State Representative Deborah Conroy Tours College of DuPage Campus

State Representative Deborah Conroy (D-46th District) recently received a tour of the College of DuPage Homeland Security Education Center (HEC) led by Tom Brady, Associate Dean and Director of Homeland Security Training at the College. Brady provided Rep. Conroy with an overview of the 62,000 square-foot facility – the only center of its kind in the Midwest that provides multi-jurisdictional training to prepare firefighters, police personnel and other first responders for international and domestic terrorist acts, as well as man-made and natural disasters. Opened in fall 2011, the HEC features a 4,500 full-scale indoor tactical village for force-on-force exercises, forensics and cybercrimes labs, a command center designed to instruct National Incident Management System protocols, a smoke room with moveable walls for EMS, fire rescue simulations, a full-size ambulance and an outdoor scaling and rappelling tower.

The building received the 2012 “Project of the Year” award by the Construction Industry Service Corporation's (CISCO) Pride in Construction Award Program and "Best Higher Education/ Research Project" in ENR Midwest's Best Projects 2012 competition. While visiting the Glen Ellyn campus, Rep. Conroy also had the opportunity to visit the College's new Culinary & Hospitality Center and meet with COD President Dr. Robert L. Breuder, Trustees Kim Savage and Nancy Svoboda, as well as additional COD administrators.