Holyoke Community College

Public college in Holyoke, Massachusetts, US

Holyoke Community College

Former names

* Holyoke Graduate School
(1946–1947)
* Holyoke Junior College
(1947–1964)

Motto| Efficiunt Clarum Studio (Latin)
"They make it clear by study"[1]
Type| Public community college
Established| September 9, 1946
July 1, 1964[2][a]
Accreditation| NECHE
Endowment| $13.4 million[3]
President| George Timmons

Academic staff

| 128 full-time faculty
332 adjunct[4][5]
Students| 3,550[6] (fall 2022)
Location|

Holyoke

Massachusetts

United States

42°11′40.35″N 72°39′0.87″W﻿ / ﻿42.1945417°N 72.6502417°W﻿ / 42.1945417; -72.6502417
Campus| Suburban
Colors| Green & Black

Nickname| HCC
Affiliations| Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield
Mascot| Cougars
Website| www.hcc.edu

Holyoke Community College (HCC) is a public community college in Holyoke, Massachusetts. It offers associate degrees and certificate programs, as well as a transfer program for students to earn credits for transfer to other colleges. It was the first community college established in Massachusetts, as it was founded by the city's school board in 1946, while others were subsequently chartered under state jurisdiction after 1960.[7]

HCC is located on a 135-acre (0.55 km2) campus and has satellite locations throughout the Pioneer Valley, including the HCC-MGM Culinary Arts Institute, the only culinary arts program at a Massachusetts college accredited by the American Culinary Federation.[8][9]

The college participates in the Commonwealth Dual Enrollment Partnership (CDEP) and allows high school applicants to opt for full or part-time coursework to receive both high school and transferable college credit.[10] Enrolled students may also complete certain coursework at Mount Holyoke and Smith College, as both share faculty with the community college.[11] Holyoke Community College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.[12]

## History

[edit]

HCC's first director, George E. Frost, discusses enrollment with high school seniors, 1950; the community college's temporary classrooms at Beech/Sargent St, used from 1969 to 1974 following the Alderman building fire

Holyoke Community College's history is unique in that it was not only the first established community college in the state, but was initially managed municipally by the local school board. With funding provided by the GI Bill following World War II, the opportunity was granted to states to provide supplementary education in addition to coursework given through high school. In order to expedite the establishment of this coursework, the Massachusetts General Court passed an emergency act on June 13, 1946, to allow school committees to vote for post-graduate instruction.[13] Following a period of evaluation, the Holyoke School Board voted in favor of establishing the Holyoke Graduate School on September 9, 1946, having admitted 67 students for its founding class.[14] On April 1, 1947, this name was changed to the Holyoke Junior College after a state act was passed allowing municipalities to operate higher educational institutions under this title.[2][15]

On July 1, 1964, with approval from the state department of education, the school board relinquished control and the college was given its current name, Holyoke Community College.[2][16] On January 4, 1968, the Holyoke Community College building burned to the ground. Classes continued in various locations across Holyoke. A temporary campus was opened in June 1971 and the current campus opened on February 19, 1974.

In its nearly 75 year history the college has had only four presidents, as of 2024, with founding director Dr. George E. Frost serving until 1975, at which time alumnus and former Speaker of the Massachusetts House Dr. David M. Bartley succeeded him. With Bartley's retirement in 2004, William F. Messner became the third, and with his 2016 retirement the current president, Dr. Christina Royal, became the fourth and the first woman to serve the office.[17]

In October 2019, the college announced it would launch the state's first Cannabis Education Center in partnership with the Cannabis Community Care and Research Network (C3RN). The program provides certificate training for patient advocates, budtenders, extraction and laboratory roles, as well as offerings within its culinary program.[18]

### Foundation

[edit]

HCC's main campus, sitting at the edge of the municipal watershed for the Holyoke Water Works, the area to the west of campus is entirely forested

Following a devastating fire that destroyed the then-refurbished college building (the former Alderman Holyoke High School), the yellow bricks from the former facility were sold off to raise funds for an independent charitable corporation, created by Mayor William S. Taupier. This charity, known as the Friends of Holyoke Community College, was initially founded for the purpose of conducting fundraising to construct new facilities.[19] The idea of rebuilding such a school in Holyoke was left in doubt by the state but after hundreds of letters and phone calls from residents to Governor Volpe, funding was granted for an entirely new campus in the Homestead Avenue neighborhood.[20] The Friends of Holyoke Community College would be renamed the Holyoke Community College Foundation in 1985,[21] a separate 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization which fundraises to supplement state appropriations to the college through benefactor scholarships, educational grants, and the annually-awarded Elaine Marieb Faculty Chair for Teaching Excellence.[22] As of 2018, the foundation presided over the largest endowment of any community college foundation in the Commonwealth.[3]

