West Virginia Community and Technical College System
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West Virginia Community and Technical College System is a statewide system of 10 regional community colleges serving the state of West Virginia. It was created to bring uniformity to the state's system of community colleges. Previously some area had schools that were a part of large universities, others a part of small colleges, and others were stand alone. There also was a great overlap between different community colleges and between the community colleges and the regular colleges in the same areas. The system tries to define the programmatic distinctions between the community college and the regular college, and the geographic service area of each community college.
The system consists of:
- Mountwest Community and Technical College, commonly called "MCTC", based in Huntington, formerly the community college of Marshall University. This school serves the greater Huntington metropolitan area. It's campus can be found at the top of 5th Street hill in Huntington.
- Kanawha Valley Community and Technical College, commonly called "State", based in the Charleston suburb of Institute, formerly the community college of West Virginia State University. This school serves the greater Charleston metropolitan area. It currently leases space from WVSU and WVSU allows its students to participate in its athletic and other programs such as band and glee club.
- Blue Ridge Community and Technical College, commonly called "Blue Ridge", based in Martinsburg, formerly the community college of Shepherd University. The school serves the three easternmost counties of West Virginia's eastern panhandle.
- Eastern West Virginia Community and Technical College, commonly called "Eastern", is based in Moorefield. This college serves the Potomac Highlands of West Virginia by offering classes throughout Grant, Hampshire, Hardy, Mineral, Pendleton, and Tucker counties via their Discovery Centers. Eastern has a Technology Center located in Petersburg, WV. This college offers baccalaureate transfer programs, customized degree options for adult learners, career and technical training programs, and workforce education options. Programs of study include accounting, administrative support, art, automotive repair, business, computer technology, early childhood development, electromechanical technology, information technology, maintenance, medical assistant, nursing, wind technology, and numerous skill sets and short term training options in the education, energy, healthcare, information technology, maintenance, and transportation industries.
- New River Community and Technical College, commonly called "New River" based in Beckley, combining programs of Bluefield State College, Glenville State College, West Virginia University Institute of Technology and other colleges in the area. The school offers classes in Beckley, and four other locations, including space leased on the campus of the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine. The school serves southeastern West Virginia.
- Pierpont Community and Technical College, commonly called "Pierpont" and named for Francis Pierpont, based in Fairmont, formerly the community college of Fairmont State University. It currently leases space from FSU, West Virginia University and local high schools. The school serves north central West Virginia. Like West Virginia State, Fairmont State allows Pierpont students to participate in its athletics and other programs.
- Bridgemont Community and Technical College, commonly called "Tech", formerly the community college of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery. The school serves the upper Kanawha Valley area. It leases space on the Tech campus and has no campus of its own.
- Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, commonly called "Southern", which was founded in 1970 from the Logan and Williamson branches of Marshall University. The school is based in Logan and serves the southwestern West Virginia coalfield region from five instruction sites. It has the most buildings of its own of any community college in the system.
- West Virginia Northern Community College, commonly called "Northern", which was also founded in 1970 and is based in Wheeling and serves the Northern Panhandle of West Virginia. The main building is the converted Wheeling train station.
- West Virginia University at Parkersburg, which was founded as Parkersburg Community College in 1970. It was renamed "WVU @ Parkersburg" during the term of a state Speaker of the House from that area, although it no longer has any relationship with that college, located over 140 miles away, and has always granted degrees under its own authority, not that of WVU. Under the terms of the legislative act creating the community college system, it will have to change its name, as the schools associated with Marshall, Fairmont State, Bluefield State, Shepherd, and WVU Tech have or ard doing. However, the school has petitioned to keep its current name. WVU has offered to "lease" the trademark to it on a two-year basis, but WVU-P has rejected this.
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