Collin College Makes Facility Improvements To Enhance Student Experience

Collin College will open more new campuses and facilities this year as a result of continuing growth in Collin County.

The new campus openings in Celina and Farmersville are part of the college’s master plan previously approved by the college’s Board of Trustees. Part of the new master plan includes completing the final phase of “Vision 2020,” which involved renovations and expansions to existing campuses and facilities.

“These new improvements, which are happening district-wide, will allow the college to run more efficiently and will sustain better systems for our growing student and employee populations,” said Dr. Neil Matkin, district president.

Some of the biggest endeavors of the final phase will be the renovations and expansions at the McKinney Campus (Central Park). The renovations include a replacement parking lot that will be larger and safer with an additional 500 parking spaces; a new welcome center; adding food service; and an expansion of
the dental hygiene clinic.

Dental hygiene is one of the more popular programs at Collin College, and the expansion of the clinic will help in two ways according to Christine McClellan, director of the Dental Hygiene program.

“First, the expansion will allow us to accept more students into the program. We get 80-100 applicants every year, and we have limited spots. This would allow us to increase each class by 50 percent and ensure that graduates have employment opportunities,” McClellan said. “Second, the expansion will provide our students with a cutting-edge learning environment to seamlessly go from the dental hygiene lab to the clinic to the workforce.”

In addition to the McKinney Campus renovations, the Frisco Campus will also receive improvements. An additional parking lot and a new fire lane will be added. The loop road around the campus will be completed, and renovations will be done to Alumni Hall, Founders Hall, Heritage Hall, and Lawler Hall.

Other improvements include completing Trane energy upgrades on all existing campuses and new wayfinding (signage) districtwide. Renovations began this spring and are expected to be completed by Spring 2022, according to Chris Eyle, vice president of facilities and construction at Collin College.