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
To provide accessible, responsive, comprehensive education that works.
Vision Statement
Empowering individuals to transform their lives through education.
Tagline
Education that works.
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.
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