# Naugatuck Valley Community College

Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) is a public community college in Waterbury, Connecticut. It is one of the 13 colleges in the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system. NVCC grants a variety of associate degrees and certificates. NVCC is a two-year public college that offers numerous associate degrees, the most popular of which include General Studies, Liberal Arts and Sciences, Business Management, Nursing, and much more.

## History

Waterbury State Technical Institute was established in 1962 in the Waterbury, Connecticut. Its original function was to train engineering technicians for local industries. In 1965, the Connecticut General Assembly upgraded the college into a technical college, Waterbury State Technical College. The college opened with a freshman class of 200 students. Kenneth Fogg was the college's first president. Waterbury State became a community college in 1967. Charles Ekstrom was its second president, serving from 1980 to 1992.
Mattatuck Community College was established in 1967. Initially, it held classes John F. Kennedy High School in Waterbury, with 288 full-time and 224 part-time students. It had 1,800 students and 42 full-time and nine part-time faculty in 1970.
In 1992, Waterbury State merged with Mattatuck Community College to form Naugatuck Valley Community-Technical College. It became Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) in 1999. NVCC is a two-year public college that is part of the Connecticut State Colleges & Universities system. Richard L. Sanders was its president from its formation until 2008, having first served as the president of Mattatuck Community College, starting in July 1984.

## Campus

The 110-acre (0.45 km$^2$) campus has classrooms and laboratories for general and specialized use. The Learning Resource Center supports the college's mission and academic curricula through its specialized services and diverse collection of materials and online resources. The Student Center supports student activities and offers a game room and full-service cafeteria. NVCC is home to one of Connecticut's three observatories. Over 1,000 networked computers are available for student use. The campus provides cultural programs for the region in the Fine Arts Center which houses two theatres, music and dance studios, video studios, and rehearsal rooms.
In 2009, Naugatuck Valley Community College opened its New Technology Building houses several high-technology learning environments, the school's full-service Culinary Arts program, the horticultural program, and the Automotive Technology program. NVCC's Technology Hall is a 100,000-square-foot, three-story glass and masonry structure. The facility provides teaching facilities for technical programs including automotive technology, computer technology, and computer-aided design, electronics and manufacturing laboratories, classrooms, administrative offices, a horticulture program located in a new greenhouse adjacent to the new building, and facilities for the college's hospitality, food service and hotel management program. The new facility replaces seven modular buildings that were erected on the campus in 1972. It also replaces the automotive program's leased facility on Thomaston Avenue in Waterbury.
The Founders Hall facility was the very first campus building, having been constructed in the early 1960s. The building had been recently vacated by the engineering department and was serving a hodgepodge of academic and noncredit programs at the isolated east end of campus. The New Founders Hall is scheduled for completion in mid-2017. Is home to the nursing and allied health curriculum at Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC).
In 2016, Naugatuck Valley Community College opened its second campus location in downtown Danbury, Connecticut. The Danbury Campus at 190 Main Street Danbury, CT. Labs, classrooms, offices, and conference rooms are located in this 20,000-square-foot building.

## Academics

Naugatuck Valley Community College offers more than 100 associate degree and credit certificates and hundreds of non-credit courses. Students can earn in different fields, including Liberal Arts and Sciences, General Studies and Humanities, Health Professions and Related Programs, and Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services. NVCC serves 35 communities in the western region of Connecticut and has a student population of more than 8,000.