History of the College

“Chronicles of our College: A Journey Through Time

 The 2000’s

 The ’90s

 The ’80s

 The ’70s

 The ’60s

• 2009
  Technical facilities at Malin Road Center, Broomall, closed; Advanced Technology Center opened. STEM Complex partially opened; programs moved to Advanced Technology Center. Only the Municipal Police Academy remained at Malin Road Center. Enrollment surged across all six major locations in Delaware and Chester counties, attributed to cost-effective alternatives by President Jerry Parker.
• 2008
  Chester County Technical College High School opens in West Grove, providing hybrid education and training for high school and college students with career and technical programs. The College introduces delaGATE web portal, offering tailored information for students, faculty, and staff. Groundbreaking occurs for the STEM Complex at Marple Campus, a 100,000-square-foot facility for science, math, engineering, and public safety programs, with an additional 30,000-square-foot building for technical programs.
• 2007
  College serves over 27,000 students yearly in credit and non-credit programs. Delaware County Community College celebrates 40th anniversary with year-long event. State-of-the-art Allied Health and Nursing Simulation Lab opens at Marple Campus.
• 2006
  Chester County Technical College High School opens in West Grove, providing hybrid education and training for high school and college students with career and technical programs. The College introduces delaGATE web portal, offering tailored information for students, faculty, and staff. Groundbreaking occurs for the STEM Complex at Marple Campus, a 100,000-square-foot facility for science, math, engineering, and public safety programs, with an additional 30,000-square-foot building for technical programs.
• 2005
  All-College rally held at Marple Campus to express gratitude to local legislators for bipartisan state support for College’s budget. Students, faculty, staff, and alumni participate in thanking legislators for their support.
• 2003-2004
  Dr. Jerome S. Parker appointed as the third President. Dr. Virginia M. Carter becomes the College’s first Provost. Launch of Emergency Management and Planning degree program. Opening of Southeast Center in Sharon Hill to replace outgrown Collingdale Center. Middle College High School opens in Chester County at Exton Center. Establishment of Center to Promote Excellence in Teaching and Learning for faculty development.
• 2002
  35th anniversary celebration begins with an Academic Convocation. President Richard DeCosmo announces retirement. Downingtown Center opens to serve Chester County community. Thirty-five Star Alumni honored for achievements, including a U.S. Congressman; one alumnus travels from Russia for event.
• 2000-2001
  The Workforce Entry Center opens at the Main Campus.

• Factoids
  Morris the Cat was an adopted stray who settled in at the College during construction at the Marple Campus. Morris, named before the discovery that ‘he’ was actually a ‘she,’ had her own bank account under the name ‘Morris Mascot.’ Students and staff contributed to the account to pay her expenses. The College once had a swimming pool at the Marple Campus, according to a faculty member who actually swam in it. Unfortunately for present faculty and students, the pool was filled in with cement, and with it went hopes for a College synchronized swimming team. A memory improvement class got off to a slow start when the instructor forgot to show up for the first night of class.
• 1999
  New degree programs are established in Interactive Multimedia and Business Technology. The groundwork is laid for a Chester County campus. Increased enrollments force the Exton Center in Chester County to expand into a second space, which becomes known as Exton II.
• 1998
  The Science for Health Professions degree program begins. The new Video Teleconference Center links the College to the world.
• 1996
  The Academic Building’s 37,000-square-foot addition opens, housing Learning Centers, Café, CADD-CAM lab, Job Placement and Co-op Center, New Choices Center and classrooms. The Exton Center is established in the Whiteland Business Park, Chester County. The Office of Workforce, Education and Training is established. The College joins the Internet revolution and launches its new website.
• 1994
  Groundbreaking takes place for a new 37,000-square-foot addition to the Academic Building. The Chester County Center opens in East High School, West Chester, marking the College’s first entry into Chester County. The Radnor Center opens at Radnor High School. A consortium of Delaware County Community College, Community College of Philadelphia, Camden County Community College and Drexel University establishes Shipyard College to respond to the retraining needs of displaced workers and entrepreneurs of the Philadelphia Shipyard, Naval Base and Defense Supply Center. To offset a declining student population, the College increases tuition/fees by 20 percent and implements a special Instructional Fee Subsidy program. The College invests $2.5 million in state-of-the-art computers and a communications network. A new Internet committee is formed. A new lab for Heating/Ventilation/Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (HVAC/R) opens at the Malin Road Center. Enrollment in that program increases from 113 to 548 students in one year.
• 1993
  Paralegal Studies and Communication Arts programs begin.
• 1990
  The College furthers plans for a 40,000+-square-foot addition on the Main Campus’s Academic Building as part of a three-year plan. The Malin Road Center opens in Broomall, housing the College’s Technical Education programs.

• 1989 – 1990
  The College signs an articulation agreement with West Chester University. The College’s administrators are provided with 14 microcomputers and 11 terminals. The Board of Trustees approves a degree program in Composites and Reinforced Plastics Technology.
• 1988
  Enrollment surpasses 8,500.
• 1986
  The Center for Productivity and Advanced Technology is created. The Developmental Studies (a multi-disciplinary program) and Total Quality programs begin.
• 1985
  The Collingdale Center opens with 585 students.
• 1984
  The Nursing Simulation Lab is constructed. Automated Manufacturing/Robotics courses are launched.
• 1983
  The College celebrates its 15th anniversary. Dr. Richard D. DeCosmo is named president. A new program for operating room nurses is introduced. Elder Week is offered for the first time.
• 1982
  New Beginnings, formerly the Displaced Homemakers Project, is launched. Non-credit Continuing Education courses number over 400, with annual enrollments of 12,000.
• 1981
  The Educational Foundation is established. The Center for Development of Human Resources is created to serve the needs of local business and industry. The Chester Center opens at 7th and Sproul Streets, Chester.
• 1980
  Enrollment exceeds 6,000 students. Courses are offered in Advanced Technologies.

