Borough of Manhattan Community College

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) was founded in 1963 as a small, primarily business-oriented community college offering programs aimed at the business community. Originally located in two floors of a commercial building in midtown Manhattan, the College focused on preparing students for business careers and on providing a liberal arts education to students who wished to transfer to four-year colleges. The College also created on-site training and management development courses for mid-level employees.

Over the next few decades, the mission of the College changed in response to the advent of open admissions in The City University of New York (CUNY) in 1970, and later in response to the emergence of new technologies and changes in business and industry. By 1974, enrollment had increased to over 6,000 day and evening students; today it stands at more than 20,000 -- not including some 8,000 students in BMCC's Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development.

BMCC currently grants associate degrees in 26 different fields, such as early childhood education, business administration, liberal arts, science, human services, and more. The College also boasts fully accredited Nursing and Health Management programs. Moreover, the Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development offers more than 300 classes in a variety of settings, both in classrooms and on-site.

To accommodate increasing enrollment, and students with widely varying schedules, BMCC holds classes 7 days a week, both day and evening. BMCC also offers classes at four off-site locations, including Lehman College in the Bronx and at Brooklyn College in Brooklyn.

MISSION

As one college within The City University of New York, BMCC shares CUNY's mission to preserve academic excellence and extend higher educational opportunity to a diversified urban population. In addition, BMCC is dedicated to providing general, liberal arts, career education and continuing education programs, relevant to the needs, interests and aspirations of students of all ages.

Consistent with the mission of CUNY to preserve academic excellence and extend higher educational opportunity to a diversified urban population BMCC deems its mission as providing general, liberal arts, and career education, including transfer programs, relevant to the needs, interests and aspirations of our students, along with continuing education for students of all ages.

The College is committed to offering quality education in a pluralistic urban environment, to fostering excellence in teaching, to facilitating the enhancement of learning, and to sustaining full access to higher education for those who seek fulfillment of personal, career or socioeconomic goals. BMCC is also committed to providing collaborative programs and services responsive to the educational, cultural and recreational needs of the community.

GOALS

Consistent with its stated mission, the College supports the following goals:

-- To provide higher education to a diverse urban constituency in support of CUNY's policy of open admissions.
-- To provide a collegiate environment conducive to the advancement and reinforcement of teaching and learning.
-- To provide all students with a level of proficiency in basic skills to assure their readiness for, and likely success in, college and in the workplace.
-- To enable and encourage students to make sensible and informed choices in setting their academic, career and personal goals.
-- To provide for all students a general education which fosters personal development, intellectual curiosity, and critical thinking to enhance informed and effective participation in society.
-- To promote multicultural awareness and understanding in our college community and respect for pluralism and diversity in our society.
-- To prepare liberal arts and career students for transfer to four-year colleges.
-- To prepare students in career programs for employment and career mobility.
-- To encourage lifelong learning independent of degree programs.
-- To enhance the cultural, recreational and social life of the community.
-- To maintain a governance structure that facilitates the participation of faculty, administrators and students in the life of the College and encourages contributions and involvement by alumni and advisory groups.

CAMPUS

BMCC's campus, situated on 4.28 acres, became occupied in January 1983. The modern structure, spanning four blocks from Chambers Street to North Moore Street, is equivalent to the Empire State Building lying on its side (minus the tower). In addition to the 71 classrooms, eight seminar rooms, numerous laboratories and three lecture halls (one hall seats 200 and the others seat 100), the campus library is equipped with 550 study carrels that permit use of audio/video cassettes. The campus features a 913-seat auditorium, a 262-seat theater and a 99-seat drama workshop. There is also an intercollegiate-size swimming pool and gymnasium which can be divided into three regulation basketball courts.

In September 1993 BMCC received the largest donation ever made to a community college, Fiterman Hall, donated by Miles and Shirley Fiterman. Fiterman Hall is located at 30 West Broadway (between Park and Barclay), just a few short blocks from the main building. The structure sustained damage when the World Trade Center collapsed, rendering it unfit for use.

Financing is now in place to rebuild Fiterman Hall, and decontamination at the old Fiterman is set to finish in mid-February 2009. After that, a six-month long deconstruction and 30-month long reconstruction will go forward, and the new, larger Fiterman Hall -- at 14 floors and 390,000 square feet -- will open in the spring of 2012. The new building, designed by the architectural firm Pei, Cobb, Freed, & Partners, will house classrooms, science labs, faculty and staff offices, meeting rooms and student lounges -- all to meet the needs of our growing college.