Category: Education

By Gary Nager

Even though, at our press time, the new Pasco Hernando Community College (PHCC) Porter Campus at Wiregrass Ranch (located on Mansfield Blvd. at S.R. 56), still looked like more of a construction site than a college campus, PHCC Porter Campus Provost Stanley M. Giannet, Ph.D., said that school officials were expecting to receive the Certificate of Occupancy for the newest of Florida’s 29 two-year college campuses on Dec. 10, with the building actually opening on Jan. 2 and classes for the Spring 2014 semester set to begin on Mon., Jan. 13.

Dr. Giannet gave a complete update on PHCC — which actually will be renamed Pasco Hernando State College (PHSC) when the five-campus community college receives its expected final accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges & Schools Commission on Colleges later this month (which will transform the current four-campus PHCC into a fully-accredited, four-year state college the day it opens) — at the Dec. 4 meeting of the Wesley Chapel Rotary Club, which meets Wednesdays at noon at Ciao! Italian Bistro in the Shops at Wiregrass mall.

The high-energy Provost of the (for now) PHCC Porter Campus explained that the new campus is playing an integral role in PHCC’s transition to a four-year state college because it will be the home of the new PHSC’s first two Bachelor’s degree programs — a Bachelor of Science in Nursing and a Bachelor of Applied Science in Management & Supervision. And, although the many of the two-year Associate of Arts (A.A.) degree programs to be offered at PHSC’s Porter Campus will be in allied health fields, including pharmacy tech and surgical technologist programs.

“Two full floors of the Porter Campus will be devoted to nursing and allied health courses and degrees,” said Dr. Giannet. “And, we already have an affiliation in place with Florida Hospital Wesley Chapel (FHWC) and are still finalizing opportunities for our students at the new North Tampa Behavioral Health (NTBH) facility, both just a couple of miles from the school. This campus is really going to be fully tied in with this community.”

In fact, the Provost also was hopeful that the other two-year degree programs at PHSC’s Porter Campus, which will include paralegal, financial services, heavy workforce business programs and information technology, will help PHSC grads get jobs at the planned Raymond James Financial office nearby on S.R. 56 and the other large companies that may soon be coming to the area.

And, Dr. Giannet told the Rotarians, at seven stories tall, the beautiful main building at the 60-acre Porter Campus will be the tallest building in Pasco County when it opens, but “the real story is everything that will be going on inside the buildings…and the people who will be staffing them.”

The Provost called those who already have filled the first 47 of 50 available positions at the Porter Campus, “a superstar team of faculty, professionals and staff,” and thanked FHWC CEO Brian Adams for the hospital’s hosting of a three-evening information session about the school, attended by, “about 180 people.”

And, speaking of people, although Dr. Giannet said the total 2014 enrollment at PHSC is expected to be about 2,500, “we may have to up that estimate because we’ve only been accepting registrations for three weeks (at press time) and already have 1,050 students registered for the spring semester. We’re all very excited about opening.”

For more info about PHCC’s Porter Campus (2727 Mansfield Blvd.), call 527-6615 or visit PHCC.edu.