North Iowa Vocational Center Inc history

Also in 1975, NIVS received accreditation from the North Central Association (NCA) to deliver diplomas and degrees.

In 1976 adjacent farmland was purchased, and this expanded the campus to 263 acres.

1977 The Beem Center for Learning, named after Clifford Beem, opens.

1979 The North Iowa Community Auditorium opens its doors.

In 1980, CIRAS was awarded funds from the Economic Development Administration’s University Center Program to provide economic development assistance to Iowa industry.

The Small Business Development Center, funded by the US Small Business Administration starting in 1981, was originally administered by CIRAS. Though normally located in business colleges, the Iowa SBDC was located at CIRAS because the business college at Iowa State was just getting established.

1982 The Administration Building, now named after David Pierce, opens.

1984 Buena Vista College-Mason City Center finds a home at NIACC.

1990 Football team goes to the RC Cola Bowl.

1991 Football team participates in RC Cola Bowl for second consecutive year.

1993 75th anniversary Homecoming float

During this time the college also began to aggressively work to deliver programming to area high school students under the new Post-Secondary Educational Opportunities act (PSEO). The expansion was aided by the introduction of the Iowa Communications Network (ICN) classrooms in 1994.

Dissemination of CIRAS information went worldwide in 1995 when CIRAS posted its first Internet web pages.

1996 NIACC becomes entrepreneurial resource with gift from John and Mary Pappajohn.

Since 1999 NCC has achieved significant success in obtaining and utilizing competitive grant funding to leverage college money to move the college forward.

CIRAS was seen as a natural fit and the center was transferred to the CIRAS main office in Ames in 2000.

In 2001 the first successful TRIO Student Support Services grant provided NCC with

After 90 years as a separate Extension entity, the Engineering Extension Service was included under the CIRAS umbrella on July 1, 2002, to provide a more seamless link between manufacturers and faculty in the College of Engineering.

Colleague went ‘live’ in 2005 and the process of moving towards using one data source for all reportable information began.

Since 2006-07, NCC has awarded 1,984 scholarships totally nearly $1.2 million, an average of $171,162 each academic year.

2008 Deb Derr takes over presidency from Mike Morrison, who retires.

Reporting out of Colleague is challenging and in 2009 an SQL database server was launched to assist in reporting.

The Peosta campus currently includes the main building, the Gas Utilities and Construction building, a child development center, the National Education Center for Agricultural Safety and most recently the Industrial Technologies building, which opened in August 2010.

In 2011, the Iowa Community College Online Consortium (ICCOC) was awarded a grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to build instructor dashboards to increase student success in key gatekeeper courses.

The NCC 2013 placement report indicates that 97% of graduates are employed or pursuing further education, with certain programs routinely boasting 100% placement.

In 2014, CIRAS administration transferred out of Extension and back to the College of Engineering.

In 2016, the Ames CIRAS office moved back to the ISU Research Park, housed in the newly-completed Economic Development Core Facility.

2018 STEM Center opens.