Portland Community College | Portland, Oregon Portland Community College

This content was published: September 15, 2015. Phone numbers, email addresses, and other information may have changed.

Summer work complete, Cascade staff returns to Student Services Building

Photos and Story by

Improvements funded by the voter-approved bond measure have reached a new milestone at Cascade Campus, with renovations to the Student Services Building (SSB) all but complete and denizens comfortably settled in to their newly reconfigured spaces.

The many programs that are housed in SSB include Financial Aid, Student Accounts, Student Enrollment Services, Counseling, Advising, Career Services, Testing Center, Orientation Center, Outreach, Community Education, Campus Administration, and Veteran’s Resources.

Several of these services comprise the one-stop Answer Center, a concept that the college is creating at all campuses.

“The remodeling work will enable us to serve our students more logically and efficiently, especially during those heavily trafficked days around the start of term,” said Rebecca Ocken, Cascade’s project manager.

Ocken explained that the summer bond work was made on a very aggressive schedule to meet campus needs.

“Not all of the work is complete,” she said.  “We still have light fixtures coming in, the south entry vestibule is now under construction, lobby furniture will be delivered mid-month for the Answer Center concept, and other office refinements are ongoing.

“A move is always disruptive and these users did it twice in two months.  It was a heroic effort on everyone’s part,” she said.

PCC’S 2008 voter-approved $374 million bond program is increasing opportunities for residents to access quality, affordable higher education close to where they live and work. Additional classrooms, updated equipment and technology, and advanced workforce training programs are helping to pave the way for future employment options. For more information, visit www.pcc.edu/about/bond/about.