Montgomery College (MC) is a public, open access community college located in Montgomery County, Maryland, just outside Washington, D.C.. The college has three campuses, the largest of which is in Rockville. Its other campuses are in Takoma Park/Silver Spring and Germantown. Its off-campus sites include the Business Training Center in Gaithersburg and Westfield South in Wheaton, which are operated by the college's Workforce Development and Continuing Education Division.
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History
This college was organized in 1946 as "Montgomery Junior College," with its campus located at the Bethesda-Chevy Chase High School. In 1950, the college moved to Takoma Park, absorbing the Bliss Electrical School, a private, for-profit institution formed in 1893 and that had occupied the site since 1908. During World War II Bliss had the distinction of being selected by the U.S. Navy as one of six engineering schools to give Primary School in the Electronics Training Program and it graduated over 3,000 students.
The Rockville campus opened in 1965, and the Germantown campus opened in early 1970s, occupying its present permanent site since 1978. Montgomery College also offers learning opportunities through its extensive Workforce Development and Continuing Education programs.
Campuses
The Takoma Park campus began expanding into neighboring city of Silver Spring with the opening of a new Health Sciences Center in January 2004. The campus expansion in Silver Spring included the addition of The Morris and Gwendolyn Cafritz Arts Center which opened in fall 2007. The building houses the campus visual arts programs and the School of Art + Design, formerly the Maryland College of Art and Design, which merged with Montgomery College in September 2004. To reflect the campus's expansion into Silver Spring, the Board of Trustees renamed the Takoma Park campus as the "Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus" in June 2005.
The Montgomery College Libraries system has a location at each campus.
In 2008, Montgomery College named its Rockville campus gallery the Sarah Silberman Art Gallery. In addition to donating $500,000 for its complete renovation, Sarah Silberman funded two endowed scholarships in ceramics and sculpture.
Organization and administration
The Montgomery College Foundation is a 501(c)(3) (tax-exempt) charitable organization governed by business, alumni and community members. The Foundation, with assets of $61,297,513, according to the 2006 IRS 990 form, also helps fund the college, placing it among the top five community colleges in the nation in private funding.
Montgomery College's fiscal year 2013 tax-supported operating budget is $218 million--less than a 0.4 percent increase over last year--with funding from Montgomery County, the state of Maryland, and student tuition and fees.
Academic profile
Montgomery College has an enrollment of nearly 60,000 credit and noncredit students. Of the Montgomery County Public Schools graduates who choose to stay in Maryland for college, 60% attend Montgomery College within the following academic year. The college is noted as being one of the most ethnically and culturally diverse in the nation, with students from over 170 countries enrolled. The college also employs more than 1,500 faculty members.
Montgomery College is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education. It offers two-year associate degrees and a variety of professional certificates and letters of recognition. The degrees offered are Associate of Arts (A.A.), Associate of Science (A.S.), Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.), Associate of Arts in Teaching (A.A.T.), and Associate of Fine Arts (A.F.A.). Graduates of two-year degree programs typically transfer to four-year colleges and universities.
The Rockville campus offers more than 600 courses in more than 40 curricula. The Takoma Park/Silver Spring campus is known for its nursing and allied health science career programs, and the Germantown campus is known for its science programs including computer science and biotechnology.
Honors programs
Some of Montgomery College's most accomplished honors programs are:
- General Honors Program
- Macklin Business Institute
- Montgomery Scholars Program (at Rockville)
- Renaissance Scholars Program (at Germantown and Takoma Park/Silver Spring)
- Hillman Entrepreneurs Program
Other programs and services
- MC/MCPS Partnership
- Paul Peck Humanities Institute
- Phi Theta Kappa National Honors Society (??? or PTK)
- School of Art and Design (SA+D)
Student life
The Student Excellence Expo is a one-day event scheduled to showcase for the entire college and the community what Montgomery College students are learning. It includes presentations from students throughout the college, including transfer, career, credit, non-credit, curricular, co-curricular, honors, developmental, and American English Language Program students. The exposition started in 2008 with 25 groups at the Takoma Park campus. The second expo took place in the Goldenrod building of the Germantown campus. The 3rd expo was held on April 9, 2010 at the Rockville campus.
Athletics
The Montgomery College athletics teams are collectively known as the Raptors. During the Spring 2012 semester the college rebranded the mascot to be representative of all campuses. Sports teams are divided among campuses and compete in the NJCAA. Prior to the Spring 2012 semester each Montgomery College campus had its own athletic teams. The athletic teams are formally known as the Knights of the Rockville Campus, the Falcons of the Takoma Park/Silver Spring Campus, and the Gryphons of the Germantown Campus.
The basketball/volleyball arena, Knights Arena in Rockville, was home to the Maryland Nighthawks of the Premier Basketball League for the 2007 season, before the team moved to Georgetown Preparatory School Field House.
The baseball field, Knights Field, is the home field of the Rockville Express, a member of the Cal Ripken, Sr. Collegiate Baseball League.
National championships
The Knights (Rockville Campus) women's tennis team won the NJCAA Division III National Championship in 2001 and again in 2006. Montgomery College-Rockville golfer Brent Davis won the NJCAA Division III Individual Championship in 2005 with a score of 288.
Presidents
The president of Montgomery College manages the operations of three academic campuses of Montgomery College in Maryland.
- Unknown (1948-1953)
- Donald E. Deyo (1953-1965)
- George A. Hodson (1965-1966)
- William C. Strasser (1966-1979)
- Robert E. Parilla (1979-1998)
- Charlene R. Nunley (1998-2007)
- Brian K. Johnson (2007-2009)
- Hercules Pinkney (2009-2010, acting)
- DeRionne P. Pollard (2010-present)
Notable people
Montgomery College has served nearly 450,000 credit students since its founding in 1946 including :
- Tori Amos - American singer-songwriter
- The Blair Witch Project Creators/production Team
- Eduardo Sánchez (1990) - co-director and co-writer
- Neal Fredericks (1989) - cinematography
- Paul James - American television and film actor
- Rick Leventhal - American news reporter and correspondent for Fox News
- Barbara Walsh - American musical theatre actress of Broadway shows, who received a Tony Award nomination
- Jerome Williams - former professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA)
- Morgan Wootten - American high school basketball coach
- Javier Reyes - Rhythm guitarist for progressive metal band Animals As Leaders
- Bernardo Javalquinto-Lagos - Economist
- Chelsea Elizabeth Manning - former United States Army soldier convicted of violations of the Espionage Act and other offenses, after disclosing to WikiLeaks nearly 750,000 military and diplomatic documents.
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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