Westmoreland County Community College

Last updated
Westmoreland County Community College
WestmorelandWikipedia.jpg
MottoAmbitious.
Type Public community college
Established1970
President Tuesday Stanley
Location
Youngwood, Pennsylvania
,
U.S.

40°13′59″N79°33′59″W / 40.2331°N 79.5664°W / 40.2331; -79.5664
Colors    Blue and green
Nickname Wolfpack
Sporting affiliations
 NJCAA
MascotWestly Wolf
Website www.westmoreland.edu

Westmoreland County Community College is a public community college in Youngwood, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1970 during an era of community college proliferation within the state. Its location on the suburban fringe was designed to attract students from both the Westmoreland County suburbs of Pittsburgh and the Monongahela Valley, then a still booming industrial center. The college has also extended its outreach to provide services to students from Fayette and Indiana Counties.

Contents

History

Westmoreland County Community College, founded in 1970, [1] first offered evening classes at Jeannette High School in 1971. [2] By the fall of 1972, the college took up a permanent residence in a former Westinghouse plant in Youngwood and expanded its schedule to include day classes. [3]

In the four decades since, Westmoreland's original campus in Youngwood has expanded to four buildings. The college has opened additional centers in other areas: the Murrysville Education Center in Export, Fayette County Education Center in Uniontown, Indiana County Center in Indiana, Latrobe Education Center, New Kensington Education Center and Public Safety Training Center in Smithton.

Westmoreland currently offers 64 associate degree programs, 13 diploma options and 49 certificate programs to prepare students for careers or transfer to baccalaureate degree programs at a four-year institution. The college also offers Continuing Education courses for adults, displaced workers, non-traditional students and even college for kids.

The college hosts several athletics teams, nicknamed the Wolfpack, including baseball, basketball, bowling, softball, and volleyball. In fall 2020, the women's cross country team was ranked number two in the nation by the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. [4] In fall 2023, the athletics program transitioned to Division II in the NCJAA and began to offer scholarships to student athletes. [5]

Campus

Student Achievement Center at the Youngwood campus Westmoreland County Community College - Student Achievement Center.jpg
Student Achievement Center at the Youngwood campus

Starting with a single building, Westmoreland County Community College now comprises four buildings on its main campus in Youngwood, Pennsylvania.

Student Achievement Center

Westmoreland's original building, formerly known as Founders Hall, houses academic and administrative offices, classrooms, the library, a 300-seat amphitheater and a tutoring and learning center. It also contains the college store, student center, cafeteria and a licensed day care center. A gymnasium, indoor running track and a combination aerobic/fitness center provide fitness options for students and faculty.

Health and Culinary Center

The Health and Culinary Center, previously known as Commissioners Hall until 2020, houses additional academic and administrative offices, classrooms, laboratories, a culinary arts complex and a dining facility.

Science Innovation Center

Science Innovation Center consists of classrooms and laboratories, a dental hygiene clinic and an art gallery. The facility also contains a 420-seat theater.

Business and Industry Center

The Business and Industry Center contains administrative offices and classrooms. It also holds offices for PA CareerLink-Westmoreland and the Workforce Investment Board.

Athletic facilities

Constructed in 1992, the baseball field, softball field and multipurpose field are used for intercollegiate competitions, intramural sporting activities and noncredit programming.

Education centers

Westmoreland County Community College maintains education centers that serve all of Westmoreland, Fayette and Indiana counties. Each center offers day and evening classes as well as online courses. Student services such as counseling, advising and financial aid are available at scheduled times.

Murrysville Education Center

Located in Export, this center houses traditional classrooms, a distance learning classroom, computer and science laboratories, workforce development training and a student lounge.

Latrobe Education Center

This center contains traditional classrooms, distance learning classroom, computer classrooms/labs, electronic classrooms, a natural science classroom/lab and student lounge areas.

New Kensington Education Center

Founded in 2009, this center is located in downtown New Kensington. It contains traditional classrooms, a distance learning classroom, computer classrooms/labs, a science lab and a student lounge. The New Kensington Education Center is also home to PA CareerLink - Alle-Kiski, which provides services to the unemployed.

Public Safety Training Center

Completed in 2003 with an addition in 2018, this training center is located in South Huntington Township. Designed for firefighter, police and emergency services personnel, it features a class A live burn building, outdoor firing range, rubble pile and a classroom/administration building.

