Blinn College to explore partnership with The Texas A&M University System for development of proposed RELLIS Campus workforce training and educational facility
Blinn negotiating agreements to centralize its Brazos County locations
July 5, 2017
The Blinn College Board of Trustees took steps to expand and improve the College’s Brazos County locations during its regular meeting Wednesday, July 5.
Trustees authorized Blinn College to pursue a partnership with The Texas A&M University System for the development of a proposed new 40,000-square-foot RELLIS Campus facility to house workforce training and other educational programs delivered both by Blinn and by Texas A&M University System entities. The proposed facility is estimated to cost approximately $15 million and could be built in phases over time as funding becomes available.
This partnership would build upon last December’s announcement that Blinn, the Texas A&M University System, and the Texas A&M Engineering Extension Service (TEEX) are partnering to meet Brazos County’s growing demand for workforce training.
Trustees also authorized the College to collect information related to facilities at the RELLIS Campus and other possible Brazos County sites for programs, including but not limited to veterinary technology, therapeutics manufacturing, and dental hygiene.
Blinn also will collect information related to the establishment of Blinn health science program facilities at the RELLIS Campus. Blinn currently offers its associate degree nursing, emergency medical services, fire science, health information technology, physical therapist assistant, radiologic technology, surgical technology, and Bryan vocational nursing programs at the Texas A&M Health Science Center Clinical Building I.
Blinn College and the Texas A&M System celebrated the groundbreaking of Blinn’s new 83,000-square-foot academic facility at the RELLIS Campus in March. The building includes 18 classrooms and eight laboratories, and is scheduled for completion in time for the Fall 2018 semester.
Named after the Texas A&M System’s core values of respect, excellence, leadership, loyalty, integrity, and selfless service, the RELLIS Campus was announced by Texas A&M System Chancellor John Sharp in May 2016, establishing a research and development campus to help companies move ideas from the laboratory to the marketplace while also offering a new path toward a college degree.
One aspect of the RELLIS Campus plan involves the development of a multi-institutional Gateway Education Center that will provide space for Texas A&M System member institutions and Blinn to offer a variety of curricula. The RELLIS Campus establishes a new educational community combining a major university system and a community college at a single physical location, allowing Blinn students to transfer seamlessly to leading universities throughout the Texas A&M System in the years to come.
Located adjacent to State Highway 47 and Highway 21, the site creates opportunities for Blinn to partner with other organizations and institutions located on the RELLIS Campus, including high-end, innovative, private research and development companies, the Texas A&M Engineering Experiment Station (TEES), and TEEX.
In other business, the Board of Trustees authorized the College to:
- negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with Aestimo, Inc. for design and construction phase services related to the replacement of the roof of the W.L. Moody Library on the Brenham Campus, and to seek bids for the construction of the proposed roof replacement.
- award and execute contracts with Visual Innovations Company for audio visual equipment, Network Alliance for network switches, Knight Security Systems for security cameras, CDW-G for network connectivity equipment, Anixter for wireless access points, and Texas Digital Systems, Inc. for a digital menu board for the Kruse Center.
- negotiate and execute a professional services agreement with Arkitex Studio, Inc. for the design and construction phase services related to renovations and upgrades to Student Center Food Services, offices, post office, and meeting room space, and to seek bids for construction of the proposed improvements on the Brenham Campus.
