We are committed to enriching the lives of
our students and communities through quality educational programs and services.
To accomplish these
ends, we will:
- Support student goal achievement through access
to learning experiences and assessment.
- Support a balance between a comprehensive
curricular base and innovations in education, personal development and technology by strategically utilizing resources.
- Provide curriculum and supportive services
relevant to the needs of individuals, enterprise and government.
- Maintain a learning environment built upon the
inclusivity of ideas of all cultures and ethnic backgrounds.
- Support economic vitality and stability through
development of a skilled local workforce.
- Integrate the components of campus-based
instruction, M-TEC and the Kalamazoo Valley Museum to support student and
community needs.
Adopted: June 14, 1994
Modified: October 9, 2001, October 12, 2004
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Kalamazoo Valley Community College (KVCC) was established in
1966 by the overwhelming approval of voters in nine K-12 school districts. It is a comprehensive, public, two-year
college. Our enrollments total around 13,000 each semester. KVCC offers certificate
programs in more than 20 areas of study and associate degrees in 25 others.
These "go-to-work" programs include careers in business, health care,
human and public service, technical occupations, and industry. KVCC also
provides a quality experience for transfer students, offering associate degrees
in education, liberal arts, pre-science and pre-engineering. We are a fully
accredited institution.
KVCC has two campuses: the Texas
Township Campus and the Arcadia
Commons Campus. Designed by Aldon Dow, a student of Frank Lloyd Wright, the
Texas Township Campus is located near the I-94 and U.S. 131 interchange on 187
acres of rolling woodland west of Kalamazoo. Expanded several times over the
last 35 years, the 430,000-square-foot complex features modern classrooms,
comprehensive library and computer capabilities, two gymnasiums, a swimming
pool, ball fields, tennis courts, a running track, two auditoriums, food
services, free parking in expansive lots, and fully equipped labs for teaching science,
industrial and manufacturing technologies.
Added in the fall of 2001 was a truly unique concept – the Student Commons, complete
with a huge skylight and natural foliage. Components include a fitness and wellness center for students and staff,
a lounge, gathering and meeting areas, additional computer capabilities, and
student-friendly space for music, art, poetry, and theater.
Located in downtown Kalamazoo, the Arcadia Commons Campus
consists of what is now known as Anna Whitten Hall (built in 1994), the
Kalamazoo Valley Museum, and the Center for New Media. The campus serves as a lynchpin for a
community/business/education partnership that renovated and revitalized a
significant portion of the historic downtown area.
The Kalamazoo Valley Museum,
which spotlights the history, culture, science and technology of Southwest
Michigan, was opened in February 1996 and has attracted more than 1.25 million
visitors in its dozen years. Its construction was financed entirely by private
contributions --$20 million worth. Governed by KVCC, the museum houses an interactive
planetarium, the Mary Jane Stryker Theater for films and performances, a
"mini-museum" for preschoolers, incredible hands-on exhibits, science
and history galleries, the best of nationally traveling exhibits, and a
Challenger Learning Center for young and not-so-young space explorers. The
museum provides a unique learning environment for students of Kalamazoo Valley
Community College, as well as the general public.
The third jewel in KVCC’s downtown crown is the Center for
New Media, located in the historic W. S. Dewing Building in the heart of
the city. It incorporates the
evolving computer technologies that come into play in the new ways of
organizing, creating, packaging and delivering information. Computer technology, the visual arts,
creativity, the Internet, web-page development, entertainment, business,
interactivity, e-commerce, communications and much more all fall under the
aegis of “new media.”
KVCC and the Center for New Media have staged four Kalamazoo
Animation Festival Internationals (KAFI) in the downtown. The 2007 festival attracted more than
500 entries from 35 countries in competition for $15,000 in prize money, hosted
a preview screening of “Shrek the Third” the evening before its national
release and cemented its reputation as the Midwest’s No. 1 salute to this
medium of artistic creativity. The
fifth KAFI is slated for May 2009.
KVCC added the Michigan Technical Education Center (M-TEC) to
its workforce-development arsenal in March of 2001. It is located in The Groves, the college’s
business-education-technology park off of 9th Street along I-94 near
the Texas Township Campus. Its
mission is to provide 21st-century training for Southwest Michigan’s
current and future high-tech workforce. It offers customized training for business and industry, and a wide
array of non-credit seminars and workshops.
In June of 2005, the M-TEC of KVCC became the headquarters of
the Michigan High Throughput Screening Center that
provides computerized, high-speed and roboticized procedures and resources that
can potentially accelerate the drug-discovering process.
Many special services and programs are available at the college’s
two campuses -- a thriving Honors Program; comprehensive learning, tutoring and
testing centers that offer one-on-one assistance; and the International Studies
Program that includes more than 130 courses emphasizing the global aspects of
everything from accounting to wellness.
Other services include a friendly and knowledgeable financial-aid staff, online
as well as in-person registration, and counselors who are dedicated to you, the
student. Student activities and clubs provide opportunities to connect to other
students as well as to develop skills that will add to your learning experience
and make you a better job candidate.
The umbrella operation over much of this is KVCC’s latest
initiative to make certain that students “make it.” The Student Success Center began in January of 2007. A new breed of mentors, called “student
advocates,” “career advocates” and “transfer success coaches” are there to help
students succeed, and meet their educational and career goals. They provide not
only academic support and assistance to students, but also point them toward
the services they might need – tutoring, job-preparation skills, career
assessment, goal-setting, social skills, wellness and nutrition, why they are
at KVCC and what they want to accomplish. Included in the new format are the three F’s – follow-up,
follow-up, follow-up. The
advocates deliver the message that somebody really cares for the students and
wants them to succeed. As of the
winter of 2008, 16 advocates were assigned to 675 students at both campuses.
And finally, beginning in the fall of 2007, the college launched
the KVCC Automotive Academy that offers intensive, targeted and real-world
training to students who want to travel a fast track in becoming the next
generation of automotive technicians. The academy-training format has been extended to students who want to
pursue careers in welding and in the field of corrections, with more targeted
vocations and occupations in the pipeline.
This background information hopefully will give you a sense of what KVCC is all
about and what sets it apart. But
the best way is to come see for yourself and sample the caring and friendly
learning environment, the high caliber of instructors, and the college’s strong
commitment to student success.
Come visit us and experience for yourself the learning community
of Kalamazoo Valley Community College.
Top of Page
Welcome to Kalamazoo Valley Community College. This
greeting is just one way to provide information about KVCC to
you. Kalamazoo Valley Community College is an institution focused on your future. We are
bound neither to traditional forms of education nor to traditional methods of
communication. Our