Westchester Community College (WCC) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
community college
A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...
in
Valhalla
In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
,
New York, in
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
. It is part of the
State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...
(SUNY) system.
History
New York Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences becomes Westchester Community College
New York state opened five
coed
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...
technical institutes in 1946, one each in the communities of
Buffalo,
Binghamton
Binghamton () is a city in the U.S. state of New York, and serves as the county seat of Broome County. Surrounded by rolling hills, it lies in the state's Southern Tier region near the Pennsylvania border, in a bowl-shaped valley at the conflue ...
,
Utica,
New York, and
White Plains. The five institutes were operated and financially supported by the state.
The
Westchester County
Westchester County is located in the U.S. state of New York. It is the seventh most populous county in the State of New York and the most populous north of New York City. According to the 2020 United States Census, the county had a population o ...
location in White Plains was called the New York Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences and was housed in a few rooms of the Battle Hill School.
The state decided to close the schools in 1953, unless the five communities would accept operating responsibilities and share the financial costs with the state. All five communities decided to retain the institutes. Some members of the Westchester County Board of Supervisors objected to taking on the management of the New York Institute of Applied Arts and Sciences, but community organizations, such as women's clubs, business men's leagues, and civic associations, voiced support. Some even pledged scholarships. A deal was reached so that the financial burden would be shared equally between the state, county, and the student body, with each contributing one-third towards the school's operating costs.
On August 12, 1953, Westchester County announced that the Institute would be replaced with Westchester Community College beginning September 1, 1953.
New York governor
Thomas E. Dewey
Thomas Edmund Dewey (March 24, 1902 – March 16, 1971) was an American lawyer, prosecutor, and politician who served as the 47th governor of New York from 1943 to 1954. He was the Republican candidate for president in 1944 and 1948: although ...
appointed WCC's first board of trustees, which was composed of "successful lawyers, editors, manufacturers, labor readers and persons of varied racial backgrounds".
The college's first president was Dr. Philip C. Martin, and its first board chairman was Chauncey T.S. Fish. WCC began operating with a budget of $400,893.
Original enrollment at the school was 550 men and women, paying in-state tuition of $125 per semester, and out-of-state tuition of $250 per semester. Westchester County billed the home counties of non-Westchester students an additional $125. The first courses available were in business administration, building construction, technologies (electrical, mechanical, industrial chemistry), food administration, and medical-dental office work. Originally, the college awarded
Associate of Applied Sciences degrees. Night courses were offered, but did not count towards a degree. Additional instruction was provided in English, mathematics, and social sciences. Initial extracurricular activities included music, golf, basketball, track, chess, radio, and photography.
The salary range for faculty was $3,900-7,000, "somewhat higher than most public schools" in 1953, but required 12 months of work and no tenure was granted at the time.
"Minor employees" of the college had a salary starting at $3,480, and the president received a salary of $12,400.
Search for a permanent location
Paying $30,000 per year in rent to the county, and facing eviction from the Battle Hill School facility, the college began looking for alternate housing.
The trustees of State University of New York (SUNY) approved spending $25,000, matching a pledge by the county board, to plan for a permanent site for WCC.
In April 1955, a ten-member committee was formed by County Executive James D. Hopkins investigated possible sites for Westchester Community College. In addition to "many old estates", three main sites were available to the college: Ridge Road Park (
Greenburgh), reservation land in White Plains on the
Bronx River Parkway, and "an used state normal school site" in White Plains on North Street.
By late in that year, sixteen properties had been examined, including lands located in parks, private estates, closed schools, and open countryside. The site committee agreed to a minimum of 100-acres for the college, and the state and county were sharing a capital commitment of $5,800,000 to build the new campus.
In August 1956, the site committee chose to locate the campus on the Ridge Road Park property in
Hartsdale
Hartsdale is a hamlet located in the town of Greenburgh, Westchester County, New York, United States. The population was 5,293 at the 2010 census. It is a suburb of New York City.
History
Hartsdale, a CDP/hamlet/post-office in the town of Green ...