## Campus

[edit]

Buildings on Campus  Abbr.  | Building  | Year  | Uses

|
|
|

BC  | David M. Bartley Center

for Athletics & Recreation

| 2000  | Athletics
CC  | Campus Center  | 1981  | Admissions, Advising, College Store, Dining Services,

Student Engagement

DON  | Donahue  | 1974  | Computer Lab, Library
FPA  | Fine & Performing Arts  | 1975  | Leslie Philips Theater, Mac Lab
FR  | Frost  | 1974  | Administration, Financial Aid, IT Helpdesk, Student Accounts,

Student Records

KC  | Kittredge Center for Business

& Workforce Development

| 2006  |
MRB  | Marieb  | 1974  | Health and Life Sciences

## Locations

[edit]

In addition to the main campus on in the Homestead Avenue area of Holyoke, the community college also maintains a number of satellite campuses, generally associated with specific programs, including:[23]

* Center for Health Education, 404 Jarvis Avenue, Holyoke
* Education to Employment Center, 79 Main Street, Ware
* HCC-MGM Culinary Arts Center, 164 Race Street, Holyoke
* Ludlow Area Adult Learning Center, 54 Winsor Street, Ludlow
* Picknelly Adult & Family Education Center, Holyoke Transportation Center, 206 Maple Street, Holyoke

## Notable alumni

[edit]

* Craig Blais, American poet and scholar, assistant professor of English at Anna Maria College, recipient of the Felix Pollak Prize in Poetry, with published works in The Antioch Review and Yale Review.[24]
* Paul Boland, impressionist and singer[25]
* Augusten Burroughs, writer (dropped out)
* Richard H. Demers, former mayor of Chicopee, Massachusetts, and former member of House of Representatives, real estate developer.[26]
* Sabina Gadecki, actress and fashion model
* Fran Healy, professional baseball player and sportscaster[27]
* Michael F. Kane, politician
* Michael J. Kittredge II, founder of the Yankee Candle Company.[28]
* Luis Daniel Muñiz, Puerto Rican politician and senator for the Mayagüez-Aguadilla district.[29]
* Henry P. Monaghan, constitutional law scholar, professor at Columbia Law School[30]
* Richard Neal, former city councilor and mayor of Springfield, Massachusetts, member of the US House of Representatives representing the 1st district of Massachusetts.[31]
* Patty O'Donnell, former member of the Vermont House of Representatives, and member of the school board of Vernon, Vermont.[32]
* Joe Peters, artist whose work has been featured in the Corning Museum of Glass.[33][34]
* Todd Smola, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives representing the 1st Hampden district.[35]
* Taino, rapper
* Aaron Vega, member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives representing the 5th Hampden district, serving on the Joint Committee on Higher Education, former documentary film editor with previous work with Ken Burns[36]

## See also

[edit]

* WCCH (103.5 FM), the community college's FM radio station

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ City transferred ownership; formally joined the Massachusetts Community College System.

