A ribbon cutting ceremony on March 28 celebrated the opening of the New Science Building at Fresno City College on Blackstone and Weldon Avenues, across the street from Ratcliffe Stadium. Faculty and students have been using the building since the spring semester of 2025.
Although the building has been open since January 2025, FCC leaders, instructors and students gathered to discuss the building’s high-tech features and innovations.
The building is mostly three stories tall, with another, attached area of the building being a two-story structure, white boards covering the walls in classrooms and hallways, and a total of 87,000 square feet.
The 2016 Measure C facility bond was created to provide funding for the SCCCD, according to the district website.
Measure C mostly financed the New Science Building with $79 million, while FUSD funded $5 million, and FCC provided $3 million, according to FCC’s website. Design Science Middle College High School hosts classes in the same building because of the partnership with Fresno Unified School District.
The wait for a ribbon cutting ceremony is quite common for newly opened facilities, according to both Shannon Roberson, district director of facilities planning and construction, and Christine Miktarian, vice chancellor of operations for SCCCD.
Robertson is mostly impressed with the buildings’ spaciousness and effectiveness for learning and teaching.
“I had various tours as we were under construction, just this kind of gratitude over the size of the classrooms and absolutely over the size of the prep space because they were so confined and did so much with so little space,” Robertson said.
The Instructional Complex for math, science, language arts, and nursing had been in use since 1973, according to the SCCCD website. Robertson says no space is being left behind in the New Science Building, with students using the long hallways for experiments and tests.
“They were sending things up in the corridors to move their little vehicles and other things that they were creating. So every space it seems like it’s becoming a teaching space,” Robertson said.
The design is not the only thing that impresses Miktarian, but what the building represents to FCC and the City of Fresno.
“We developed it into this L shape and we wanted this courtyard here. The fountain was very thoughtful in the design of it. Have you seen it at night? I love it. So as we’re building it, we wanted something that really stood out on the corner of Blackstone and Weldon to make it our front door,” Miktarian said.
David Cesar, a microbiology major at FCC, agreed with the prominence and presence of the new building.
“I like right now that it’s the face of Fresno City. It’s in the front whenever you drive by, even if you’re parking on the other side of the school, you still pass it down Blackstone, and it’s facing right in the front,” Cesar said.
Vanessa Phaphiloum, a student majoring in kinesiology, liked the building, but wished it was a little closer to the main campus.
“It’s away from every other building on campus but, overall, this is a pretty nice building. I like the stairs, the elevator, the different areas you can sit in, and the charging ports and everything like that,” Phaphiloum said.
Phaphiloum wants to see more art and projects added to the wall and hallways.
“This building feels more modernized compared to the old, yeah, of course. I feel like they should include more images of facts about, not just FCC, but like the programs that are in FCC and showing what’s apart of it in the new science building,” Phaphiloum said.
The Instructional Complex for math, science, language arts and nursing fate has been decided by Measure Q. According to the SCCCD website, Measure Q was a resolution to expand facilities at different campuses within SCCCD. The project was passed in November 2024 with bond funding at $698 million.
“If you want to go look at our website, It’s called State Center Vision 2035, and on there, you’ll see that we are going to demolish the old Math Science Building, the Faculty Offices, and the language arts, and then rebuild them in their entirety. So we’ll rebuild them in that same location,” Miktarian said.
