Special to the Patriot-Bridge
Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) held a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the College’s Student Success Center on Monday, officially opening the first new building in more than a decade at the state’s largest community college.
The 56,000-square-foot Student Success Center is home to the College Library & Learning Commons, academic advising and coaching, and wrap-around student services that help support BHCC’s students, many of whom are students of color and first-generation college students. The State’s Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) and BOND Building and Construction led the building’s planning, engineering, and construction. NBBJ is the project architect.
“Today is the culmination of the work of so many and of 50 years of the Community College movement right here on this campus,” said BHCC President Pam Eddinger. “In these hallways, we can see the ambitions and potential of our students.”
President Eddinger, Secretary of Education Patrick Tutwiler, Commissioner of Higher Education Noe Ortega, Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance (DCAMM) Commissioner Adam Baacke, State Senator Sal DiDomenico, and State Representative Dan Ryan spoke to College community members at the ceremony.
“Today, we are celebrating a new space that will benefit BHCC’s student community now and for years to come, improving their experience and maximizing the resources available to them,” Secretary Tutwiler told an audience of more than 100 BHCC faculty, students, and guests. I want to share a strong congratulations to the BHCC leadership team and the entire student community for nurturing this project forward.”
“It is our genuine pleasure to deliver the space that your students deserve,” said DCAMM Commissioner Baacke. “Your students, faculty, and staff have been creating transformative experiences for 50 years, and they’ve been doing that despite the facilities. Now, they’ll be doing it with the facilities that help make their jobs easier and not harder.”
State Senator Sal DiDomenico reflected on the new building coming online in the middle of the College’s 50th Anniversary, saying, “50 years in the making is a special thing for any institution. But the mission of this school is to give people a second chance, it is turning their lives around, it is the first step in the next step of their lives… This is the mosaic of the Commonwealth coming together at this school, and now we have a facility that matches the dedication, excellence, and prestige of being a graduate of this institution.”
State Representative Dan Ryan spoke both as a legislator and a graduate of BHCC: “I think of where we are now as a community, as a nation, as a commonwealth and I think of the impact that this building, the students, the teachers, the faculty, President Eddinger and all the presidents before her have had… People didn’t envision it then, but the Commonwealth did… and that’s why businesses are coming from around the world to headquarter themselves within walking distance from here.”
All but one of the College’s current buildings were constructed almost 50 years ago and designed to accommodate around 5000 students. However, the campus has housed more than three times that number in recent years, and the aging buildings have accumulated a backlog of deferred maintenance.
The Student Success Center also represents the Commonwealth’s commitment to climate-resilient infrastructure. Based on Passive House principles, the building’s exterior enhances the college’s visual engagement with the community. The building is designed to be Net Zero Energy-ready, integrating a geothermal well field on campus. It is engineered in anticipation of a future photovoltaic array. Additionally, the building uses a highly insulated, high-performing envelope. It anticipates projected sea-level change and the rise in base flood elevation by shifting all critical building systems, including the emergency generator, to the roof level.
Bunker Hill Community College is the largest community college in Massachusetts, enrolling approximately 16,000 students annually. BHCC has campuses in Charlestown and Chelsea, and a number of other locations throughout the Greater Boston area. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts. Sixty-five percent of the students are people of color and more than half of BHCC’s students are women. The College also enrolls nearly 600 international students who come from 94 countries and speak more than 75 languages.