But Wait, There’s More…
by Kevin Hayes | Observer Contributor
They say ‘Time Flies.’ It seems like only yesterday that MWCC closed its Devens campus. According to an April 25, 2023 memo issued by James Vander Hooven, President of MWCC, the closure coincided with the end of MWCC’s lease at the Devens location at the end of 2022, which the college chose not to renew. Vander Hooven was unavailable for comment; however, Sandra Quaye, vice president of Finance and Administration, confirmed the closure’s official status when questioned on Friday, April 19, 2024.
As it turns out, students were left off the distribution of the memo, potentially explaining the delayed awareness. Enrollment was low at the time and the lease was about to expire, according to Jason Zelesky, Vice President of Student Affairs, Dean of Students. He stated, “There were staff offices, some community and lifelong learning, and workforce development courses happening there” before the Devens facility was vacated. However, according to Zelesky, courses offering credits at Devens were nonexistent at that time and had been for a while.
Quaye was asked if she could add any context to the happenings around Devens and said, “At this point, I can be up front with you. We are going forward with a new lease with DCAMM (Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance).” DCAMM is a state agency responsible for capital planning, construction and facilities management for public buildings in Massachusetts. Quaye added, “A new lease and RFP (Request for Proposal) has just been drafted with DCAMM with a smaller footprint. It will incorporate the manufacturing component of what had been [at the Devens campus], and some office space.” Quaye said the RFP will be going out to the Devens area and surrounding towns.
According to Zelesky, when MWCC opened classes for students at the campus in Devens, the biotech companies like Bristol Myers Squibb were just beginning to take over the Devens area. “We were providing some really good training for those companies. But what ended up happening was the biotech companies were not hiring students with associate degrees,” said Zelesky.
While some students were not even aware MWCC had a campus on Devens, others were impacted by the closure. Lindsay Mahoney, a student who was attending the Devens campus in 2019 taking Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) courses, said, “I was looking to start classes, and Devens is closest to where I live, so I wanted to take classes there. After COVID, I found out it wasn’t an option anymore, so I started over in Leominster and now Gardner.”
Even though low enrollment after COVID-19 seems to have been part of the problem, since the time of the Devens closure, recent studies show that enrollment is on the rise. According to a recent article dated January 24, 2024 in the National Student Clearinghouse Research Center, undergraduate enrollment in the U.S. grew by 1.2 percent in the fall of 2023. Community colleges saw the highest growth at 2.6 percent. While the precise location of the new facility is still unknown, there is at least the assurance that it is on the way. Regarding the timing of the Devens facility closure announcement, it could probably be attributed to the fact that since students hadn’t been going there for a while, there was no urgency to announce it to them. Looking ahead, there’s hope that lessons will be learned from this experience, and students can close the book on that chapter and open to a new one at the future facility.
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