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Motto from college's seal shown on title page of- Long-Range Plan, Phase I, 1992–1997 (Report). ERIC ED 368425. Holyoke Community College.
* Translation taken from- Fairbairn's Crests of the Families of Great Britain and Ireland. Vol. I. Edinburgh: Inglis & Jack. 1905. p. 544\. ISBN 9781781502457.
2. ^ a b c "The Founding Years of HCC". HCC Archives & Special Collections. Holyoke Community College. Archived from the original on May 1, 2018. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
3. ^ a b Holyoke Community College Foundation Annual Report 2017-2018 (PDF) (Report). 2018. p. 24\. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 19, 2019. "With total assets of more than $20 million, including investments of $13.4 million, HCC has the largest endowment of any community college foundation in Massachusetts. The HCC Foundation, like its antecedent, The Friends of Holyoke Community College, exists solely to support students and the mission and programs of HCC."
4. ^ "Fast Facts About HCC". Holyoke Community College. Retrieved 2017-03-25.
5. ^ Schoenberg, Shira (January 12, 2018). "Massachusetts state employee salary database 2018". MassLive. Springfield, Mass.
6. ^ "College Navigator - Holyoke Community College". National Center for Education Statistics. Retrieved 2024-07-24.
7. ^ "Best Community Colleges In Massachusetts". Schools.com. QuinStreet, Inc. Archived from the original on September 19, 2017. "HCC also took the No. 1 spot for its percentage of students who graduated with certificates or associate degrees, and its average net price was the second-most affordable out of all the schools in our survey...Holyoke Community College has to its name a distinction that no other institution in Massachusetts can claim: When it was founded in 1946, it was the only community college that existed in the Commonwealth."
8. ^ Grand Opening of Culinary Arts Institute, City of Holyoke. 2018.
9. ^ "Accredited Postsecondary Programs". American Culinary Federation. 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
10. ^ "High School/Dual Enrollment". Holyoke Community College. Retrieved 2017-04-29.
11. ^ Wyner, Joshua; Deane, KC; Jenkins, Davis; Fink, John (2016). The Transfer Playbook: Essential Practices for Two- and Four-Year Colleges (PDF) (Report). Community College Research Center (CCRC), Teachers College, Columbia University. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 11, 2017. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
12. ^ Massachusetts Institutions – NECHE, New England Commission of Higher Education, retrieved May 26, 2021
13. ^ An Act providing temporarily for a course of school instruction beyond the regular high school course of instruction for the benefit of veterans and others (PDF) (532). June 13, 1946. p. 541-542. Retrieved May 1, 2018. Massachusetts General Court, Acts of 1946.
14. ^ "Graduate School Receives Go-Ahead in Board Meeting; Enrolment [sic] of 67 Considered Sufficient to Start Program – Superintendent to Get Teachers". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. September 10, 1946. p. 8.
15. ^ An Act authorizing cities and towns which provide an extended course of instruction on junior college level for veterans and others to use the designation "Junior College" in connection therewith (PDF) (1782). 1947. Retrieved May 1, 2018.
16. ^ "Building Rite At College Tuesday at 9". Springfield Republican. Springfield, Mass. December 2, 1964. p. 32\. "Known as Holyoke Junior College when it was controlled by the local school board, the college was taken over by state officials when the area community college was approved for this city"
17. ^ "Holyoke Community College Records". Holyoke Community College. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019.
18. ^ Voghel, Jacquelyn (October 24, 2019). "Holyoke Community College to offer cannabis industry training programs". Daily Hampshire Gazette. Northampton, Mass. Archived from the original on 2019-10-25.
19. ^ "Mayor Forms Corporation to Aid Community College". Springfield Union. Springfield, Mass. January 27, 1968. p. 6.
20. ^ "Archives and Special Collections". Holyoke Community College. 2017. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017. "HCC's newly renovated campus burned to the ground on a bitterly cold day in January of 1968. It was the resourcefulness and innovative spirit of the college and community that enabled students to resume their studies in temporary facilities within a matter of days. Later, flooding the governor's office with hundreds of letters and phone calls, the community and college joined forces to insist that the school be rebuilt in Holyoke."
21. ^ Query for "Holyoke Community College Foundation, Inc.", Massachusetts Corporation Card File Database, Secretary of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts
22. ^ "The HCC Foundation". Holyoke Community College. 2017. Archived from the original on October 28, 2017.
23. ^ "Other Locations". Holyoke Community College. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019.
24. ^ "Faculty Profile: Craig Blais". Anna Maria College. Archived from the original on May 3, 2018.
25. ^ "Ricardos-Boland". News-Pilot. June 17, 1992. Archived from the original on November 29, 2021. Retrieved September 4, 2024 - via Newspapers.com.
26. ^ Public Officers of the Massachusetts General Court 1980–81. Retrieved August 20, 2016.
27. ^ Brown, Garry (28 October 2019). "From MLB to TV interviews, Holyoke's Fran Healy remains pride of the Paper City". The Republican. Retrieved 13 February 2024.
28. ^ Kinney, Jim (July 25, 2019). "'A tremendous impact': Yankee Candle founder Michael Kittredge gave time, expertise as well as money to Holyoke Community College".
29. ^ "HON. LUIS DANIEL MUÑIZ CORTES" (in Spanish). Senado de Puerto Rico. Archived from the original on May 12, 2018. Retrieved May 3, 2018. "Desde muy joven demostró su liderato siendo el presidente de su clase de cuarto año en la escuela superior Efraín Sánchez Hidalgo. Estudió en Holyoke Community College en Massachusetts. Posee un bachillerato en educación secundaria, en estudios sociales e historia, y una maestría en Administración y en Supervisión Escolar de University of Phoenix."
30. ^ "Henry P. Monaghan". Retrieved May 4, 2022.
31. ^ Neal, Richard E. "Biography." Congressman Richard Neal (official website). United States House of Representatives.
32. ^ "Patricia 'Pat' A. O'Donnell's Biography". Project Vote Smart. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved November 6, 2012.
33. ^ Bennett, Sarah (November 7, 2013). "High Art". OC Weekly. Archived from the original on October 3, 2015. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
34. ^ Cooper, Dan (January 11, 2012). "Artist Joe Peters finds talent, challenge in glass". Mass Live. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
35. ^ "About Todd". Representative Todd Smola. Archived from the original on July 31, 2017. Retrieved May 3, 2018.
36. ^ "Aaron Vega". IMDb. IMDb.com, Inc.

