HORACE LANGFORD JR. / PVT Bill Verbeck, interim director of the Great Basin College Pahrump campus, shows the new mall at 1541 E. Basin Ave., which will be the site of the Great Basin College addition. Advertisement

Great Basin College will expand next fall, moving college courses into a new shopping mall at 1541 E. Basin Ave.

The new mall, consisting of two 5,000-square-foot buildings, was constructed by Classic Homes and completed last September. Great Basin College will pay $12,000 per month in lease payments, Great Basin College Vice-President of Administrative Services Bill Reinhard said.

"We're really optimistic this is going to be a great move not only for the college but for Pahrump Valley," Reinhard said. "I want to encourage the high school students to take a real hard look at GBC as they continue their college-bound endeavors."

The lease wasn't affected by the current state budget crunch, since money was set aside during the transfer of administration from the old Community College of Southern Nevada to Great Basin College, Reinhard said.

"We feel very strongly there's a need for Pahrump Valley to have their own facility. So we're going all out to make this happen," he said.

Bill Verbeck, interim director of the Pahrump Valley Great Basin College campus, likes the new location for the publicity it will draw to the college as well as the 15 or more additional classes the college can offer in Pahrump.

Reinhard said there are other advantages to the second location away from Pahrump Valley High School.

"When you graduate from high school, there's not much of an incentive to go back to the high school for college," he said. "There's a need for students to go to a different facility. I think that's one of the restrictions on the number of people going to Great Basin College."

Verbeck said the lease took effect Tuesday.

He said the building is big enough for five traditional classrooms, a classroom for interactive, distance education by video and a computerized office lab.

The plan is to offer courses at the Basin Avenue campus like English 101, Business 101, English 107 and Art 160, which is art appreciation. The fall semester begins Aug. 25.

Great Basin College officials had talked about leasing additional space in Pahrump under former director Paul Killpatrick. The news was announced during an advisory committee meeting about two weeks ago.

"We're just pleased that we were able to go forward with the lease. I think it's GBC's commitment to the Pahrump Valley to go ahead with this lease in anticipation of not only bringing awareness of Great Basin [College] to the Valley but the opportunity for more and more of our adults and prospective students to get enrolled in courses," Verbeck said.

The new addition could help Pahrump increase its enrollment, Verbeck said. If Pahrump is able to increase its enrollment, he said that could help get the local campus through the upcoming state budget woes.

"We're all anxiously watching that. Rather than sit around and watch this thing for a year, we're able to be placed in an opportunity to progress rather than digress in the face of budget cuts," Verbeck said.

Great Basin College officials have plans to ultimately build an entirely new campus in Pahrump. Nye County commissioners June 17 voted to rezone 320 acres east of Highway 160 and Manse Road to a community facilities zone for a possible college campus.

Verbeck doesn't expect to have much of a problem with students having to shuttle between both locations. He said evening courses are in three-hour blocks, which means most students would be only taking one course per night.

Much of the old campus in front of Pahrump Valley High School is used in the daytime for dual credit high school and college courses, he said. It opened in time for the September 2001 semester.

The 34,000-square-foot building at 551 E. Calvada Blvd., contains 16 classrooms, a science lab and a central computer lab.

"From seven in the morning until three in the afternoon we really don't have access to facilities here. It's used by the high school," Verbeck said of the Calvada building.

The Calvada site will also be used for development courses in English and Math, while more advanced college courses will be offered on Basin Avenue, he said. English 101 is a popular course. Sections will be offered at both locations, he said.

If the baccalaureate degree programs develop, then college students could enroll and spend the whole day at the Basin Avenue campus, Verbeck said. There will also be a student counseling office on Basin Avenue, he said, but the main administrative offices will be on Calvada Boulevard.

Great Basin College won't have to spend money to renovate or furbish the building. Verbeck said it will be getting "hand-me-downs" from Elko, but good furnishings. An open house is planned soon after the furnishings are installed.

"It probably wouldn't have become a reality had it not been for our advisory committee here in Pahrump Valley, the community leaders that really want to see a full-service campus here and growth, an opportunity for residents to pursue degrees here. Certainly our community here played a sizeable role in making this happen," Verbeck said.