• 70-ism
  The streaking fad hit the College in the spring of 1974 when three students, wearing paper bags and nothing else, ran across the Concordville campus. Bag-wearing streakers were warned by school nurse Margot Heilig to be sure they could see through the bags, after one slipped in the mud, skinning both his knee and his dignity.
• 1978
  The Development Office (see Support the College) is created to: Counteract inflation of the College’s operational costs. Fund projects that the institution believes are important, regardless of whether the Commonwealth or the sponsoring school districts are willing to fund them. Provide a margin of educational excellence. Provide Scholarships as needed to better serve the community and extend available educational opportunities. Grant applications total $757,933. Actual awards total $445,272. The College has more than 30,000 Alumni who have taken one or more semesters of course work.
• 1977
  Enrollment is 5,778. The average age of students is 25.5. For the first time, the enrollment of women college-wide exceeds the enrollment of men. The College has more part-time than full-time students. The College cuts back to a four-day work week because of energy shortages. Friday, Saturday and Sunday classes and weekend cultural events are cancelled. The Police Academy graduates its first class of 19 law enforcement officers. One-credit co-educational physical education courses can be applied toward graduation. More than 550 veterans are processed through the Veterans Office and subsequently enrolled in the College. The College’s various health services are used by 8,399 individuals for treatment, special programs, athletic physicals and other testing. Active campus clubs include: archery, canoeing, cheerleading, chess, criminal justice, environmental science, hotel/restaurant, ice hockey, Phi Rho Pi, science alliance, science fiction, skiing, Star Trek, transcendental meditation and veterans.
• 1976 – 1977
  Enrollment is 5,321. The average age of students is 24.9. There are 103 full-time faculty and 160 co-adjuncts. The College has 132 full-time employees. The College’s operating budget is $6.7 million. New programs are added: Construction Technology; Drafting and Design Technology; Instrumentation Technology; Operating Room Technician; Weekend Nursing. College & University Parallel programs begin: Business Administration, Engineering, Liberal Arts, Natural Science. The Mobile Career Resource Center “Plan Van” visits various county-wide locations, providing information and counseling to approximately 100 community residents per week. The Co-op program, previously available only to students in occupational programs, expands to students in most majors. Retired volunteers assist the College’s staff in the Day Care Center, mail room and admissions office. The College provides a hot lunch for these Retired Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) participants.
• 1975
  Tennis courts are constructed on the Main Campus. The campus ties in to the municipal sewer system.
• 1974
  Dedication of the new $19.5 million campus in Marple Township. Delaware County Community College is organized under the Pennsylvania Community College Act of 1963 with its new name. Occupancy of the Main Campus takes place in the fall, with a total enrollment of 3,500 full- and part-time students. The College has three satellite centers: Garnet Valley High School, Upper Darby High School and Ridley Junior High School. Intramural sports for men and women include flag football, basketball, volleyball, softball, archery, street hockey and bowling.
• 1973
  The Speakers Bureau is established, consisting of 28 faculty and staff offering 65 topics. Twenty clubs and organizations in local communities avail themselves of this service.
• 1971
  Act 101, the Higher Education Equal Opportunity Program, is established by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. Construction begins on the new campus in Marple Township in the fall.
• 1970
  Community Service programs include a small business seminar, an Adventures in Learning series for children, a community chorus and all-county orchestra, faculty lecture series, art festivals and various drama workshops. The College Library, located in Concordville, houses 20,000 volumes. The Middle States Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools grants full accreditation to the Community College of Delaware County.

• Factoids
  The Dante School building in Concordville was previously an orphanage. Its child-sized fixtures made visits to the restroom an interesting challenge. Some offices on the Dante Campus were once bathrooms; one faculty member actually stored files in a bathtub, evoking the comment, “His records are always clean.” The mobile units that gave the Dante Campus its nickname “The Trailer Park” were the source of seasonal problems. One unit experienced a snowstorm in the middle of August: a blizzard of white flakes blew from the air conditioner into the classroom and students were sent home for a “snow day.” The roof of another “mod” unit collapsed from the weight of wet snow following a real snowstorm, burying an office which was, fortunately, unoccupied.
• 1969
  The College celebrates its first 24 graduates. A modest Continuing Education program begins with 10 courses and a handful of part-time instructors.
• 1968 – 1969
  The College occupies temporary quarters at the renovated Dante School, Concordville, with classes offered from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. Science facilities at Ridley Township High School are rented for late afternoon and early evening classes. Nursing courses and clinical and observational experiences start at the Fair Acres Delaware County Institution District. Enrollment is 1,239, with 22 percent benefiting from over $100,000 in financial aid for the 1968-69 academic year.
• 1968
  The College’s Instructional Resource Center includes a 4,500-volume library. Edward Durell Stone and Associates, New York City, and Stickle International, Cleveland, are commissioned to design and develop a construction project for the College’s future main campus. Stone was the designer of New York’s Museum of Modern Art and the Kennedy Center for Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The Marple Zoning Board denies application for the use of the Gideon Stull property as the permanent campus of Community College of Delaware County. Trustees appeal. The College conducts it first Community Service course, Basics of Investing in Stocks and Bonds.
• 1967
  307 students enroll in an evening program in rented facilities at Ridley Township High School. There are 24 faculty members. The College newspaper, the Communitarian, is started as a mimeographed sheet. In the second year, it grows to a printed four-page newspaper. Community College of Delaware County is founded with Dr. Douglas F. Libby Jr. as president on March 1, 1967.
• 1963
  Pennsylvania Governor William Scranton signs into law Act 484, the Community College Act of 1963, which created the State Board of Education.