news-record.com

GREENSBORO — The nearly-completed Global Learning Center at Bennett College for Women is the last leg of a multi-building project that marks the first new construction on campus in 28 years.

But it’s only the beginning of things to come, said James Dixon, Bennett’s chief of staff.

“It’s an investment in the present, and it’s a commitment to the future of the college,” he said.

During the past several months, Bennett has completed several new buildings: an honors dorm, a pre-kindergarten center, a faculty house and the Global Learning Center, which will open at the end of March.

Bennett soon will embark on a capital campaign to pay for other new buildings and renovations, part of a $45 million 2020 master plan that college trustees approved in February.

Bennett President Julianne Malveaux and her staff, as well as those from the global studies and entrepreneurship programs, will move into the Global Learning Center this month. The 23,000-square-foot building has four classrooms, a lecture hall, a multi-purpose room and a vending area that entrepreneurship students will operate to gain business experience.

The honors dorm and Intergenerational Center, home to the college’s pre-kindergarten program, opened last fall. A loan from the U.S. Department of Education paid for those buildings, the Global Learning Center and a wellness complex with new tennis and basketball courts — all of which cost about $21 million.

A former faculty member donated $300,000 to build the faculty house.

With these initial projects almost done, Bennett is ready to move forward with its next one: building a new library. Bennett leaders are unsure when construction will start; Malveaux said last summer it will be at least five years.

“That involves raising some dollars,” Dixon said.

Bennett also is planning a wellness center, a 75-bed dorm and an amphitheater, as well as new sidewalks, fencing and other street and landscaping projects over the next 10 years.

Andrena Coleman, Bennett’s vice president for administrative services, said the amphitheater will be built next to the library. There are trailers in that area now that are used as extra classrooms, she said.

“It provides an alternative type of classroom space,” Coleman said of the amphitheater. “You can do lectures there. You can do performances there. It’s probably more versatile than a normal classroom.”

Coleman said an amphitheater was in the plans decades ago but was never built.

While the improvements will enhance the campus’ physical appearance, they also will assist Bennett in one of its primary goals: attracting more students to boost enrollment from just under 800 to 1,000.

“This is new. This is vibrant. This is exciting — to young people in particular,” Dixon said. “They like new.”

Contact Jonnelle Davis at 373-7080 or jonnelle.davis@news-record.com