## External links

[edit]

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Cooperating Colleges of Greater Springfield

* American International College
* Bay Path University
* Elms College
* Holyoke Community College
* Springfield College
* Springfield Technical Community College
* Western New England University
* Westfield State University

* v
* t
* e

Holyoke, Massachusetts

Topics|

* Annual events
* Holyoke Saint Patrick's Day Parade
* Culture
* Holyoke Civic Symphony
* Bibliography
* Demographics
* African-Americans
* Chinese
* Colombians
* Dominicans
* English
* French
* Germans
* Greeks
* Irish
* Italians
* Jews
* Mexicans
* Poles
* Puerto Ricans
* Scots
* Economy
* Education
* Holyoke Community College
* Library
* Public Schools
* Geography
* Global outreach
* Healthcare
* Holyoke Medical Center
* Providence Behavioral Health Hospital
* Soldiers' Home in Holyoke
* History
* Mills
* Timeline
* Media
* People
* Politics
* Transportation
* Train station

Attractions|

* Volleyball Hall of Fame
* Wistariahurst
* Anniversary Hill Park
* Scott Tower
* Ashley Reservoir
* Children's Museum at Holyoke
* Dinosaur Footprints Reservation
* East Mountain
* Holyoke Canal System
* Holyoke Dam
* Holyoke Heritage State Park
* Holyoke Mall at Ingleside
* Holyoke Merry-Go-Round
* Land of Providence
* Log Pond Cove
* Mackenzie Stadium
* Massachusetts Green High Performance Computing Center
* Mount Tom Range
* Mount Tom
* Mount Nonotuck
* Mount Tom Ski Area
* Mountain Park
* Pulaski Park
* Springdale Park
* Veterans Park
* Victory Theater
* Whiting Street Reservoir

Government|

* City council
* City Hall
* Mayor
* Gas & Electric (HG&E)
* Housing (HHA)
* Water Works (HWW)

Neighborhoods|

* Churchill
* Downtown
* Essex Street
* North High Street
* Elmwood
* The Flats
* Hadley Falls District
* Highlands
* Highland Park
* Homestead Avenue
* Ingleside
* Jarvis Avenue
* Oakdale
* Rock Valley
* Smith's Ferry
* South Holyoke
* Springdale
* Whiting Farms

Sports|

* Origin of volleyball
* Volleyball Hall of Fame
* Valley Blue Sox
* Valley Arena

* Hampden County
* Greater Springfield
* Pioneer Valley
* Massachusetts

* v
* t
* e

Public institutions of higher education in Massachusetts

Massachusetts Department of Higher Education

Two-year
colleges|

* Berkshire Community College
* Bristol Community College
* Bunker Hill Community College
* Cape Cod Community College
* Greenfield Community College
* Holyoke Community College
* Massachusetts Bay Community College
* Massasoit Community College
* Middlesex Community College
* Mount Wachusett Community College
* Northern Essex Community College
* North Shore Community College
* Quincy College
* Quinsigamond Community College
* Roxbury Community College
* Springfield Technical Community College

State university
system|

* Bridgewater State University
* Fitchburg State University
* Framingham State University
* Massachusetts College of Art and Design
* Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts
* Massachusetts Maritime Academy
* Salem State University
* Westfield State University
* Worcester State University

University of
Massachusetts|

* University of Massachusetts Amherst
* University of Massachusetts Boston
* University of Massachusetts Dartmouth
* University of Massachusetts Lowell
* UMass Chan Medical School
* University of Massachusetts School of Law
* University of Massachusetts Global (private affiliate based outside the state)

Merged|

* Boston State College
* Bradford Durfee College of Technology
* Lowell State College
* Lowell Technological Institute
* New Bedford Institute of Technology

Closed|

* Hyannis State Teachers College
* Massachusetts State College–Fort Devens

Authority control databases

International|

* ISNI
* VIAF

National|

* United States
* Israel

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