Mohawk Valley Community College history

In 1948, the State University of New York was created and authorized to recommend the establishment of community colleges.

The Institute became a part of the State University System in 1950 and the name was changed to the State University of Applied Arts & Sciences at Utica.

In 1952, the State developed the ‘community college plan’ under which the institutes could remain open only if a local sponsor took responsibility for them and they were converted to community colleges.

In 1953, the Institute became Mohawk Valley Technical Institute, a community college sponsored by Oneida County.

The main campus on Sherman Drive opened in 1960 and was designed by famed architect Edward Durell Stone, whose world-class projects included Radio City Music Hall and the Museum of Modern Art in New York City.

Over the next decade, the number and variety of instructional programs continued to grow, and in 1963, the Institute was renamed Mohawk Valley Community College to reflect this shift in emphasis.

In 1974, a branch campus was established in Rome at the current location on Floyd Avenue.

By 1978, MVCC was generating more than $34 million in business volume annually in Oneida County, and providing the equivalent of 2,249 full-time jobs.

The Plumley Complex was added to the Rome campus in 1991.

The Utica Campus completed a Master Plan in 2002 that included renovating virtually every building on campus and adding an Information Technology/Performing Arts/Conference Center building.

In August 2004, MVCC was given the Pepsi/NATYCAA Award.

MVCC has five Residence Halls, Huntington, Daugherty, Butterfield, Penfield and New Hall, which is a suite style built in 2005.

MVCC’s Airframe and Powerplant Technology certificate program began in 2006 in the Griffiss Business and Technology Park in Rome, and is the only community college-based aviation maintenance program in New York and one of only a few one-year programs in the country.

Beginning in the Fall of 2008, all incoming students, students who change their majors and re-matriculated students must fulfill the Diversity/Global View requirement for graduation.

As of Spring 2011, the MVCC "Hawks" had an overall winning record of more than 70 percent in 22 different collegiate sports.

In 2017, a $30 million renovation to the Rome Campus was completed in collaboration with Oneida County and New York State.

An equal opportunity educational institution affiliated with the state university of new york. © Mohawk valley community college 2020.