DEDICATION AND OPEN HOUSE FOR VIRGINIA BEACH HIGHER EDUCATION CENTER SET FOR OCT. 29

Old Dominion University President James V. Koch, Norfolk State University President Marie McDemmond and Virginia Beach Mayor Meyera Oberndorf will be on hand to dedicate the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center Friday, Oct. 29.

The dedication and ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 3 p.m., followed by a reception and open house. The center is located at 1881 Concert Drive, between Princess Anne and Rosemont roads.

The $14.5 million center, built on 36 acres of land donated by the City of Virginia Beach, opened for classes in late August. Old Dominion, which offers 70 percent of the classes (Norfolk State offers the remaining 30 percent), is responsible for overseeing the operation of the 89,000-square-foot facility.

Both aesthetics and function come together in the new two-story facility. Students walk past a circular fountain just outside the main doors, and once inside enter an attractive granite and wood-paneled main hall that receives natural light from a glass pitched roof. The center contains 46 classrooms, a 120-seat fully mediated lecture hall, two 40-seat computer classrooms and a 20-seat computer classroom, all in 89,000 square feet of floor space.

All 46 classrooms and seminar rooms come equipped with TV monitors. Audio and video signals may be sent to any of the classrooms from a main control room, opening the entire building to Old Dominion's TELETECHNET distance learning program. Many classrooms have ceiling-mounted large-screen data projectors and computer ports, while a lecture hall and computer classrooms have PCs built in.

The hub of the Higher Education Center is the Learning Resource Center. Featuring 50 computer stations and 10 video carrels, the Resource Center allows students to access library materials and complete homework and research on the Internet.

There are three student lounge areas in the new facility equipped with portals for computer and Internet work. Health services, the bookstore, faculty advising and registration are also available.

Also located at the center is the Waves Cafe, which offers a full menu of sandwiches, coffees, beverages, bagels, pastries and salads.

More than 25 graduate and undergraduate degrees are offered at the Virginia Beach Higher Education Center. However, the center will not offer freshman- and sophomore- level undergraduate courses; students are encouraged to complete an associate's degree at a community college and finish their bachelor's degree at the higher education center.