Introduction
Pierpont Community & Technical College is headquartered on a 120-acre campus in Fairmont, West Virginia, which it shares with its partner institution, Fairmont State University. With a population of about 19,000, Fairmont, located approximately 90 miles south of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is the seat of government for Marion County. The mission of Pierpont is to provide opportunities for learning, training, and further education that enrich the lives of individuals and promote the economic growth of our service region and state.
Pierpont is part of the state’s growing high technology corridor with a metro area of about 50,000 residents. With a 2013-14 enrollment of more than 2500, Pierpont offered twenty-eight Associate level and six Certificates of Applied Science Degrees, fifteen Skill and Advanced Skill Sets, as well as a variety of courses at various sites in North Central West Virginia, including the Braxton County Center in Flatwoods and the Lewis County Center in Weston. Through its Center for Workforce Education at the Advanced Technology Center Building, Pierpont provides workforce training and community education for its 13-county region. Pierpont operates the Robert C. Byrd National Aerospace Education Center in Bridgeport, which offers programs in flight and aviation maintenance. Pierpont also offers classes at a branch campus in Clarksburg, the Gaston Caperton Center and at an additional location, MTEC in Morgantown.
Brief History of Pierpont Community & Technical College
1974 - The Community College was established at Fairmont State College.
1989 - Under the provisions of SB 420, governance for Fairmont State College and Fairmont State Community & Technical College was changed from the Board of Regents to the Board of Directors.
2000 - Fairmont State Community & Technical College established a campus compact under the provisions of SB 653 and began working toward the goal of independent accreditation.
2001 - Fairmont State College and Fairmont State Community & Technical College are appointed a shared Board of Governors.
2003 - Fairmont State Community & Technical College assumes responsibility for providing Community College education to five (5) of the counties formerly served by Glenville State College under the provisions of HB 2224.
2003 - Fairmont State Community & Technical College hosted a site visit from the North Central Association in the spring of 2003. The college received notification of receipt of 10 year accreditation from the North Central Association on August 8, 2003.
2004 - SB 448 reclassified Blair Montgomery as President of Pierpont Community & Technical College and established a Local Consortium District for the Community College.
2006 - SB 792 renames Fairmont State Community & Technical College as Pierpont Community & Technical College and remerged it as a division of Fairmont State University (FSU).
2007 - Higher Learning Commission returns for a Focused Visit to remerge the accreditation of Fairmont State University and Pierpont Community & Technical College.
2008 - HB 3215 requires separation of Pierpont Community & Technical College from Fairmont State University and provides the College with a separate Board of Governors (constituted in August 2008). Pierpont is again required to attain independent accreditation from FSU.
2008 - Higher Learning Commission holds a Focus Visit at Pierpont and recommends that the accreditation achieved in 2003 be reinstated for Pierpont Community & Technical College.
2014 - Higher Learning Commission holds a Reaffirmation Site Visit and recommends accreditation for Pierpont Community & Technical College through 2023-2024.
Mission Statement
The Mission of Pierpont Community & Technical College is to provide opportunities for learning, training, and further education that enrich the lives of individuals and promote the economic growth of our service region and state.
Pierpont Community & Technical College strives to enhance the quality of life for people of North Central West Virginia through accessible, affordable, comprehensive, responsive, workforce-related training, and quality higher education opportunities.
To fulfill this mission, Pierpont Community & Technical College will:
- Provide a comprehensive selection of career/technical educational opportunities at the certificate and associate degree levels developed through interaction with employers, employees, and college personnel;
- Offer transfer education opportunities enabling students to acquire an affordable general education background before matriculating to the college or university of choice;
- Provide opportunities for seamless transition from sill sets to certificates of Applied Science degrees to Associate and Baccalaureate degrees;
- Make available developmental educational opportunities to students who need assistance in improving academic skills to be successful in higher education;
- Develop and deliver continuing and community educational opportunities throughout North Central West Virginia such as lifelong learning opportunities, occupational recertification programs, and higher education opportunities for students enrolled in secondary schools;
- Provide workforce training and economic development activities for the citizens of north-central West Virginia based on needs of the community and region;
- Focus on development of cognitive, affective, and psychomotor skills to foster individual growth, career development, responsible citizenship, and commitment to lifelong learning.
The College concentrates its energies and resources on its students, many of whom are the first generation of their families to attend college, adults returning to college or enrolling in higher education for the first time, and transfer students. The College, therefore, offers its diverse student body a wide range of programs, flexible scheduling, and support services, all designed to foster success. To strengthen intellectual development, all students pursuing a degree at Pierpont Community & Technical College are engaged in a general education program, a body of coursework designed to expand their knowledge of civilization, society, scientific inquiry, and artistic expression while preparing them to think about interrelationships among disciplines and prepare for a lifetime of learning.
The College is committed to student learning and focuses its resources on programs that prepare students for careers and advanced education in West Virginia and beyond. Pierpont Community & Technical College provides a broad spectrum of degree options in business and offers programs with specialized accreditation in engineering technology and health careers.
