Frederick Community College’s new Miller Center, a healthcare training facility, showcases the power of strategic design on a time crunch.
A new era of education has launched in Frederick, Maryland, a move made possible by Architectural Designers at Murphy & Dittenhafer Architects.
Frederick Community College’s new Miller Center, a healthcare training facility, opened in time for the 2026 fall semester. Rebecca McCormick, Architect at M&D, reflected on the design work to make the renovation come to fruition. “FCC asked us to work through the design in eight weeks,” she says. “It’s a drastic transformation.”
Design that bolsters an industry
With healthcare worker shortages across the US, FCC made the decision to transform an underutilized existing building into a state-of-the-art healthcare training space. In addition to space for faculty and staff offices, lockers, and a break room, the building now serves as a base for training certified nursing assistants, phlebotomy technicians, dental assistants, sterile processing technicians, veterinary assistants, and more.
Dedicated lab space makes realistic training scenarios possible. Whiteboards, projection boards, sinks, nursing beds, dental chairs, phlebotomy lab chairs, and a non-plumbed teaching restroom for roleplaying care are all included. Furthermore, the holistic design from M&D tied in a storage room, prep room, conference room, and general classroom. Previously individual restrooms were eliminated in lieu of ganged restroom facilities that better serve the building’s new purpose.
“We coordinated with various FCC training staff to make sure we’re meeting all of their needs,” reflects McCormick. Given the building’s previous status as the college’s daycare center, the transformation is no small feat—particularly in such a tight time frame. The school knew they wanted the Miller Center to be up and running by the fall semester, so M&D completed the design phase by the end of 2025, with construction beginning at the start of 2026. “The full transformation happened in less than a year,” says McCormick.
Already for the fall 2026 semester, the college has begun training for sterile processing and dental assistants.
A celebratory milestone
FCC held its celebratory ribbon cutting ceremony for the Miller Center ahead of the fall semester on Aug. 20. Dr. Annesa Payne Cheek, FCC President, said at the event, “Our responsibility at FCC is to understand community needs as fully as we can and then ask where this College is uniquely positioned to make the greatest contribution…That requires listening, judgment, and sometimes thinking differently about the people, programs, partnerships, spaces, and resources entrusted to us. That is what this Center represents.”
Other attendees included Elena Quiroz-Livanis, Interim Secretary of the Maryland Higher Education Commission; Jessica Fitzwater, Frederick County Executive; and Juan Loya, 2025 FCC healthcare alumnus who is currently employed as a dental assistant. The well-attended event showcases the impact the Miller Center will have on the college and healthcare industry moving forward—and the ripple effects of a successful Architectural design.
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Frederick Community College’s new Miller Center, a healthcare training facility, showcases the power of strategic design on a time crunch.