The rebirth of a community college

Each day, we use this space to talk about what needs to be done to improve our communities.

Frequently, that means darts, not laurels: The state is wasting our tax dollars; red-light cameras are cynically intended to take money out of your wallet rather than make the streets safer; the current level of public pensions is unsustainable; Todd Stroger is incompetent (yes, gone but not forgotten without at least one last dart).

Those kinds of things need to be said, but they are the sticks, not the carrots.

There also is a lot of good taking place in the suburbs, and it's productive to notice and reinforce those things too the work teachers do to enrich our children's lives; the efforts municipalities are making to cut costs; the public benefit of cultural jewels such as the Metropolis in Arlington Heights and the Sears Centre in Hoffman Estates; the inspiring sacrifice of Medal of Honor recipient Robert Miller of Wheaton.

The College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn is one such good-news story, and it's worth noticing the progress the state's largest community college has been making in the past couple of years.

At a time when community colleges are becoming increasingly important to the nation's portfolio of training, COD is re-energizing itself.

For years, it has been a sort of sleeping giant, functioning happily more or less as the 1970s junior college it had always been. But more recently, the giant has awakened, accepting 21st century challenges and taking on a long overdue facelift needed to reflect the quality of the institution inside its walls.

The college has completed construction of two new buildings, the Technical Education Center and the Health and Science Center, and has begun construction of two others, the Homeland Security Center and the Culinary and Hospitality Center.

In addition, the athletic field complex has been built, the Berg Instructional Center has been renovated and work has begun to expand the Student Resource Center.

It's all been wrapped with landscaping plan that is nothing short of beautiful.

Brick and mortar does not make an educational institution, but it does breathe life into it. To the students, to the staff, to the outside world, it says COD is on the move.

And that is certainly true. The curriculum has been expanded to include 21 new academic programs. Presidential Scholars and Academic Scholars programs have been launched to serve honors students. New educational approaches have been introduced.

It might surprise some to know that by enrollment, COD is the second-largest institution of higher education in Illinois. It's a significant asset to the suburbs, as are the other community colleges in the area. We're glad to see it moving in the right direction.