhancing the student experience has been the top priority. We’re thrilled to be able to better serve our students in Rancho Bernardo and the surrounding communities.”

Property improvements include a new interior looped road and installation of walkways, landscaping and lighting. The building’s new interior includes a lobby, classrooms for lecture and laboratory, academic offices, spaces for student support services, a bookstore and food services, information services, and a community room. Parking is free for the first year of operation.

Jack Kahn, Assistant Superintendent/Vice President of Instruction, said that the center opens for classes on June 11, with a range of classes targeted to the needs of students and industry in the Rancho Bernardo area.

“This is going to be our innovation center—science, technology, engineering, arts and math,” Kahn said, referring to the courses that constitute the acronym STEAM. “We did this very purposefully because of the kinds of industry, the kinds of technology, that exist in this area.”

In June 2010, the college purchased the 27-acre site in Rancho Bernardo to establish an education center in the southern portion of the Palomar Community College District. The 110,000 square-foot building, with its three-story parking structure, has been designed to better serve residents in the District’s southern communities, including Rancho Bernardo, Poway, Rancho Peñasquitos, 4S Ranch, Carmel Mountain Ranch, Sabre Springs, Santa Luz, and Del Sur.

For more information about the Palomar College South Education Center, please visit https://www.palomar.edu/ranchobernardo/.

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Media contacts:

Laura Gropen, Public Affairs, lgropen@palomar.edu, 760-744-1150 x2152

Tom Pfingsten, Public Affairs, tpfingsten@palomar.edu, 760-744-1150 x2960