Fashion students at Salt Lake Community College will move closer to their peers as the Fashion Institute prepares to relocate from Library Square Center to South City Campus next year.
Mojdeh Sakaki, program manager for the Fashion Institute, said she is enthusiastic about the upcoming move, adding that fashion students will thrive regardless of where they are learning. “Having a new and state-of-the-art facility would certainly add to the mix,” she said.
That facility began construction on Sept. 19 in the northern wing of South City Campus, an area that held the campus’ child care center before its relocation to the Tim and Brenda Huval Child Care Center, just outside of the main building.
According to Taleyia Wallace, project manager for the remodel, the move had been in the works since 2019, and it’s currently set to finalize by summer 2023. She noted that there shouldn’t be any interruptions for fashion students beyond relocation.
The fashion program has grown considerably since it moved to Library Square in 2010, Sakaki said, so much so that other programs previously located at Library Square – such as interior design and paralegal studies – are now found at the Taylorsville Redwood and South City campuses respectively.
For Sakaki, relocation is the program’s natural path forward as part of the college’s School of Arts, Communication and Media, which is located at South City Campus.
“[We] are the only remaining program at Library Square … logistically and financially it was feasible for the program to move,” she said.
And as the program prepares to make the move, Sakaki said she’s been impressed with the college’s support. “I have witnessed the tremendous commitment of the college in ensuring access in every way for all students in this program,” she said.
In addition to helping the program, Sakaki believes the move will also improve student safety, citing concern for current students who leave classes after dark and proceed to walk on and around State Street.
The future of Library Square Center remains uncertain as the college does not own the building and has instead been leasing it for the past decade.
Remodeling of the new facility is scheduled to be completed by March 31, 2023. More information about the college’s Fashion Institute can be found on its web page.
