The Rampage Spring 2019

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The Rampage

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“Bluefield College is excited about this new master’s program and the collaborative effort with the Edward Via College of Osteopathic Medicine,” Dr. Olive said. Classes for the MABS are being held on the VCOM campus in Blacksburg. The program is a 35-credit-hour face-to-face curriculum that emphasizes the biomedical sciences with a strong focus on human medicine and clinical applications. It also focuses on bio- medical coursework, research experience, field study, and seminars in professional development. Plans for another new residential facility are also in the works in 2018-2019. Those plans call for construction of a new dormitory where Alumni Hall and married student housing currently sits. The new structure will be double the size of East River Hall with a total of about 200 beds and more than 40,000 square feet. This building will be equipped with community bathrooms and common areas on each floor, as well as a kitchen on the first floor. “The hall could be divided into guys and girls,” Dr. Olive said. “It could be divided by floor, so then each floor could be guys or girls.”

The new residence hall will also feature an access bridge that extends from the parking near Rish Hall across to the top floor of the new building. There will be additional parking below the new residence hall for students who reside there. In addition, this year the president hopes to successfully close out the school’s 2014-2019 Strategic Plan and begin putting together a 2019-2024 Strategic Plan. BC staff members are already working on some of the preliminary ideas for the new Strategic Plan that will guide the college over the next five years.

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by Evan Samuels Communication • 2022 College to Add NewParking on Campus

As the size of the student body at Bluefield College continues to rise, so does the need for more on-campus parking. As a result, Bluefield College adminis- trators have been exploring options to add more parking spaces on campus for quite some time, and now, thanks to a generous gift from a BC friend, plans to build a new parking lot are now becoming a reality. Already under construction, the new parking lot will be located in front of Rish Hall and will add 31 additional parking spaces on campus. The spaces will be devoted primarily to resident and commuter students; however, some spaces will be reserved for faculty and visitors. According to Josh Arnold, associate

vice president for student devel- opment, the location of the new lot will give residents of Rish Hall more parking directly near their residence and will also provide parking directly in front of the Academic Center for Excellence (ACE). “The new lot should help ease parking congestion on campus,” Arnold said, “particularly during peak visiting hours, such as during chapel days.” BC students also participated in the planning process for the new parking lot. Student leaders who served on the Board of Trustees Facilities Committee had the opportunity to review and comment on the design plans before the Board gave its final approval for the project.

The gift that helped advance the parking lot project came from a member of Highlands Fellowship, a Christian congregation that uses Harman Chapel for its church services and who will also benefit from the additional parking.

Rish Hall