Stevens College of Tech Expanding Footprint with New Diesel School

Construction has begun on a new facility that will be leased by a Pennsylvania college. Thaddeus Stevens College of Technology is expecting to move into the new building by June 1, 2021. The 86,000-square-foot building is under development by High Real Estate Group in its Greenfield site. Greenfield Architects is handling design and High Construction, part of High Companies, is handling construction. The Greenfield site is also home to businesses, hotels, residential living and other colleges.

The new structure will serve as the college's new diesel technology school. Currently, classes for automotive technology and collision repair technology are taught at Stevens' main campus in Lancaster. Those programs will be relocated to the new space, alongside the diesel technology program. The space they're occupying will be used for expansion of cabinetmaking and wood technology courses.

The college already leases space at the Greenfield site for its welding technology, masonry construction technology and computer software engineering technology programs.

"Thaddeus Stevens College is facing a tremendous increase in demand for graduates in transportation-related majors, including Automotive Technology, Collision Repair Technology, and a new program that will launch Fall 2021, Diesel Technology," said William Griscom, former college president who negotiated the lease prior to his retirement, in a statement. "Most graduates from these programs receive multiple offers for livable wage jobs. This new building with state-of-the-art equipment and classrooms will enable the college to quadruple the number of students it can educate in these majors."

According to local reporting, the school will enroll 150 to 200 students in programs at the new facility. The college is owned by the state and has 1,300 students taking classes in 18 buildings.

About the Author

Dian Schaffhauser is a former senior contributing editor for 1105 Media's education publications THE Journal, Campus Technology and Spaces4Learning.

Featured

  • Designing for Every Mind

    Learning environments have the power to shape not just what students know, but who they become. When a school is designed with genuine empathy—for the full range of ways students think, sense, and engage with the world—it becomes more than a building. It becomes a catalyst for growth, confidence, and belonging. That is the animating idea behind neurodiverse design, and it is one that is transforming how more architects and designers are thinking about school design.

  • Nashville Elementary School Receives LEED Gold Certification

    Goodlettsville Elementary School, part of Metro Nashville Public Schools in Nashville, Tenn., recently achieved LEED Gold Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), according to a news release. The 81,750-square-foot school opened in 2023 and was designed by Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC).

  • Big Horn Academy

    Big Horn Academy

    Established in 1999, the Education Design Showcase is a vehicle for showing off innovative — yet practical — solutions in planning, design, architecture, and construction. Big Horn Academy has been recognized with an EDS 2026 Project of Distinction award in the category of New Construction.

  • California High School Opens New Classroom Building for 7th-, 8th-Graders

    Santa Rosa City Schools in Santa Rosa, Calif., recently announced the completion of a new classroom building for Piner High School. As the campus transitions to a Junior/Senior High School, the facility will play home to the school’s new population of seventh- and eighth-grade students.