Bunker Hill Community College (BHCC) is a two-year, multi-campus community college serving the Greater Boston area. Founded in 1973 in the Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts, BHCC provides higher education and job training services at two campuses and three satellite locations, and is the largest community college in Massachusetts.
The college enrolls more than 13,000 students in day, afternoon, evening, late-evening, midnight, weekend, in web-based and distance-learning courses each semester. BHCC is one of the most diverse institutions of higher education in Massachusetts; with 24% of the student population African-American, 24% white or caucasian, and 24% Latino. More than half of BHCC's students are women and the average age for all students is 27 years of age. Additionally, the college enrolls more than 800 international students who come from approximately 100 countries and speak more than 75 languages.
Overview
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Bunker Hill Community College's main campus is situated on 42 acres (17 ha; 0.066 sq mi) in the historic Charlestown neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. Inaugurated in 1973, BHCC's campus is located at the site of the former Charlestown State Prison, which closed in 1955. Adjacent to an MBTA Orange Line rapid transit station called Community College, BHCC lies within the vicinity of Bunker Hill, site of the famous Battle of Bunker Hill in the American Revolutionary War.
In addition to the main campus in Charlestown, a second campus in Chelsea provides higher education and job training opportunities to residents of Chelsea, Revere, Everett, East Boston, Winthrop and other surrounding communities. BHCC has operated a second campus in Chelsea since 1987. The campus, located in a former post office in historic Bellingham Square, was inaugurated in 1998 after being housed at several temporary sites around the city. The two-story brick structure was originally built in 1910, but had been vacant for a decade before being donated to the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
In Boston's South End, BHCC has partnered with Inquilinos Boricuas en Acción (IBA), a community-based organization, to establish the Pathway Technology Campus (PTC) directly in the heart of Villa Victoria, a predominantly Latino affordable-housing community. PTC provides the residents of the South End and Lower Roxbury with the opportunity to earn a GED certificate, take adult education (ESL, Basic English and Math) classes, and to enroll in community college-level classes.
Additionally, BHCC operates their East Boston Satellite campus at the Education and Training Institute of the East Boston Neighborhood Health Center. Opened in 2007, this satellite offers introductory and allied health courses in the evening during the fall, spring and summer terms.
Established in the fall of 2009, the Malden Satellite is based at Malden High School in Malden, Massachusetts, and offers introductory and college-level courses in the evening during the fall and spring semesters.
In recent years, the institution has rapidly gained recognition in the city, the state and beyond due to its graduates successfully transferring into more prestigious programs elsewhere, as well as hailed for its innovative distance learning methods and workforce education. The college was awarded nearly $265 million in federal funds from the United States Department of Education to boost graduation rates among first-time, full-time students. BHCC was recently awarded an Achieving the Dream grant from the Lumina Foundation which will dedicate up to $450,000 toward supporting student success at the college.
The college was featured in the movie Good Will Hunting, as the location where Dr. Sean Maguire (Robin Williams) teaches. BHCC behavioral science chairperson, John P. Reeves, served as a model for Williams’ Maguire.
On July 1, 2013, Dr. Pam Y. Eddinger became BHCC's seventh president, replacing Dr. Mary L. Fifield who retired after 16 years.
Notable alumni
- Dana Rosenblatt, boxer
- Stephen Stat Smith, state representative
- Bob Kelly, comedian.
References
External links
- BHCC Website
