CCA’s NEW CENTENNIAL CAMPUS TO HOUSE HEALTH SCIENCES PROGRAMS

October 1, 2024

AURORA, Colo. – The Community College of Aurora is excited to announce the addition of a third campus, marking a pivotal moment in the school’s pursuit of offering top-notch education and driving the workforce in Colorado forward to new heights, this time with a focus on healthcare careers. 

The new campus, which will be located in the City of Centennial, will be the home to the college’s health sciences programs, including the nursing school, behavioral health, and more. 

The new campus comes at a time when the college is experiencing immense growth, both in its academic offerings and its physical infrastructure. CCA President Dr. Mordecai Brownlee has established a set of priorities for the college. One of those priorities is to invest in the school’s infrastructure. 

This addition fulfills CCA’s mission of investing in its students by offering career-ready programs in state-of-the-art facilities. The additional campus also expands the college’s reach beyond the boundaries of Aurora, as it aims to prepare the future workforce for the better of all of Colorado. 

Upon the announcement, Dr. Brownlee said, “As we embark on this historic moment for the Community College of Aurora with the opening of our third campus, we are filled with excitement and pride. This new facility will serve as a hub for critical health sciences programs like nursing, emergency medical technician, paramedic, fire science, behavioral health, phlebotomy, and more, all aimed at empowering our students and strengthening the health and safety of our community. We are deeply grateful to Mayor Stephanie Piko, the City Council of the City of Centennial, and City Manager Matt Sturgeon for their unwavering support in making this vision a reality.”

Centennial Mayor Stephanie Piko emphasized the major implications this partnership will have, saying, “We are thrilled to welcome the Community College of Aurora to our community. Their investment is a testament to the strong, vibrant local economy we are building in Centennial. Having CCA in our city is a tremendous asset. It strengthens our healthcare sector by providing a pipeline of skilled professionals and creating opportunities for collaboration with local healthcare providers and businesses. We also look forward to welcoming CCA’s students, who will become an integral part of our community and contribute to its growth. Together, we’re building a city where businesses, healthcare services, and education thrive, and people want to live, work, and learn.”

CCA Vice President of Academic Success, Dr. Bobby Pace said, “Our new Center for Frontline Health Education marks a major moment in our college’s commitment to grow more deeply into the health sciences space. Complementing our existing paramedicine and health sciences programming, we are incredibly excited to now begin our nursing program and to launch our first bachelor’s degree with a robust offering of programming in behavioral health. Housing all the programming on a central campus in Centennial allows us to ensure that our students build on the synergies of their shared frontline vocations while also focusing all of our health sciences efforts into a single location for students eager to build new communities in these high demand occupations.”

The additional campus is expected to open in the fall of 2025, around the same time as the new Center for STEM, Power Mechanics and Applied Technologies, which is currently under construction on the CentreTech campus. The main CentreTech campus in Aurora also houses CCA’s Administration Building, Classroom Building, Fine Arts Building, as well as the Student Center. 

CCA’s Lowry Campus is home to Lowry Studios, which offers students state-of-the-art studio facilities in the Department of Cinematic Arts. Recently, the school added a new technology to its studio setup called “Virtual Volume.” The cutting-edge technology takes green screen capabilities to new heights, offering students the opportunity to put themselves in virtual worlds, on par with major motion picture studios like Disney. 

Beyond adding new facilities, technologies, and campuses, CCA has undergone a major transformation in the past several years in other regards. A major upgrade to the CentreTech campus over the summer brought urgently needed accessibility upgrades, including better ramps, an all-gender accessible restroom, as well as better accessible parking spaces. 

In the digital realm, CCA has taken steps to ensure students have more equitable access to resources, recently implementing a full Spanish website, which is a direct translation of its English counterpart. CCA serves a vastly diverse population, including a large number of Spanish-speaking students. 

Students, faculty, staff, and the general public will begin to see glimpses of the third campus in the coming weeks. Be on the lookout for more information about program offerings and specifics over the next year. 

For more information on CCA, click HERE.