College of DuPage invites the community to explore the renovated McAninch Arts Center, P.E. Center and Library during the Community Open House from 1 to 4 p.m. on Saturday, May 10.

For more information about the Community Open House, visit www.cod.edu/openhouse.

The free event will feature a variety of activities in each facility, including presentations by Chris Jones, Chicago Theater Critic and author of the new book “Bigger, Brighter, Louder,” and Raymond Benson, College of DuPage adjunct faculty member who is the first American author to be commissioned to write official James Bond novels. 

Attendees who visit all three facilities can enter a grand prize drawing to win a three-performance subscription to the MAC, a one-year membership to Chaparral Fitness, or a Kindle.

College of DuPage President Dr. Robert L. Breuder said the Open House is a way to thank the community for supporting the 2010 bond referendum, which funded the renovations to the MAC, P.E. Center and Library.

“We could not have addressed the needed upgrades to all three facilities without the community,” Dr. Breuder said. “In addition to academic offerings, each one of these facilities offers many activities and services for community members, so this is an opportunity for them to see what College of DuPage has to offer.”

The MAC renovations include updates to its three performance spaces, construction of the new Cleve Carney Art Gallery and the Lakeside Pavilion, improvements to the infrastructure and patron service areas, and new windows and renovated spaces for such programs as art, graphic design and music.

The most dramatic transformation in the Physical Education Center is the new two-story entrance on the south side of the building that eliminates entry confusion. Also new are Chaparral Fitness, an 11,000 square-foot fitness center with state-of-the-art equipment, and the varsity athletic addition, which includes men’s and women’s locker rooms, a strength lab and a training room.

The Library features a reconfigured Reference Desk; two new entrances on the upper level, one from the south staircase of the Student Resource Center and one connecting with the Academic Computing Center; six classrooms in which librarians can teach research and information literacy skills; and student spaces that range from all-quiet zones to group study rooms outfitted with technology.

–News Bulletin news sources