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Pikes Peak Community College to expand health, tech, art programs

Posted at 10:26 PM, Jan 10, 2019
and last updated 2019-01-11 00:42:17-05

COLORADO SPRINGS – Get ready for some major expansions at Pikes Peak Community College.

By this fall the school plans to add several buildings to bolster it’s health, technical, and art programs.

The school said it’s all to meet growing workforce needs. When it comes to tech and especially healthcare jobs, there’s just not enough people in Colorado Springs to fill all the open positions. On top of that, PPCC is running out of space to facilitate these programs.

It’s been more than 20 years since the college has enlarged it’s campuses and in a few months it will once again see changes.

PPCC President Lance Bolton said, “Pikes Peak is expanding and growing to meet the needs of our community.”

One of those needs is healthcare.

“As our population has grown in Colorado Springs and the healthcare industry has grown we’ve not grown with them…our hospitals and our healthcare providers have been very vocal about the need to train more professionals in nursing, surgical tech.”

That’s why PPCC is investing $10 million in a building at 1850 Cypress Semi Drive. It’s about a mile north of the Rampart Range Campus.

“The real crown jewel of this new healthcare education center will be a simulation lab.”

Nursing student Angelez Anderson said, “It will basically expose me to real-world experiences…it excites me.”

Another area the college is focusing on is the technical industry.

Bolton said, “We’ve got folks calling us saying we cannot find enough welders, we cannot find enough machiners.”

So the school will be leasing a building at 850 Aeroplaza Drive which will house advanced manufacturing, welding, and other tech programs.

Another addition: creating a black box theater, dance studio, and art gallery in a building at 22 N. Sierra Madre Street. The future “Studio West” will join the growing arts scene downtown.

The information below, provided by PPCC, includes additional areas that will also be part of the expansion:

The Catalyst Campus Cyber Range
Leasing space at 555 E Pikes Peak Ave.


PPCC is teaching its non-credit cybersecurity prep courses in these new secure labs.  These Network + and Security +  certification classes prepare working professionals to take the industry certification exams. Classes are taught by advanced certified and currently working IT professionals.


UCHealth Community Education Center
Printers Park, 175 S. Union Blvd. 


Thanks to a series of generous grants, PPCC will be moving some of its Paramedic program, a substantial portion of the Emergency Medical Technician program, as well as non-credit paramedic programs to the UCHealth Community Education Center (CEC). The move will be immediate, with classes offered at CEC this semester.

Bolton said funds to pay for this expansion are partially coming from the college as it’s been saving and planning for many years to do this. It’s also conducted a lot of fundraising.