, then the estate of
Henry J. Gaisman, an executive with
The Gillette Company
Gillette is an American brand of safety razors and other personal care products including shaving supplies, owned by the multi-national corporation Procter & Gamble (P&G).
Based in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, it was owned by The Gil ...
. The committee rejected more rural sites because of their distance from populated areas. The chosen property was within walking distance to the
Hartsdale train station and to bus stops on
Central Park Avenue. Hopkins and the committee asked the county to buy the property immediately, but Gaisman "cooled to the idea" and eventually prevented officials from entering the property.
John H. Downing, a member of the board of supervisors, argued to have a northern Westchester site chosen instead of the Gaisman estate. The board argued that the 136 acre Gaisman property was best because of its central location in the county, and that 85% of the college's students lived in southern Westchester and New York City.
Gaisman continued to refuse to sell his property, and on October 1, 1956, the County Board of Supervisors voted 25 to 15 to acquire the land by means of
condemnation.
Before the county could legally act, Gaisman gifted the estate to the
Roman Catholic Archdiocese of New York
The Archdiocese of New York ( la, Archidiœcesis Neo-Eboracensis) is an ecclesiastical territory or archdiocese of the Catholic Church ( particularly the Roman Catholic or Latin Church) located in the State of New York. It encompasses the borough ...
, forcing the site committee to look elsewhere.
With the Gaisman estate off the table, the county turned its attention to the 364-acre
Valhalla
In Norse mythology Valhalla (;) is the anglicised name for non, Valhǫll ("hall of the slain").Orchard (1997:171–172) It is described as a majestic hall located in Asgard and presided over by the god Odin. Half of those who die in combat e ...
estate of the late
John A. Hartford,
who was president of the
Great Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company
The Great Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company, better known as A&P, was an American chain of grocery stores that operated from 1859 to 2015. From 1915 through 1975, A&P was the largest grocery retailer in the United States (and, until 1965, the lar ...
.
The property, called Buena Vista Farm,
was occupied by
Yale University
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wo ...
, which only used "a few of the acres", but which had a contract with the Hartford Foundation to use the land until 1972.
Yale conducted forestry research at the site, and had a $500,000 geophysics laboratory located there.
On June 28, 1957, the county board voted 37 to 3 to purchase the Hartford site.
The county's contract with the Hartford Foundation specified that the land be used for "educational and charitable" purposes. Some county officials objected to the large site being used exclusively for the college. A compromise was reached to divide the land for use between the college and county recreation. Yale agreed to vacate its operations completely by August 31, 1958.
The Hartford Foundation agreed to sell the property, valued in 1958 between $3,000,000-4,000,000, for only $750,000. The low price was offered to help lower the cost of tuition for students. With the land finally acquired and plans in place to relocate the college from the Battle Hill School to Valhalla by 1959, County Executive Hopkins vowed to expand the college into a 4-year school awarding bachelor's degrees.
Expansion
In 1971, Joseph N. Hankin succeeded Martin as the college's president. Hankin had previously been the director of evening and summer sessions, and then the president, of
Harford Community College
Harford Community College is a public community college in Bel Air, Maryland. It was established as Harford Junior College in September 1957 with 116 students in the buildings and on the campus of the Bel Air High School in the county seat. The ...
in
Bel Air,
Maryland
Maryland ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It shares borders with Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware and the Atlantic Ocean to ...
.
He continued to serve as president of WCC for more than 40 years, the longest serving community college president in the United States, until his retirement.
Campus
![Gateway Building Westchester Community College](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a1/Gateway_Building_Westchester_Community_College.jpg)
WCC's main campus sits at an elevation of 500 ft (152 m), off of Grasslands Road in Valhalla, just north of White Plains.
In 1780, this location was the site of a surprise attack by British and
Hessian troops on American soldiers. The attack occurred at what was then called Young's Corners (now Knollwood and Grasslands roads) at Young's Tavern.
[Kalick, Rosanne. ''Once upon a time.'' (Pamphlet). Archive 6. Westchester Community College.] When the troops marched off the fields, they encountered a group of American colonists, some the victims of
smallpox
Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by variola virus (often called smallpox virus) which belongs to the genus Orthopoxvirus. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (WHO) c ...