Fayette County Education Center

Housed in the Fayette County Community Action Agency Inc. Campus in Uniontown, this center features traditional classrooms, a computer classroom, a videoconferencing classroom and administrative offices.

Indiana County Center

The college opened a location in Indiana near the Jimmy Stewart Airport. A new state-of-the-art facility housing the Indiana County Center was opened in fall 2022, located next to the Indiana County Technology Center. [6]

Advanced Technology Center

Located in Mount Pleasant in the former Sony Technology Center, the Advanced Technology Center (ATC) offers training for students and incumbent workers in applied industrial technology, mechatronics, energy technologies, design technologies, machining and fabrication, additive manufacturing, welding, and STEM. In 2023, the ATC received a grant to create a makerspace on campus. [7]

Notable alumni

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania</span> County in Pennsylvania, United States

Westmoreland County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, United States, located in the Pittsburgh Metropolitan Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 354,663. The county seat is Greensburg and the most populous community is Hempfield Township. It is named after Westmorland, a historic county of England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cayuga Community College</span> Public community college in Cayuga County, New York, United States

Cayuga Community College, formerly Cayuga County Community College, is a public community college in Cayuga County, New York, United States. It is part of the SUNY system and began in 1953 as Auburn Community College. Its main campus is in Auburn, New York. The college also serves Oswego County with its branch campus in Fulton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nashville State Community College</span> College in Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.

Nashville State Community College is a public community college in Nashville, Tennessee. It is operated by the Tennessee Board of Regents and shares a 109-acre (0.44 km2) campus with the Tennessee College of Applied Technology at Nashville. The Nashville State facilities include 239,000 square feet (22,200 m2) of space for classrooms, labs, offices, student services, and a library. Nashville State offers a wide array of programs and degrees including associate degree and technical certificate studies, university parallel transfer programs to four-year institutions, continuing education, adult education, two Early College High School programs, Dual Enrollment courses, and community service programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Schenectady County Community College</span> Community college in Schenectady, New York, U.S.

SUNY Schenectady is a public community college in Schenectady, New York. It is part of the State University of New York (SUNY) system. It was established in 1967 in the Van Curler Hotel in Downtown Schenectady and has undergone multiple expansions through the following decades.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Central New Mexico Community College</span> Community college in Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.

Central New Mexico Community College (CNM), formerly Technical Vocational Institute (TVI), is a public community college based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Founded in 1964, CNM offers associate degrees, professional certificates, and training options.

Community College of Allegheny County (CCAC) is a public community college in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania. With four campuses and four centers, the college offers associate degrees, certificates, and diplomas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Volunteer State Community College</span> College in Gallatin, Tennessee, U.S.

Volunteer State Community College is a public community college in Gallatin, Tennessee. It is part of the Tennessee Board of Regents.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Montgomery County Community College</span>

Montgomery County Community College is a public community college in Blue Bell in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. MCCC also has two satellite locations, Pottstown Campus and Culinary Arts Institute in Lansdale. It is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. Forbes ranked MCCC as one of Pennsylvania's top employers in 2019.

Central Carolina Community College is a public community college with campuses in Chatham, Harnett and Lee counties. It is part of the North Carolina Community College System. It offered its first classes in 1961.

Peninsula College is a public community college in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system and offers Bachelor of Applied Science in Management and Behavioral Healthcare degrees, transfer Associate degree programs, professional-technical degrees and certificates, community education courses, and pre-college courses. It also has distance education and online learning options.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bluegrass Community and Technical College</span> Public community college in Lexington, KY

Bluegrass Community and Technical College (BCTC) is a public community college in Lexington, Kentucky. It is one of sixteen two-year, open admission colleges of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS). It was formed from the consolidation of two separate institutions: Lexington Community College and Central Kentucky Technical College. Lexington Community College was the last remaining college in the University of Kentucky Community College System until a vote by the trustees transferred governance to KCTCS in 2004. Prior to 1984, the college was named Lexington Technical Institute. Central Kentucky Technical College was part of the Workforce Development Cabinet of the Kentucky State Government until the creation of KCTCS in 1997. KCTCS was formed in 1997 by the state legislature through House Bill 1 which combined the technical colleges of the Workforce Development Cabinet and the community colleges previously with the University of Kentucky. BCTC is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Camden County College</span> Public community college in New Jersey, US

Camden County College (CCC) is a public community college in Camden County, New Jersey. Camden County College has its main campus in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, with satellite locations in Camden, Cherry Hill and Sicklerville. The college offers Associate in Arts, Associate in Science, and Associate in Applied Science degree programs and certificate programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">East Mississippi Community College</span> Community college in Scooba, Mississippi, U.S.