Pierpont Community & Technical College is closely identified with its communities. Partnerships with business and industry, public schools, government agencies, and other organizations contribute to economic development; the College fosters enlightened and productive citizenship in its immediate location, the region, and the world.
Philosophy and Objectives
Pierpont Community & Technical College, an undergraduate institution operating under the authority of the Pierpont Board of Governors, is governed by its president with the aid and advice of its Board of Governors, administrators, Faculty Senate, Classified Staff Council, and Student Government.
The College offers programs for career/technical education and is approved to grant Certificate of Applied Science Degrees and the degrees of Associate of Arts, Associate in Science, or Associate of Applied Science after two years of study. Pierpont Community & Technical College considers that its broad objective is to educate its students as intelligent and productive persons, capable of participating in and understanding the world of the twenty-first century. Accordingly, the College seeks to provide a suitable environment for free and responsible inquiry into the nature, sources, and implications of human knowledge and culture; and it challenges students to promote their own intellectual, social, and personal development.
The College faculty serves this objective by guiding students in acquiring knowledge and by maintaining a dialogue with them. The College fully supports the idea of a well-educated society and upholds the academic freedom of its faculty and students, confident that the best interests of the community are served when the search for truth is imaginative and vigorous.
The College follows a liberal policy of student admissions and believes that it can help highly motivated students to overcome many deficiencies in their academic preparation. Because academic standards are high, the Pierpont Community & Technical College degree represents a level of achievement respected throughout the nation.
Drawing many students from its immediate vicinity, the College welcomes the enthusiastic support it receives from Fairmont and surrounding areas. In return it participates actively in community projects, shares its programs and facilities with the public, and serves the community as a center of information and culture.
Specifically, the mission of Pierpont Community & Technical College is to provide programs needed by those in its geographic service area to the extent permitted by its financial and human resources and its assigned role in the State’s system of public higher education. This mission is accomplished by meeting these objectives:
- Providing a variety of career and technical center/occupational programs of two years duration or less
- Providing opportunities for occupationally oriented study through expansion of existing industrial technology programs and the development of additional career-related curricula
- Bringing selected college study opportunities into communities in the College’s service region through the use of the mass media, regional educational centers, external degree programs, and other forms of nontraditional study;
- Encouraging a broad segment of the populace, including various age groups and the economically deprived, to avail themselves of educational opportunities;
- Serving the greatest number of students by holding College costs at the lowest possible level and providing financial support to those who need it to gain equal access to higher education;
- Relating the breadth of the curriculum to the availability of appropriate employment opportunities and the needs of business, industrial, and public service agencies in the College’s service area;
- Offering continuing education programs to provide career updating, cultural enrichment, and personal skill development;
- Providing advisory, counseling, and placement services to enable students to make satisfactory decisions about academic and personal problems and to make successful career and employment choices;
- Offering a variety of cultural, recreational, and social activities to complement academic pursuits.
Pierpont Community and Technical College: Strategic Plan 2015-2020
Mission
To provide opportunities for learning, training, and further education that enrich the lives of individuals and promote the economic growth of our service region and state.
Strategic Vision
Pierpont will be a catalyst of energy and innovation that fosters tailored educational programs and services which improve the growth of the regional economy.
Pierpont Strategic Priorities 2015-2020
- Focus the college community on student success
- Strengthen academic excellence
- Continuously improve the organization
- Support business, industry & community partnerships
Priority: Focus the college community on student success
Goal: Be an engaged campus, integral to the community
- Attract diverse students to open and welcoming campuses
- Engage all faculty and staff in student success
- Increase participation in community engagement
- Offer instruction through multiple delivery systems
Goal: Foster student achievement
- Share career opportunities and celebrate successes
- Promote Pierpont Pride and Pierpont graduates
- Increase retention activities
- Feature individual programs
Priority: Strengthen academic excellence
Goal: Ensure quality in curriculum and instruction
- Maintain programmatic and institutional accreditations
- Promote continuous improvement in programs
- Implement academic excellence initiatives
- Engage faculty as Pierpont’s intellectual leaders
Goal: Enhance college readiness and retention
- Increase student preparedness
- Target underserved populations
- Implement strategies that achieve a continuum of student success
- Support enrolled students through structured services
Priority: Continuously improve the organization
Goal: Strengthen institutional effectiveness and accountability
- Ensure policies and procedures are effective and transparent
- Improve accountability and ensure sound operations
- Attract and retain qualified, diverse, and dedicated employees
Goal: Improve the physical and technological infrastructures
- Optimize educational delivery systems and institutional support systems
- Ensure the accuracy, security, and ease of use of the college’s website and data
- Maximize use of physical facilities
Priority: Support business, industry & community partnerships
Goal: Structure programs to meet economic and workforce priorities
- Increase experiential and work-based learning opportunities
- Implement models to track and communicate opportunities, data, and resources
- Create structured pathways for laddered education and technical skills
- Implement new credit and non-credit programs to meet demand
Goal: Leverage engagement with partners
- Develop and sustain relationships and opportunities
- Conduct employer assessments
- Invite collaboration for resources, learning, support, and services
- Improve and foster Advisory Board participation
|