, who were buried alive in snowdrifts.
The land later belonged to the founder of
Kensico Cemetery, Reiss Carpentar. He died in 1910, after being the victim of a swindle, and the land was then acquired by Joseph Daly. Daly used the property largely for breeding horses, and he later sold it to John Hartford.
A master plan for the college was completed in 1961, with plans for the buildings on campus.
The plan included 8 buildings, and they were to be finished by 1988: the Engineering Technologies building (1962), the Student Center (1963), the Physical Education building (1964), the Classroom building (1967), the Learning Resource Center (1969), the Science building (1978), the Academic Arts building (1981), and the Administration building (1988).
The
Mount Kisco
Mount Kisco is a village and town in Westchester County, New York, United States. The town of Mount Kisco is coterminous with the village. The population was 10,959 at the 2020 United States census over 10,877 at the 2010 census.
It serves as a ...
architecture firm of Kaeyer, Parker & Garment designed the Science, Academic Arts, and Administration buildings. The Administration building was originally to have four floors, according to the master plan, but was scaled back to three after funding from the county and the
New York State Dormitory Authority
The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY ) provides construction, financing, and allied services which serve the public good of New York State. More specifically, as a New York State public-benefit corporation, DASNY provides servi ...
was reduced due to inflation.
The Learning Resource Center was renamed the Harold L. Drimmer Library in 1994, after a longtime chairman of the college's board of trustees. The library was completely renovated and expanded in 2002,
at a cost of $15 million. The new design was carried out by the firm Lothrop Associates, which doubled the size of the building to over 100,000 square feet. The updated building contains not only library facilities, but also computer training labs, a student lounge, and conference rooms. The building's architect,
Aaron B. Schwarz of
Perkins Eastman architects, incorporated as much natural lighting as possible into the new design. The building's facade has stones similar to the original Learning Resource Center building, to better match the existing look on campus. Schwarz received a Design Award in 2003 for the building, from the Westchester/Mid-Hudson chapter of the
American Institute of Architects
The American Institute of Architects (AIA) is a professional organization for architects in the United States. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., the AIA offers education, government advocacy, community redevelopment, and public outreach to su ...
.
A more recent addition was the Gateway Center which functions as a unique resource on the campus, housing the college's Business Programs, Professional Development Center, and multi lingual programs. The design of this building was made by Ennead Architects, and structurally engineered by Leslie E. Robertson Associates. This building has won two awards; National Winner, AISC Ideas2 Award (2011), and Excellence in Structural Engineering, SEAoNY (2011).
Extension sites
In addition to the Valhalla campus, the college provides instruction at twelve other off-campus locations including extension centers in
Peekskill
Peekskill is a city in northwestern Westchester County, New York, United States, from New York City. Established as a village in 1816, it was incorporated as a city in 1940. It lies on a bay along the east side of the Hudson River, across fr ...
,
Ossining,
White Plains,
Mount Vernon
Mount Vernon is an American landmark and former plantation of Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States George Washington and his wife, Martha. The estate is on ...
, and
Yonkers
Yonkers () is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States. Developed along the Hudson River, it is the third most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City and Buffalo. The population of Yonkers was 211,569 as enu ...
. In addition, it offers classes in
Shrub Oak,
New Rochelle
New Rochelle (; older french: La Nouvelle-Rochelle) is a city in Westchester County, New York, United States, in the southeastern portion of the state. In 2020, the city had a population of 79,726, making it the seventh-largest in the state of ...
,
Mahopac
Mahopac ( or ) is a hamlet (and census-designated place) in the town of Carmel in Putnam County, New York, United States. Also known as Lake Mahopac, the exurb is located some north of New York City, on US Route 6 at the county's southern centr ...
and
Port Chester
Port Chester is a village in the U.S. state of New York and the largest part of the town of Rye in Westchester County by population. At the 2010 U.S. census, the village of Port Chester had a population of 28,967 and was the fifth-most populou ...
