A Generous Donation

GLENDALE — With beaming smiles, the Glendale Community College Board of Trustees on Monday formally accepted Bhupesh Parikh's $1 million donation at the Health Science construction site on campus.

"This is a wonderful gesture for the college," said Board President Armine Hacopian, holding the check. "Thank you very much."

The donation was offered to the Glendale College Foundation in August 2005 to go toward the building currently under construction. The building is scheduled for completion by the end of April and will be used for the first time by students in the fall of this year. It will be named the Bhupesh Health Science and Technology Building.

"The one thing that I couldn't do was convince him to change the name of the building to a Spanish name to go with the theme of the college," said John Davitt, former president of the college.

The crowd chuckled.

"But that's OK. It will reflect the diversity of the college," Davitt said..

When asked what motivated his donation, Bhupesh Parikh, an engineer and 37-year Glendale resident said, "When I first came to this country so many people who I didn't know contributed to my education and success.

"I raised my family here in Glendale. I have my business in Glendale, so I thought this is just the right place to donate."

The three-story building is 39,714 square feet in size. The third floor will be named Kumud Parikh Health Science Division, after Bhupesh's wife. It will provide the nursing program with its first permanent on-campus lab, the Digital Media Center and the college's maintenance and operations functions.

The total cost for the project is $17,609,177. Included is 4,145 square feet of new labs for nursing studies and 1,923 square feet for nursing office space.

The 6,475-square-foot Digital Media Center will have state-of-the-art labs for training in digital photography, digital media arts, digital animation, digital graphic design and electronic pre-press.

Following the presentation of the check, the Board of Trustees were given a tour of the first floor of the new building.

"I think it's beautiful," said Kumud Parikh. "The money has been put to good use."