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Quincy College

Coordinates: 42°15′11″N 71°00′11″W / 42.253005°N 71.003177°W / 42.253005; -71.003177
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Not to be confused with Quincy University of Illinois.
Quincy College
Seal of Quincy College
Former names
College Courses, Inc. (1956–1958), Quincy Junior College (1958–1990)
MottoLet's get to work
TypePublic community college
Established1958
AccreditationNECHE
PresidentRichard DeCristofaro
Students3,500
Location
Quincy
,
Massachusetts
,
United States

42°15′11″N 71°00′11″W / 42.253005°N 71.003177°W / 42.253005; -71.003177
CampusSuburban
MascotGranite
Websitequincycollege.edu

Quincy College (QC) is a public community college in Quincy, Massachusetts.[1] It is an open admission commuter school that offers associate degrees, bachelor degrees, and certificate programs. It was founded in 1958 and enrolls approximately 3,500 students at campuses in Quincy and Plymouth, Massachusetts.

History[edit]

During the mid-1950s, demand for higher education on the South Shore, and Quincy in particular, led to the creation of the Citizen's Committee appointed to study the feasibility of establishing a community college. This committee recommended that a community college should exist and as early as 1956, the first college-level courses were offered.

The school's first classes were offered at the Coddington Elementary School in 1956 as College Courses, Inc.,[2] after a committee was created to establish a new community college and Timothy L. Smith, historian and professor at the Eastern Nazarene College (ENC), was named its first director. It was sponsored by the Quincy School Department and used faculty from Eastern Nazarene.[3] Another ENC history professor, Charles W. Akers, became its first full-time director and transformed it into a junior college in 1958,[4] naming it Quincy Junior College (QJC) when it was first given power to grant associate's degrees in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.[3]

In May 1958, College Courses, Inc., a non-profit charitable organization, was formed to help further higher education on the South Shore. In the fall of that same year, the first freshman class began at what would later be known as Quincy College.

Less than five years later, Quincy College was empowered to award the Associate in Arts and the Associate in Science degrees. Quincy College is accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education.[5]

Quincy College is one of the last municipally owned colleges in the USA.[6] In 1991, the school founded the Plymouth campus located thirty minutes south of Quincy in downtown Plymouth, Massachusetts.

In January 2022, Quincy College began offering bachelor of science degrees in Business Management, Psychology, and Computer Science. Quincy College is the only traditional two-year Massachusetts college to offer a four-year degree.[7]

Nursing program shut down and resignation of President Peter Tsaffaras[edit]

On May 9, 2018, the Massachusetts Board of Registration in Nursing withdrew its approval of the college's nursing program. The percentage of Quincy college graduates who passed licensure exams on their first try in 2017 was just 54%; this was down from 59% in 2016 and 72% in 2015.[8] Shortly afterward, Quincy College President Peter Tsaffaras offered his resignation and said he had lost the confidence of the college's board of governors.

Less than one year after withdrawing its approval, the Board of Registration in Nursing voted to allow reopening of a refreshed and updated nursing program on the Quincy and Plymouth Campuses thanks to the rehabilitative efforts efforts of President Michael Bellotti and Provost Gerry Koocher. [1]

Presidents[edit]

The main Quincy College building, within the Presidents Place complex in downtown Quincy
Presidents
1. Kenneth P. White 1961–1971
2. Edward F. Pierce 1972–1982
3. O. Clayton Johnson 1983–1993
4. G. Jeremiah Ryan 1996–1999
5. Sean L. Barry 2000–2005
6. Martha Sue Harris 2005–2010
7. Peter Tsaffaras 2011–2018
8. Michael G. Bellotti 2018-2019
9. Daniel M. Asquino 2019-2020
10. Richard DeCristofaro 2020-Present

Campus[edit]

The main campus is in Quincy Center located at 1250 Hancock St, President's Place, Quincy Massachusetts. Saville Hall which is also part of Quincy College is located 24 Saville Ave. Quincy Massachusetts. There is also another satellite campus in Plymouth, located at 36 Cordage Park Circle, Plymouth Massachusetts.[9][10][11] The school does not have residential facilities, as it is a commuter school.

Organization[edit]

Quincy College operates under the auspices of the City of Quincy. The college is unusual in this respect, as it is the only one of Massachusetts' 16 community colleges to be run by a city, rather than the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.[12] It is one of only two colleges in the United States organized this way.[13] Until the 1990s, it was run by the Quincy School Committee, but now has its own governing board.[13]

Academics[edit]

The college confers 37 Associate degrees and 25 certificates of completion in a wide variety of studies.[14] Quincy College operates an articulation agreement with Cambridge College for four-year baccalaureate degrees and with Excelsior College for online learning.[15] It is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges (NEASC).[16] The school is an open enrollment institution,[17] meaning that it accepts all students with a high school diploma or equivalent to matriculate, regardless of academic abilities, without selectivity. As of 2010, there were 4,505 students enrolled.[18]

Notable alumni[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "Quincy College".
  2. ^ "Quincy College: Nearly a Half Century of Ups and Downs," by Christopher Walker. The Patriot Ledger, June 25, 2005, p. 10.
  3. ^ Jump up to: a b "OUR OPINION: The golden years of Quincy College", The Patriot Ledger, May 19, 2008 Archived September 29, 2011, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Eastern Nazarene College: History Department Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine
  5. ^ Massachusetts Institutions – NECHE, New England Commission of Higher Education, retrieved May 26, 2021
  6. ^ Ronan, Patrick, "City-owned Quincy College seeks greater autonomy", The Patriot Ledger, Nov 13, 2013
  7. ^ "Business Management". 22 November 2021.
  8. ^ Terreri Ramos, Jill (2018-05-16). "Quincy College president resigns after state shuts down nursing programs". The Boston Globe. Retrieved 2018-05-16.
  9. ^ Official website: Building locations Archived August 2, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ QC Quincy campus information Archived June 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  11. ^ QC Plymouth campus information Archived June 4, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  12. ^ Menino targeting community colleges – The Boston Globe
  13. ^ Jump up to: a b Donald B. Gratz, "The road not taken: The evolution of a municipal junior college" (January 1, 1998). Boston College Dissertations and Theses. Paper AAI9828009.
  14. ^ Quincy College Fact Sheet Archived December 14, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  15. ^ Quincy College Memberships Archived February 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  16. ^ Quincy College Accreditation Archived February 21, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  17. ^ Quincy College: About Archived July 13, 2009, at the Wayback Machine
  18. ^ National Center for Education Statistics: Quincy College
  19. ^ "MA Legislature".
  20. ^ "Photos: Quincy College 60th anniversary". Wicked Local. Retrieved 2020-07-16.

External links[edit]

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