Some Fanshawe students are already downtown, learning at the Centre for Digital and Performance Arts
Change is coming to the downtown core.
The building that held the iconic Kingsmill’s department store will become a new building for about 2,000 Fanshawe College students in the Schools of Information Technology and Tourism and Hospitality.
Teaching downtown will be familiar to some I.T. faculty. Michael Feeny, the coordinator for Game Development, Internet Web Development and Computer Programming Analyst already teaches at the Centre for Digital and Performance Arts. He says that other teachers in his department have to go back and forth from the downtown and the main campus.
“It’s not just a couple of hours in class, it’s really like four or five hours of class,” he explains, “It would be the same thing if students were going to have interviews or go to different companies.”
He adds that while he would like to see more study spaces and cafeterias in the current downtown location, there is faster wifi in the area, though it can be hard to get a connection.
“If you went to the market, you’re sort of cut off,” Feeny says, “You’d have to be very close or inside the building to get it.”
Chef Patrick Hersey, coordinator of Fanshawe’s Chef Training program, is looking forward to moving in to the new building. He says there could be a new student-run restaurant, similar to Saffron’s and Olive Oyle’s on campus, in the downtown core.
However, Hersey says he will miss being close to other programs and services on main campus. “From what I understand, we will have services available for our students, but to what extent it’s not clear yet.”
The new campus is expected to open in 2018.
