SOUTH L.A. : Southwest College Opens Tech Center

Los Angeles Southwest College has entered a new era of education with a three-story Technical Education Center.

The $7-million facility, known as the TEC Building, is the first in a series of construction projects coming to the college in the next five years.

“All of our equipment will be on the cutting edge,” said Thomas Baldwin, instructor of computer technology and automated manufacturing. “In our computer-integrated manufacturing program, we will have three automated robots on an assembly line. Two or three people will be able to run an entire production line from there.”

The effect that the new facility will have on the community will be significant, said Earnastine Thomas-Robertson, dean of academic affairs in vocational and technical education.

Thomas-Robertson said that not only will the college be able to serve more students with the building’s opening, but the students that come out of the specialized programs will also be more marketable. Computer-integrated programming, automated manufacturing, computer-aided drafting and computer science are some of the programs that will be expanded or added to the college’s fall curriculum.

The TEC Building is the campus’s first new structure since the first permanent classrooms were built in 1978. The next project at the 6,000-student college will begin in October when ground is broken for a gymnasium.