Rend Lake College
Rend Lake College (RLC) is a public community college in Ina, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System (ICCS). History. Rend Lake College was founded in 1955 as Mt. Vernon Community College to allow students from High School District No. 201 the opportunity to receive post-secondary education similar to university curriculum. Authorized by the Illinois General Assembly and signed by Illinois Governor Otto Kerner, Jr. in 1961, the legislation enacted created the Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE). The IBHE was tasked by statute with formulating a Master Plan for Higher Education in  the state of Illinois. In July 1964 the higher education master plan was published by the IBHE, which led to the Junior College Act of 1965. Soon thereafter, the institution was officially renamed Rend Lake College when it was organized December 20, 1966. The Mt. Vernon Township High School and its faculty served as the initial facilities for the college when it began in 1967. The college began with a staff of 29 full-time and eight part-time faculty members, two full-time administrators and a librarian. Soon after its organization, the RLC Board of Trustees selected a site  near Ina, Illinois, located between Interstate 57 and Rend Lake, and began planning a new campus. Voters approved a bond issue of $3.1 million in 1967, to provide for the districts local share of the $9.5 million total cost. Groundbreaking ceremonies for construction were held March 27, 1969, coinciding with the day the college received word of its first North Central Association of Colleges and Schools accreditation. The first five buildings of the campus, including Academic, Science, Gymnasium, the South Oasis and Maintenance buildings were ready for occupancy by August 1970, with classes beginning that fall. Phase II  and III construction, which included five more buildings began in the Spring of 1971. Phase II and III construction were complete by 1975, which led to RLC becoming the first community college in Illinois to complete its entire facilities master plan. Major remodeling of the Administration Building took place during 1999-2000 and nearly doubled its size while centralizing almost all student service functions in one building. In 2002, off-campus changes occurred with the addition of the Rend Lake College MarketPlace in Mt. Vernon and the Rend Lake College Murphy-Wall Pinckneyville Campus. In Fall 2005, the Applied Science  Center opened on the southwest corner of campus. This facility houses the Agricultural Business, Agricultural Production, Agricultural Mechanics, Heavy Equipment and Diesel Technology programs. On August 7, 2008, RLC broke ground on the new Coal Mining Training Center, a training facility located next to the Mark Kern Applied Science Center. The college received $1.07 million in grant funding from Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity for the construction of the facility, alongside a $1.6 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to train students in the mining industry. One year later on August 11, 2009, the  new facility held its first open house to the public. Campus. Rend Lake College currently has its main campus in Ina, Illinois. A second learning center for classes, known as the RLC Murphy-Wall Pinckneyville Campus was opened in Pinckneyville, Illinois. In addition to RLC's two credit learning campuses, the college holds non-credit classes at its RLC Marketplace location. Located in Mt. Vernon, Illinois, the RLC Marketplace houses shops and businesses as a part of RLC curriculum. In addition to the degrees it offers at its two campuses, Rend Lake College currently operates two satellite campuses at local  correctional facilities under contract with the Illinois Department of Corrections. RLC holds vocational and rehabilitative classes at IDOC facilities, which are closed to the public. Academics and demographics. As of December 6, 2021, Rend Lake College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Rend Lake College partners with area four-year colleges and universities, such as Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, Southern Illinois University, Edwardsville, and the Western Illinois University as a part of the Illinois Articulation Initiative (IAI), a statewide transfer agreement which ensures general education credits are transferable among more than 100 participating college or universities in Illinois. In  addition to the IAI, RLC offers students "two-plus-two" programs that guarantee students that the courses completed at the college will transfer to their majors at four-year baccalaureate institutions. There are seven primary divisions at Rend Lake College: Advanced Technology, Math/Science/Education, Allied Health, Health & P.E., Applied Science, Skills Center, Liberal Arts, and Special Programs. The divisions offer a total of 43 associate degree programs, and 80 certificate programs. Enrollment. As of the Fall, 2015 semester, enrollment at RLC was 2,295, of which 1,198 were enrolled full-time, and 1,105 were enrolled part-time. During the prior  fall semester in 2014, student head count at the college was at 2,970 (1,367 full-time, 1,603 part-time). In addition, dual-credit enrollees obtaining college credit while attending high school stood at 3,014 (duplicated) students in the 2015–16 school year. The student body was about 42% male, 58% female (960-1335). 91.3% of the student population was Caucasian, 6.4% African-American, 1.0% Hispanic, 0.8% Asian, and 0.4% all other races. Libraries. Rend Lake College provides a library within its Learning Resources Center at its main Ina, Illinois Campus. The library has 21,000 volumes, and 145 periodical and newspaper titles  alongside online resources and a media learning area. It has facilities for study, research, leisure reading, class preparation, and wireless Internet access for students. Endowment. The Rend Lake College Foundation, an Illinois registered not-for-profit organization, is a separate but cooperative entity alongside Rend Lake College. The goal of the foundation is to support Rend Lake College activities through fundraising and endowment management. Through a combination of fundraising events, investment, and donations, the foundation's endowment grew from $1.3 million in 1997, to $4.9 million in 2007. In 2007, the Foundation began its "Friends of the Theater