Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google

New Alief Center for Advanced Careers Becomes Reality

  • 09/25/18

The Alief Center for Advanced Careers, in Houston, had its ribbon cutting ceremony on Sept. 13. The Center offers courses in architectural design, automotive technology, construction technology, culinary arts, digital design, health science, industrial robotics, IT, veterinary science and welding. These partnerships help the Alief Center to enable students to easily transition into higher education or their profession or trade of choice.

Alief Collaboration Area

Classrooms and labs mirror real work environments and provide students an advantage in forming career expectations early on. The center will provide a variety of course and trainings where students can obtain certifications and will help transition students into either higher education or into their trade of choice upon graduation. One unique aspect of the project was the level of involvement from the school district throughout the project, starting with the design charrette. The design team, from PBK, used comments from the design charrette to create the classroom and lab floor plans.

A key dual-purpose area of the school is the Interactive Observation Lab (IOL) also known as the Asymmetric Cone. Its primary purpose is to act as a surgical amphitheater where students can sit in the balcony and observe medical procedures taking place in the center of the cone. Moveable glass partitions make it easy to accommodate automotive and welding classes so professors can wheel in large pieces of equipment to work on inside the cone while students watch from above. The IOL can be used for instructional purpose by any of the 10 different program fields that the Center offers. Its exceptional duality makes it a key feature that the design team realized the Center needed.

High school students from Elsik, Hastings and Taylor will take the first or second level course at their campus and upon successful completion, they can complete advanced courses that are worth multiple credits at the center. Middle school students from the district can also participate in CTE courses to learn about options for high school. With the help of a career assessment recommendation and a transition counselor, they can work on a four-year plan to prepare them for courses both in high school and at the Center.

All of these programs, resources, partners and professors are contributing factors that made this project a success. Prior to the Center, Alief ISD had never had such an innovative, adaptable, well equipped facility, and now, it is by far the most cutting-edge facility in the district. For more information, go to pbk.com.

Featured

  • Year-Round Schools Require Year-Round Indoor Air Quality Planning

    While many schools are out for the summer, year-round schools follow a more “balanced” schedule with shorter, more frequent breaks spaced throughout the school year. Even though this offers educational benefits, these facilities have less downtime for building maintenance. This can become an issue when facilities managers overlook the importance of routine HVAC maintenance and air duct cleaning services.

  • Planning with Clarity: Using AI to Make Better Campus Decisions, Not Just Better Designs

    Higher education leaders are being asked to make increasingly high-stakes decisions about campus facilities amid greater uncertainty than ever before. Social and economic pressures, shifting enrollment, and evolving learning models compete with growing deferred maintenance needs to strain even the most robust infrastructure budgets.

  • Auburn University Debuts $224M STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex

    Auburn University in Auburn, Ala., recently opened its new $224-million STEM + Agricultural Sciences Complex, the largest research construction project in the university’s history, according to university news. The facility measures more than 265,000 square feet and brings six departments from the College of Agriculture and College of Sciences and Mathematics together under one roof.

  • ZeroEyes, Academic Innovators Partner to Provide Safety Solutions

    ZeroEyes, which produces a multi-analytics weapons detection and threat intelligence platform, recently announced a partnership with Academic Innovators, according to a news release.