A new 8,000 square foot structure at the New England Institute of Technology will help the school expand its offerings and, it is hoped, grow its program in construction and cabinetmaking.
The New England Institute of Technology (NEIT) in Warwick has completed construction of the new two-story structure at 2457 Post Road adjacent to the college’s main campus.
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“This is the largest free standing building dedicated solely to the building trades, of any private technical college in New England,” said Richard I. Grouse, New England Tech president. “This state-of-the-art facility will position New England Institute of Technology to meet the ever-increasing needs of New England’s building construction and cabinetmaking industries. This phase of construction is part of the college’s multi-million dollar expansion program which will progress through the decade.”
Once the move into the new building is complete, the space once occupied by the Building Construction / Cabinetmaking Technology program will be used to expand the space for NEIT’s Architectural/Building Engineering Technology department. The facility that houses NEIT’s program in Marine Technology will also undergo renovations this summer.
The new building will be dedicated solely to NEIT’s associate degree program in Building Construction & Cabinetmaking Technology.
The first floor of the new facility will consist of a large open floor plan used to train students in the operation of construction power equipment and the construction of cabinetry and other construction components. The first floor area will also house a lumber and materials storage area, along with a construction area capable of building two-story structures.
“This facility is unique in that the portion where we would be able to build a two-story structure is outside, but covered,” said Charles K. Rogers, special assistant to the president. “We can get into a lot of different products that we weren’t able to before.”
The space has a height of 25 feet, Rogers said, and will be outfitted with industrial heating units for projects constructed in the colder months.
“We’re hoping to get into panelized construction (where pieces of a house, for example, are built in one location, but then erected on site) – that’s something we haven’t been able to do before,” said Felix Carlone, associate professor and department chairman of Building Construction & Cabinetmaking Technology. “The goal is to at least triple the enrollment.”
The second floor will house faculty offices and three classrooms.
One classroom will house the college’s computer numerical control (CNC) router with a second classroom equipped with up to twenty computer workstations that will interact with the CNC equipment. These computers will also be used to teach students how to access computerized data and develop shop and materials lists and write specifications.
The third classroom is identified as a smart classroom, and will house up to 30 students. Smart classrooms at NEIT feature an interactive whiteboard, computer, projector, camera and VCR that are able to access and display the Internet and NEIT’s online resources. The smart classroom will also have a video feed to the laboratories below on the first floor.
The new facility should also help to better accommodate students’ schedules, to offer them a choice of attending morning, afternoon or evening sessions.
“Because of space requirements, some would have to go at night when they would rather go in the day,” Rogers said. “This building will help accommodate that.”
Carlone said there is a big demand for qualified workers in the building and construction fields.
“The demand is outrageous,” he said. “Everybody’s screaming for help – I get five to 10 calls a week from people who need workers. There just aren’t enough bodies out there to satisfy the need.”
Carlone recently obtained final approval for new concentrations in construction and cabinetry. The old program offered an associate’s degree that covered both disciplines in equal amounts. Now students will allowed to specialize in one or the other. The concentration in construction will require 400 externship hours; the concentration in cabinetry will require a 600-hour externship.
Currently, enrollment in the program, according to Carlone, is “50-plus.”
“Between the two (the new building and the NEIT’s new degree concentrations) we’re really hoping this program will take off,” he said.
The new facility will be open to the public on Tuesday, June 13, for NEIT’s Tech Nite. Classes will be held in the building beginning summer quarter.
