Northwestern Connecticut Community College (NCCC) 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 ''Öffentlichk ...

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 se ...

Winsted, Connecticut Winsted is a census-designated place and an incorporated city in Litchfield County, Connecticut, United States. It is part of the town of Winchester. The population of Winsted was 7,712 at the 2010 census, out of 11,242 in the entire town of Win ...

. As measured by enrollment it is the smallest or second-smallest of the twelve colleges in the Connecticut Community Colleges system. The school has an open admissions policy. NCCC has about 1,600 full- and part-time students enrolled. A commuter school with no dormitories, the college's primary service area includes twenty towns in Litchfield County. Tunxis Community College in

Farmington Farmington may refer to: Places Canada *Farmington, British Columbia * Farmington, Nova Scotia (disambiguation) United States *Farmington, Arkansas *Farmington, California *Farmington, Connecticut *Farmington, Delaware * Farmington, Georgia * ...

Capital Community College Capital Community College is a public community college in Hartford, Connecticut. The only public undergraduate institution in the City of Hartford, Capital's roots date to 1967 with the founding of Greater Hartford Community College. In 1992 ...

Hartford Hartford is the capital city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It was the seat of Hartford County until Connecticut disbanded county government in 1960. It is the core city in the Greater Hartford metropolitan area. Census estimates since t ...

and

Asnuntuck Community College Asnuntuck Community College (ACC) is a public community college in Enfield, Connecticut. It offers associate degree and certificate programs as well as healthcare certificate programs and business and industry programming. History Asnuntuck C ...

Enfield Enfield may refer to: Places Australia * Enfield, New South Wales * Enfield, South Australia ** Electoral district of Enfield, a state electoral district in South Australia, corresponding to the suburb ** Enfield High School (South Australia) ...

are the nearest of the state's other community colleges. Along with credit and non credit certificates, the college grants the

Associate in Arts An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The f ...

and the

Associate in Science An associate degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of qualification above a high school diploma, GED, or matriculation, and below a bachelor's degree. The ...

degrees.

History

The Northwestern Connecticut Community College was founded in 1965 by Winsted residents, including

Ralph Nader Ralph Nader (; born February 27, 1934) is an American political activist, author, lecturer, and attorney noted for his involvement in consumer protection, environmentalism, and government reform causes. The son of Lebanese immigrants to the U ...

's older brother, Shafeek Nader and Norfolk native Ralph H. Keiller. It started as a private institution but the state took over funding and operation by November 1965. It occupies the original Gilbert School building.

NCCC was the fourth state funded community college in Connecticut. The Northwestern Community College Foundation was incorporated in 1981.

Academics

NCCC conducts the state’s only Veterinary Technology Program and it also runs an Interpreter Training Program for interpreters for the Deaf and the Deaf Studies Program. There is also a Collegiate Education for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Persons (CEDHH) program. It is the sixth community college in the state to offer the Connecticut Community College Nursing Program (CT-CCNP).

Accreditation

The college is accredited by the

New England Commission of Higher Education The New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE) is a voluntary, peer-based, non-profit membership organization that performs peer evaluation and accreditation of public and private universities and colleges in the United States and other ...

and approved by the Connecticut Board of Governors for Higher Education. Additionally, specialized accreditation has been granted to programs in Veterinary Technology, Medical Assisting, and Early Childhood Education programs.

Campus

The college is located on a rural town campus in Winsted, along U.S. Route 44 and

Connecticut Route 8 Route 8 is a state highway in Connecticut that runs north–south from Bridgeport, through Waterbury, all the way to the Massachusetts state line where it continues as Massachusetts Route 8. Most of the highway is a four-lane freeway but ...

. The Learning Resource Center was completed in 2003. The Library in the Learning Resource Center holds 41,000 volumes and subscribes to 180 periodicals, along with various audiovisual materials. The 32,000 square-foot Arts and Science Center, completed in 2007, houses Chemistry, Microbiology, Biology, Physics and General Science laboratories on the first floor. The second floor consists of classrooms and lecture halls. On the third floor, there are art spaces for drawing, painting, ceramics, and graphic arts. The newest building on campus, Joyner Health Sciences Center, opened in September 2017. The building consists of two floors and encompasses 24,400 gross square feet. The first floor is occupied by the Veterinary Technology Program, which has been ranked by TheBestColleges.org as the 40th best Veterinary Technician Program in the U.S. The first floor includes a surgical suite, X-Ray area, an animal dental area, a mock reception area, faculty offices, two general classrooms and a hematology laboratory. The second floor is home to the Allied Health program and comprises three Allied Health classrooms, a computer lab and faculty offices.

Student life

The Alpha Nu Epsilon chapter of the

Phi Theta Kappa Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society ( or PTK) is the international honor society of students attending open-access institutions and seeking associate degrees, bachelor's degrees, or other college credentials. Its headquarters is in Jackson, Mississippi ...

(the academic honor society for two-year colleges) was established at NCCC in 1987. The college also has a student newspaper, ''The Jabberwocky''. There is also an active student government body, the NCCC Student Senate. Aside from the various clubs, the school has an academic skills center which helps both GED and Associate students in various topics from Nursing to Mathematics.

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Community colleges in Connecticut Educational institutions established in 1965 Winchester, Connecticut Universities and colleges in Litchfield County, Connecticut 1965 establishments in Connecticut