Blinn College celebrates the opening of its new administration building on the RELLIS campus Friday morning.
Chancellor Mary Hensley previewed the event during Tuesday’s board of trustees meeting.
Friday’s event starts at 10 a.m. inside the third floor banquet room.
While it is called the administration building, there are 19 classrooms, a variety of educational laboratories, and study spaces.
Construction of the $32 million dollar, three story, and 80,000 square foot building began in February 2021.
Click below for comments from Mary Hensley during the August 16, 2022 Blinn College trustees meeting.
The Blinn College District will significantly expand its instructional space and make it even easier for students to register with the introduction of the new Blinn RELLIS Administration Building at Texas A&M-RELLIS this fall.
As the newest educational facility at RELLIS, the Blinn RELLIS Administration Building is conveniently located right next door to Blinn’s Walter C. Schwartz Building and across the street from The Texas A&M University System’s RELLIS Academic Complex. As members of the RELLIS Academic Alliance, Blinn students can complete their foundational courses at Blinn’s facilities before completing their upper-level courses offered by the 11 Texas A&M System regional universities and Stephen F. Austin State University at the Academic Complex buildings.
The Blinn RELLIS Administration Building includes 19 new classrooms, providing additional instructional space for Blinn’s fastest-growing campus location. Blinn opened its first building at Texas A&M-RELLIS, the Walter C. Schwartz Building, in fall 2018 with approximately 1,500 students. Despite the pandemic, Blinn enrollment at RELLIS increased to 2,751 last fall.
With a new enrollment services space located on the first floor, current and future students can meet with Blinn’s expert staff for academic advising, admissions, enrollment services, financial aid, and veteran services. The first floor also includes a dedicated testing center.
The building’s new computer science, engineering technology, and information technology labs are complemented by a state-of-the-art esports arena for Blinn’s nationally recognized esports team. Offering scholarships for male and female competitors, Blinn esports competes in the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) and the National Association of Collegiate Esports (NACE). With 24 practice stations and six competition stations, the esports arena provides space for intercollegiate competition as well as audience viewing.
The second floor of the Blinn RELLIS Administration Building features an array of classroom and study space for students. Designed to accommodate 36 students, each classroom is equipped with the latest virtual conferencing software, allowing students to engage in classroom activities remotely.
Students also can study and engage outside the classroom in the second-floor study pods. Each study pod is equipped with interactive monitors that allow students to share videos, images, and concepts, encouraging the collaborative spirit that makes the RELLIS Campus so unique.
On the third floor, guests can attend events in the elegant, 5,500-square-foot banquet room. With space for more than 500 guests, a separate room for catering services, and a gorgeous view of the neighboring Walter C. Schwartz Building and the RELLIS Academic Complex, this banquet room promises to be one of the premier banquet space at RELLIS. The third floor also includes an administrative suite, faculty offices, and traditional classrooms.
For more information about Blinn’s program offerings at RELLIS and the bachelor’s degree pathways available through the RELLIS Academic Alliance, visit www.blinn.edu/RELLIS . Fall semester classes begin Wednesday, Aug. 24.