From the 2005-2006 Annual Report
Looking
Ahead
This year, Housatonic Community College will celebrate its 40th anniversary
as an independent academic institution. That milestone will be marked
by special events and activities designed to highlight where we've
been, and most importantly, where we're headed in the future.
In retrospect, we've come a long way since 1966, when HCC opened
in Stratford as a branch of Norwalk Community College. Years later the
College moved to Bridgeport, but it was not until 1997 that HCC settled
in to its permanent address at 900 Lafayette Boulevard. And now the time
has come for an even more significant chapter in HCC's history
to unfold.
This fall, we expect to break ground on a campus expansion that will almost double the size of the College. The new structure will be the result of a complete rehab of the former Sears building and the construction of an additional 20,000 square feet of new space. This $55 million dollar project will add more than 170,000 gross square feet to the campus, and will enable HCC to accommodate approximately 5,500 students, compared to the College's previous high of 4,700. The project is expected to be completed in the fall of 2008.
The year ahead will also be an important year for the Foundation, as we roll out the Major Gifts Campaign, and continue to facilitate all facets of our fundraising efforts. We plan to build on the success of our annual International Holiday Wine Tasting and other fundraisers that increase the Foundation's visibility and heighten awareness of the vital role the Foundation plays at the College and within the Greater Bridgeport community.
We also look forward to working in close cooperation with the HCC's newly formed Alumni Association. We believe that organization will not only give alumni the opportunity to benefit from active involvement at the College and by networking with fellow graduates, but also will give the Foundation the opportunity to position alumni as ambassadors in the community as living proof that Housatonic Community College provides an excellent foundation for educational and career growth.
Last year at this time, we announced that HCC had been selected as one of only thirty community colleges nationally to participate in ÒAchieving the DreamÓ - a grant initiative of national significance designed to address retention issues and increase the success rates of students at community colleges. Funded through the Nellie Mae Education Foundation and the Lumina Foundation for Education, the grant provided HCC with an initial $50,000 for planning and promised the potential for an additional $400,000 to be used over the next four years to implement the plan.
We are very gratified to announce that HCC has received the implementation grant, and for the next four academic years, the College has established three priorities: increased alignment with area high schools to determine how to close the gap between high school preparation and college expectations; increased success in math courses; and improved retention of students semester to semester and persistence fall to fall.