. Other classes for programs such as "Mainstream" (for mature adults) are offered at various locations throughout the county. The Educational Opportunity Center is in Yonkers.
Native Plant Center
The Native Plant Center (NPC), a
non-profit
A nonprofit organization (NPO) or non-profit organisation, also known as a non-business entity, not-for-profit organization, or nonprofit institution, is a legal entity organized and operated for a collective, public or social benefit, in co ...
project of the Westchester Community College Foundation, is an
affiliate of the
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center at The University of Texas at Austin is the state botanical garden and arboretum of Texas. The center features more than 900 species of native Texas plants in both garden and natural settings and is hom ...
in
Austin
Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...
,
Texas
Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
. The NPC, with the goal to educate the community on the value of native plants, presents various educational programs including workshops and conferences, is responsible for two
demonstration gardens on the main campus, offers trips to gardens and
horticultural
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
displays, and coordinates an annual plant sale.
Westchester Center for the Arts
The Westchester Gallery is located in the Westechester Community College Center for the Arts in the County Center in White Plains. Located in the entryway of the Center for the Arts, the gallery hosts professional local, regional, and national artists, as well as the center's yearly faculty and student art exhibitions. Exhibitions at the gallery are frequently accompanied by talks, lectures, and presentations from the featured artists, and draw audiences from around the county.
Academics
The college offers three associate degrees: associate of arts, associate of science, and associate of applied science.
The college's
curriculum
In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
is registered and approved by the
New York State Education Department and offers associate degrees in forty areas and certificates in twenty. Courses are offered during spring and fall
semesters as well as two sessions during the summer.
In addition to courses leading to associate degrees or certificates, the college offers a range of non-credit courses for students of all ages to sharpen their skills and broaden their interests. The student body numbers 12,000.
Admissions
Although the college does not require
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
nor
ACT scores, the
ACCUPLACER placement tests are required in
mathematics
Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
reading
Reading is the process of taking in the sense or meaning of Letter (alphabet), letters, symbols, etc., especially by Visual perception, sight or Somatosensory system, touch.
For educators and researchers, reading is a multifaceted process invo ...
, and
writing
Writing is a medium of human communication which involves the representation of a language through a system of physically Epigraphy, inscribed, Printing press, mechanically transferred, or Word processor, digitally represented Symbols (semiot ...
to determine appropriate course placement based on the students performance. If the student scores in the low range, they will have to take developmental courses that do not issue credit upon successful completion but prepares the student for college-level curriculum prior to enrolling in college-level courses that issue credit. It is developed by the
College Board
The College Board is an American nonprofit organization that was formed in December 1899 as the College Entrance Examination Board (CEEB) to expand access to higher education. While the College Board is not an association of colleges, it runs a ...
which also develops the SAT and
AP examinations.
The college's Admissions Office has a staff of counselors who work with students on their academic choices. There is an international student office (the student body includes individuals from dozens of countries) and an office for students with learning disabilities.
Student life
Extracurricular and co-curricular activities at Westchester Community College include varsity, club, and intramural athletics; student publications; a variety of special interest clubs; a student government association; a student run programming board called the Westchester Events Board (WEB), who plans major social events; and a full range of cultural events. These activities complement students’ academic work and offer opportunities to form new friendships and develop leadership and other transferable skills. Participation can give a sense of community with the rest of the college and help make education a memorable experience with the 66 clubs to choose from. Noteworthy clubs/organizations include: The Viking Newspaper,
Alpha Beta Gamma
Alpha Beta Gamma () is an international business honor society established in 1970 in Manchester, Connecticut, to recognize and encourage scholarship among two-year college students in business curricula.
Purpose
To confer distinction for high ...
, Drama Club, Dance Club, EMS Club, Urban Poets Society, Black Student Union, The Italian Club, The Brazilian Club,
WARY, and Gays, Lesbians and Others of Westchester (GLOW).
See also
*
State University of New York
The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by c ...
References
External links
Official website
{{authority control
Two-year colleges in the United States
SUNY community colleges
Educational institutions established in 1946
Universities and colleges in Westchester County, New York
Mount Pleasant, New York
1946 establishments in New York (state)