El Centro College Center for Allied Health and Nursing
(located in the Paramount Building, downtown Dallas)
- The El Centro College Center for Allied Health and Nursing will hold a grand opening for the renovated facility on Thursday, May 1, 2008, from 2 to 4 p.m. in the building lobby. A reception for the college’s new president, Dr. Paul McCarthy, will be part of the festivities.
- El Centro was the first college founded among seven individually accredited institutions in the Dallas County Community College District: Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland colleges. DCCCD serves more than 64,000 credit and 25,000 continuing education students each semester; the district is the largest undergraduate institution in the state of Texas.
- The ECC Center for Allied Health and Nursing, housed in the Paramount Building at 301 N. Market St. in Dallas (in the West End), was the first project that received funding from DCCCD’s 2004 bond program.
- Purchased at a cost of $10 million, the building has been renovated at a cost of $20.5 million.
- Students in El Centro’s 13 allied health programs, as well as nursing, started classes in the Paramount Building in January 2008.
- New state-of-the-art equipment includes 20 laboratories that simulate modern emergency rooms, plus areas such as X-ray/sonography, surgery and recovery.
- The renovated facility comprises seven stories (or approximately 120,000 square feet in gross space), plus a basement area.
- Total interior renovation included drywall, flooring, ceilings, millwork, window treatments and graphics, plus the replacement of existing mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
- In fall 2008, El Centro College enrolled 6,545 students. The average age of an ECC student was 28, and enrollment by ethnicity was: 33.4 percent African American, 31.4 percent Hispanic, 28.9 percent white, 4.5 percent Asian/Pacific Islander, 0.6 percent American Indian and 1.3 percent international. ECC also is designated as a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the U.S. Department of Education.