Reading Area Community College
 |
|
| Type | Public Community College |
|---|---|
| Established | 1971 |
| Endowment | $7.7 million |
| President | Anna Weitz, D.Ed. |
|
Academic staff
|
284 |
| Students | 4,682 |
| Location | Reading, Penn., United States |
| Campus | Urban |
| Mascot | Raven |
| Website | www.racc.edu |
Reading Area Community College (RACC) is a public community college located in Reading, Pennsylvania, United States. The college was founded in 1971 and serves the greater Reading area and Berks County, Pennsylvania.
Reading Area Community College was founded on October 1, 1971, and sponsored for 20 years by the Reading School District. Classes were held for the first time on October 13, 1971, with an enrollment of 265 students. The college operated from several buildings throughout Reading during its early years until it acquired the Holiday Inn (the current Berks Hall building) in 1978. On July 1, 1991, the Berks County Board of Commissioners assumed sponsorship of the college. In 1996, the college completed a campus expansion plan that transformed it into an attractive city-based campus.
In 1963, Pennsylvania passed legislation authorizing the development of a statewide system of comprehensive community colleges. The legislation states that community colleges should be locally controlled, responsive to the educational and training needs of the areas they serve, geographically accessible to students and have low tuition. In September 1970, the Board of Directors of the Reading School District voted to act as, sponsor of a community college and authorized that an application and proposed plan for establishing and operating the new institution be submitted to the Pennsylvania State Board of Education. At its January 15, 1971 meeting, the State Board of Education approved the application permitting the Reading School District to sponsor Reading Area Community College. The sponsor appointed an eleven-member Board of Trustees whose responsibility was to bring the college into existence and supervise its administration. Classes were held for the first time on October 13, 1971, with an enrollment of 265 students.
Initially students attended classes at many locations throughout Reading. In 1977, the college purchased the former Holiday Inn at Second and Penn Street. After extensive renovations to the building, administrative offices and credit programs were moved to the present riverfront campus in the fall of 1978.
By the fall of 1988, enrolled credit students numbered 1640 and more space was needed. RACC purchased 10 acres (40,000 m2) of land between its campus and the Schuylkill River that was used primarily for parking. In June 1989, the East Shore Office Building, now named Penn Hall, was purchased to serve the growing student body that expanded to 3,231 credit students by the fall of 1994. Approximately 12,000 non-credit students are also served each year. Classes are conducted at Boyertown, Exeter, Hamburg, Muhlenberg, Reading and Wilson High Schools, the Reading-Muhlenberg Vocational Technical School in Berks County and at several other community sites.
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