PCC holds ribbon-cutting for new building

PITT COUNTY, N.C. (WITN) -Pitt Community College held a ribbon-cutting ceremony Thursday to officially open the Eddie & Jo Allison Smith Center for Student Advancement.

The 28,000-square-foot Smith Center was completed in March and is the new home of Pitt’s Institutional Advancement Division, which includes the PCC Foundation and the college’s marketing and media relations departments.

It also houses the VISIONS Career Development and Scholarship Program and the Slocum-Bunch Veterans Center, which provides services to PCC’s student veteran population.

Eddie Smith with Grady-White Boats says, “We invested as a family for many many years. We feel like the biggest bang for our buck is on the community college level but this building is a big step in the growth of this institution.”

“This center is important to PCC’s future, because it will play a pivotal role in our ability to serve students and develop partnerships and generate resources that make college possible for everyone wanting to better their life’s circumstances through higher education,” PCC President Lawrence Rouse said.

The total cost of the building is just over $14 million. The majority of funding for the Smith Center’s construction was raised through a PCC Foundation capital campaign that began in 2017 and the NC Connect bond North Carolina voters approved in 2016.

Work started on the building back in October of 2021.

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