Cerritos College Celebrates Grand Opening of Physical Science and Technology Building

Cerritos College hosted a grand opening ceremony for its new Physical Science and Technology Building on Wednesday, Oct. 5.

Board trustees, administrators, faculty, staff, elected officials and community members marked the occasion with an unveiling of a commemorative plaque and a ribbon-cutting. 

"It's with your support that the state-of-the art classrooms and laboratories stand here today," said Cerritos College Board of Trustees Vice President Bob Arthur.

The new 34,000 square foot, two-story building was funded by the G.O. bond and consist of five general classrooms for architecture, astronomy, earth science, engineering, engineering design technology, mathematics and physics, and also seven large laboratories, faculty offices and division offices for the Technology and Science, Engineering and Mathematics (SEM) divisions.

The building uniquely incorporates various educational features that will be used in classes. Dinosaur footprints, rock outcrops, and the native vegetation gardens around the building will be used for paleontology, earth science and biology classes.

At the grand opening, a female Pteranodon skeleton in the atrium was unveiled. She has a 15-foot wing span and weighs 25 lb.

"I would like to thank our community, for believing in the vision of our educational master plan and for voting "yes" on the bond measure, which allowed us to build this facility," said Cerritos College President Dr. Linda Lacy. 

"This center is the result of hours of labor to ensure that our students get quality education in one of the latest cutting-edge educational facility."

Dean of the Science, Engineering and Mathematics Division Dr. Carolyn Chambers thanked her staff, the campus facilities staff, and many other people on campus for their countless hours spent ensuring the successful creation of the building. 

"The opening of the Science Building is especially meaningful to those of us who will be using these facilities on a regular basis," she said.

The main foyer was dedicated in honor of Charles Dean Paige, for his dedication and service to the college. He held many positions at the college from 1964 until he retired as the dean of Science, Engineering and Mathematics division including interim vice president of instructional services. Paige passed away on February 28, 2010 after an extended illness.

The dedication plaque was unveiled by the late Paige's wife Jeanne Paige and his son and Cerritos College Associate Professor of Reading Matt Paige.

Matt shared his father's heartwarming episode of catching and bringing a rattlesnake as live specimen to the classroom when his father started at the college as a biology professor and thanked for honoring him.

"On behalf of our family, we'd like to thank all of you for remembering my father in such an honorable way," he said.

John Boyle, retired biology professor and Sue Parsons, director of Teacher TRAC and professor of mathematics also shared memories of Dean Paige.