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| Charles Stewart Mott |
The
history of Mott Community College spans more than 80 years of success
and service. In 1923, the Flint Board of Education established
Flint Junior College to make a college education available to Genesee
County students at a minimal cost without forcing them to leave
home. On September 23, 1923, the first class of what would become
Mott Community College was held.
In 1950 Charles Stewart Mott gave
$1 million to develop Flint Junior College into a four-year institution in collaboration with the University of Michigan, a move that created
the College and Cultural Center (including the DeWaters Art Center,
the Flint Institute of Arts, Longway Planetarium, Bower Theater,
Sloan Museum, Whiting Auditorium, Flint Institute of Music and the
Flint Public Library main branch). In 1951, William Ballenger, Sr.
set aside $200,000 for the construction of an athletic field house and left a trust of several million dollars that allowed the college
to hire top quality instructors to elevate Flint Junior College
to a true community college. C. S. Mott then donated 32 acres of
farmland and additional money for an entire new campus.
In 1957, University of Michigan-Flint
was established on the MCC campus and remained here until the mid-1970s
when its new downtown campus was established (although UM-F science
classes remained at MCC for another decade and UM-F's public TV
station remained on the MCC campus until 2002).
In 1969, Genesee County voters converted
Flint Junior College into a countywide college, Genesee Community
College. When C.S. Mott died in 1973 (at age 97) Genesee Community
College was renamed Charles Stewart Mott Community College.
The 1980s saw the MCC enter the computer
age. Student registration was fully computerized and classes were
offered by television. By the mid-1990s classes were offered via
videotape, television and the Internet, and satellite campuses opened
in Lapeer and Fenton. In 1991, MCC helped establish the Mott Middle
College, a nationally recognized program for troubled but talented
high school students in the Genesee County area.
In 1996 MCC began development of
the Regional Technology Center (RTC), a center for high-technology
education built on the site of the old St. Joseph Hospital, adjacent
to the main campus. The $40 million facility opened in September
2002 and drew over 1,300 students its first semester. In addition,
thousands of area residents have attended community events at the
new RTC. During the same period, additional extension centers were
opened in Howell and Clio plus other community technology centers
were established in Flint to help bridge the “digital divide.”
This brief history of Mott Community College serves to give you
just a taste of a much larger and wonderful story. |
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