Southern Maine Community College
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Former names
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Maine Vocational Technical Institute, Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute, Southern Maine Technical College |
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| Motto | Envision a Future |
| Type | Public, two year |
| Established | 1946 |
| President | Dr. Ron Cantor |
| Students | 7006 |
| Location |
South Portland, Maine, USA 43°38′53″N 70°13′41″W / 43.648°N 70.228°WCoordinates: 43°38′53″N 70°13′41″W / 43.648°N 70.228°W |
| Campus | Suburban |
| Nickname | SeaWolves |
| Website | www.smccme.edu |
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Southern Maine Community College is a community college in South Portland, Maine, and one of the seven colleges in the Maine Community College System.
Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) opened in Augusta, Maine in 1946 under the name "Maine Vocational Technical Institute" as a day school to serve World War II veterans who needed training to learn new skills in a post-war economy.
Having outgrown its space in Augusta, MVTI and its 156 students moved in the summer of 1952 to the site of the decommissioned Fort Preble in South Portland. It is located across Portland Harbor from the city of Portland, the largest city in Maine, on a site overlooking Casco Bay.
During the 1960s, the name was changed to Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institute (SMVTI) and authorization was received to award Associate in Applied Science degrees.
Through the years, the institution evolved from a technical institute into an accredited college. The first Associate of Applied Science degree students were enrolled in 1968, and the first A.A.S. degrees were awarded two years later.
In the late 1980s, the Maine Legislature changed the name of the state Vocational Technical Institute System to the Maine Technical College System, and SMVTI changed its name to Southern Maine Technical College, with similar name changes at other colleges within the system.
The college in 1998 added an Associate in Arts degree in liberal studies to its offerings, a major step in the evolution to a comprehensive community college. The transformation was completed in 2003 when the Maine Legislature passed legislation establishing the Maine Community College System, resulting in SMTC becoming Southern Maine Community College.
In 2011, SMCC opened a second campus at Brunswick Landing in the nearby town of Brunswick, Maine, home of the former Brunwick Naval Air Station. The college now has more than 6,000 students who come from across Maine and New England, from other states outside of New England and from other nations. The college offers more than 40 degree and certificate programs in five different academic divisions: Applied Technology, Arts & Sciences, Health Sciences, Public Safety and Business and Information Technology.
During the Revolutionary War, a temporary fortification known as Fort Hancock was built on a point of land on the eastern shore of South Portland, Maine (then part of Cape Elizabeth). In 1808, under direction of Henry A. S. Dearborn, Fort Hancock was acquired by the federal government and was expanded, partly to enforce an trade embargo that President Thomas Jefferson enacted against Great Britain and France. The newly expanded fort, now called Fort Preble, was named after Commodore Edward Preble.
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