East Mississippi Community College (EMCC), formerly East Mississippi Junior College, is a public community college in Scooba, Mississippi. EMCC serves and is supported by Clay, Kemper, Lauderdale, Lowndes, Noxubee and Oktibbeha counties in east central Mississippi. The college has two principal campuses in Scooba and Mayhew, Mississippi and offers courses at five other locations. One of fifteen community colleges in Mississippi, EMCC is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award the Associate of Applied Science degree and the Associate of Arts degree.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Delaware County Community College</span> Two-year college in Pennsylvania, U.S.

Delaware County Community College (DCCC) is a public community college with campuses and facilities throughout Delaware and Chester Counties in Pennsylvania. DCCC was founded in 1967 and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. The college offers 53 associate degree programs and 43 certificate programs at nine different locations.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minneapolis Community and Technical College</span> Community college in Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.

Minneapolis College is a public community college in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It has one of the most diverse student populations in the state and enrolls nearly 11,100 credit students annually. Minneapolis College is part of Minnesota State, which offers two-year associate degrees, certificates, and diplomas.

Metropolitan Community College is a public community college in Omaha, Nebraska. It has multiple campuses throughout the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area.

CT State Community College Norwalk, formerly Norwalk Community College (NCC), Norwalk State Technical College and Norwalk Community-Technical College, is a public community college in Norwalk, Connecticut. It is the third-largest of the twelve colleges in the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities (CSCU) system. The school, which has an open admissions policy, offers 45 associate degree and 26 certificate programs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Northampton Community College</span> Public college in Pennsylvania, US

Northampton Community College is a public community college in Pennsylvania with campuses in Bethlehem in Northampton County and Tannersville in Monroe County. The college, founded in 1967, also has satellite locations in the south side of Bethlehem and Hawley. The college serves more than 34,000 students a year in credit and non-credit programs.

The Westmoreland County Transit Authority (WCTA) is the operator of mass transportation in Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania. Using 35 buses, a total of 18 routes are operated, the majority of which serve the urbanized corridor that makes up the western portion of the county. Bus routes in this area are designed to provide access for suburban commuters to Downtown Pittsburgh, as well as transportation for both workers and shoppers to the large suburbs of Greensburg and New Kensington, Pennsylvania the most prominent entities in the county's boundaries. Rural eastern bus routes allow for commutes to Greensburg and also provide service to the city of Johnstown in neighboring Cambria County.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Purdue University Northwest</span> Public university in Hammond and Westville, Indiana, U.S.

Purdue University Northwest (PNW) is a public university with two campuses in Northwest Indiana, one in Hammond, and another in Westville. It is part of the Purdue University system and offers more than 70 undergraduate and graduate degree programs to approximately 6,200 students with more than 64,000 alumni.

References

  1. ↑ "Standards committee is formed". The News-Herald. Franklin and Oil City, PA. March 16, 1970. p. 12. Approved a request from the Westmoreland County Board of Commissioners to establish the Westmoreland County Community College.
  2. ↑ "243 Students Attend Community College Opening Sessions". The Daily Courier. Connellsville, PA. February 3, 1971. p. 2. Westmoreland County Community College has opened...The session at the temporary facilities in Jeannette Senior High School was attended by 243 students.
  3. ↑ "WCCC sets registration". The Ligonier Echo. Ligonier, PA. August 30, 1972. p. 1. ...the former Westinghouse plant in Youngwood, now the WCCC Central campus.
  4. ↑ Beckner, Bill. "Westmoreland Campus Clippings: WCCC women's cross country wins again", TribLive, October 13, 2020
  5. ↑ Beckner, Bill. "WCCC to join NJCAA Division II, offer scholarships", TribLive, March 10, 2022
  6. ↑ Cloonan, Patrick. "WCCC cuts the ribbon on new center in White Township", Indiana Gazette. October 14, 2022.
  7. ↑ Maruca, Julia. "From garage to workplace: Local college makerspaces to support manufacturing". Tribe Live. July 15, 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.