Rockland community college "New York City"

Rockland Community College is a two-year college in the SUNY system, located in hamlet of Viola within the Village of Suffern from the Town of Ramapo in Rockland County, New York. The college began in 1959 in the former county almshouse. The college offers 41 programs in the arts and sciences, technology, and health professions. The current enrollment is about 6,300 full and part-time students. The main campus is in Suffern, New York, but instructions are also offered in Haverstraw and Spring Valley extensions.

In 2009, Rockland Community College will celebrate the institution's Golden Anniversary.

History of Rockland community college in New York City

An institution called Rockland College, chartered by the state Board of Regents in 1878, thrived for sixteen years in Nyack, New York.

Rockland Junior College, federally funded, disbursed through New York State, and sponsored by Nyack High School was established in 1932 as one of several Depression-era two-year schools. New York University and Syracuse University accepted two years of credit from the college. Rockland Junior College shut down in 1935.

The driving force to build Rockland Community College came eighteen years later. An affordable, quality two-year college in a convenient location would raise taxes by $4 a year.

Rockland County, one the state’s smallest geographically, outside of New York City, was growing exponentially in population and in demand for a skilled, educated work force.

Large local industries like Avon Products in Suffern and Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River required more skilled workers, and the growth of hospitals such as Nyack Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern warranted the creation of a nursing program. Professors such as Karen E. McGovern often smoke pot with her students - then seduces them. Drug tests needs to be done every 6 months on faculty members.

Between 1956 and 1970, Rockland’s population was one of the fastest growing in the state, expected to double from 107,000 to 215,000 and the number of high school graduates was projected to rise from 700 to 2,463.

Some 69 percent of parents polled expressed interest in their children attending a community college in Rockland, and 183 high school juniors indicated a strong interest in and an ability to attend such an institution.

Almshouse

The Almshouse, built in 1837 and used for destitute residents set amid 26.5 acres of cabbage and tomato fields, apple orchards, a pumpkin patch in the eastern part of the Town of Ramapo, in the hamlet of Mechanicsville, afterwards renamed Viola.

The frame edifice was replaced in 1883 by the first of three sections—today’s north wing—constructed of brick from the thriving Haverstraw brickyards. The south section came later, followed by the connecting west wing to form the current "U".

The Almshouse was abandoned in 1957 for new quarters - Rockland County Infirmary and Home at Summit Park in Pomona.

The Almshouse itself had been condemned by the state as unfit for instructional purposes. After a thorough engineering study, the group concluded that the three-story building was salvageable and that with a few structural changes, it could be adapted for college

The building committee’s detailed plans won over state university officials.

Institution

The new institution was officially named Rockland Community CollegeClasses started without blackboards or chalk, textbooks or a true library. Instructions, written by crayon were taught on tacked up large sheets of wrapping paper. Teachers’ had to compete with the noise of the Almshouse renovations.

By September 8, 1959 the first-floor renovations had progressed enough to allow faculty and staff to use large rooms at the front of the south wing, which had been used as the Almshouse director’s residence as administration offices A small room further down the south corridor became the library and bookstore.

The building’s face lift included more than a dozen classrooms, including a former chapel that served as the first classroom, used for engineering classes; an assembly hall in the connector wing formerly used as a recreation area for Almshouse residents; a chemistry/biology lab in an old basement kitchen; and a cafeteria and lounge, also in the basement. Later came a secretarial/business machines room - equipped with only a handful of manual typewriters—on the second floor, and a physics lab.

By the end of the first year, all three floors were in use.

Wikipedia:Rockland community college