In the News

SPRINGFIELD -- Frank Colaccino, American International College Class of 1973, remembers coming to the United States as a 6-year-old boy and sitting in an elementary school classroom without benefit of bilingual education and without understanding a word the teacher said.

His older brother was in the same situation.

"But we got through it all," Colaccino said. "And we became Americans."

Colaccino, CEO of Springfield commercial property development company The Colvest Group, reflected on his family's story and the importance of education Wednesday at the grand opening of a building named in his honor: The Colaccino Center for Health Sciences.

"Education is a perspective on the future," said Colaccino, chairman of the college's board of trustees. "That's what we do at AIC. We prepare our kids for the future."

The Colaccino Center is a $7.5 million, 20,000-square-foot classroom, laboratory and office building at 1020 State St. AIC opened it for classes this fall. It is home to AIC's exercise science, nursing, physical therapy, occupational therapy and public health programs, said Karen Rousseau, interim dean of the School of Health Sciences.

AIC will expand its offerings in 2021 to offer graduate and undergraduate degrees in athletic training.

Facilities include a human performance lab for the study of the human body in motion, she said.

MassDevelopment, the state's finance and development agency, provided $10.5 million in tax-exempt bond financing for two construction projects at AIC. One was the Colaccino Center and the other was a residence hall at the corner of Acorn and Cortland streets.

Westfield Bank bought the bond.

Joseph Michael Pellerito Jr., program director of occupational therapy, said the new classrooms have space for students to practice what they are learning without going to a separate lab space.

"They can get practical, hands-on training right there in the classroom," he said.

One occupational therapy lab in the Colaccino Center is set up as an apartment with a kitchen, bathroom and living space. There, occupational therapy students can learn how to teach those learning to live with disabilities the everyday tasks they must master.  And everyone learns in a realistic environment, Pellerito said.

"We train our students to be leaders in their field," he said.

U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, earned his degree at AIC a year ahead of Colaccino. He said many of the students there at the time were the children or grandchildren of immigrants.

Neal thanked the faculty that was teaching at AIC in those days.

"For particularly myself, and I'm sure Frank experienced this as well, you gave us confidence," Neal said. "You gave us the confidence to think that we could be a part of the national debate."