Oakland Community College (OCC) is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichk ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior se ...

with five campuses in Oakland County, Michigan. Established in 1964, OCC is the largest community college in Michigan, with the state's third-largest undergraduate enrollment. Enrollment at the college for the 2016-2017 school year was 29,560. Oakland Community College has been accredited by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

since 1971, and has a

Carnegie Classification The Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, or simply the Carnegie Classification, is a framework for classifying colleges and universities in the United States. It was created in 1970 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Adv ...

of Associate's Colleges: High Transfer-High Nontraditional. The college offers 57 Associate degrees and 41 different programs. Several students and faculty in OCC's culinary arts program have been awarded state, national, and international culinary awards.

History

The college opened in September 1965 with two campuses - Highland Lakes and Auburn Hills. A third campus opened in Farmington Hills in 1967. In 1980, a new campus opened in Southfield that replaced a temporary location in Oak Park. Later, the Southeast Campus System expanded through the purchase and remodeling of buildings at a site in

Royal Oak The Royal Oak is the English oak tree within which the future King Charles II of England hid to escape the Roundheads following the Battle of Worcester in 1651. The tree was in Boscobel Wood, which was part of the park of Boscobel House. C ...

. The Royal Oak buildings were replaced by a new campus complex which opened in the fall of 1982.

Campuses

Oakland Community College holds in-person classes at five campuses throughout Oakland County. OCC has also offered online classes since the early 2000s.

Auburn Hills

The Auburn Hills campus is located off M-59 in

Auburn Hills Auburn Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 21,412 at the 2010 census. Before incorporating as a city in 1983, the area was part of the now-defunct Pontiac Township. It is home to Oakland University ...

, across the road from Chrysler Headquarters and near I-75. Built on a former

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Nike missile The United States Army's Nike Ajax was the world's first operational guided surface-to-air missile (SAM), entering service in 1954. Nike Ajax was designed to attack conventional bomber aircraft flying at high subsonic speeds and altitudes abov ...

site in then- Pontiac Township, Auburn Hills was one of the two original OCC campuses (along with Highland Lakes), opening in the fall of 1965. OCC originally coined the name "Auburn Hills," fourteen years before Pontiac Township incorporated as the City of Auburn Hills. The Auburn Hills campus is home to OCC's police academy, and the Combined Regional Emergency Services Training (CREST) center.

Highland Lakes

The Highland Lakes campus is located at Cooley Lake and Hospital Roads in Waterford Township. It opened in the fall of 1965 in the former Oakland County Sanitarium, constructed in 1927. Additional buildings were added to the campus in the early 1980s, and two were expanded in the mid-2000s. The original building, then known as Highland Hall, was demolished in 2013.

Orchard Ridge

The Orchard Ridge campus is located along I-696 between Orchard Lake and Farmington Roads in Farmington Hills. It opened in the fall of 1967. The campus was designed by architect Phillip Will, known for his partnership in the firm Perkins & Will. OCC's award-winning culinary program is housed at the Orchard Ridge campus, with three restaurants open to the public on certain days. Orchard Ridge is also home to Oakland Early College, an early college high school operated by the

West Bloomfield School District West Bloomfield School District is located in the township of West Bloomfield, Michigan West Bloomfield Township, officially the Charter Township of West Bloomfield, is a charter township in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan, wit ...

. A radio station,

WORB Worb is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Worb is first mentioned around 1130-46 as ''Worw''. The oldest traces of settlements in the area include scattered neolith ...

, operated at Orchard Ridge until 1999.

Royal Oak

OCC's current Royal Oak campus opened in 1982, and consists of a single large building in downtown Royal Oak, bordered by Main Street, Washington Avenue, 7th Street, and Lincoln Avenue. It is served by two parking garages across the street.

Southfield

OCC's Southfield campus is located along the Lodge Freeway (

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) half a mile north of the Detroit/Wayne County border, near the former Northland Center. The Southfield campus opened in 1980, replacing a site in nearby Oak Park. It consists of one large building, doubled in size by a late 2000s expansion.

George A. Bee Administration Center

OCC's administrative offices are located at 2480 Opdyke Road in

Bloomfield Hills Bloomfield Hills is a small city (5.04 sq. miles) in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is a northern suburb of Metro Detroit and is approximately northwest of Downtown Detroit. Except a small southern border with the city of Bir ...

.Bloomfield Township Street Map
" () Bloomfield Township, Oakland County. Retrieved on July 30, 2013. From 2006-2007, they were temporarily located at 3903 W Hamlin Road in

Rochester Hills Rochester Hills is a city in Oakland County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As of the 2020 census, the city had a total population of 76,300. It is the 14th-largest city in Michigan. The area was first occupied by settlers of European descent in 1 ...

, while the Bee Administration Center was being renovated.

Pontiac Center

OCC previously had operations at 17 S Saginaw Street in downtown Pontiac. The Pontiac Center closed in 2015.

Student life

The OCC athletic teams are known as the Raiders and compete in the

National Junior College Athletic Association The National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA), founded in 1938, is the governing association of community college, state college and junior college athletics throughout the United States. Currently the NJCAA holds 24 separate regions ...

(NJCAA) and the

Michigan Community College Athletic Association The Michigan Community College Athletic Association (MCCAA) is a junior college conference throughout Michigan and northern Indiana in Region 12 of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA). The men's sports organized by the MCCAA ...

(MCCAA). Men's varsity sports include basketball, cross-country, and golf; women's varsity sports include basketball, cross-country, softball, tennis, and volleyball. OCC also has a competitive speech and performance team (the forensics team) that has had both State and National champions.

Notable alumni

* Andrew J. Feustel - Geophysicist and NASA astronaut *

Pam Dawber Pamela Dawber (born October 18, 1951) is an American actress best known for her lead television sitcom roles as Mindy McConnell in '' Mork & Mindy'' (1978–1982) and Samantha Russell in '' My Sister Sam'' (1986–1988). Early life Dawber was b ...

- Actress,

Mork & Mindy ''Mork & Mindy'' is an American television sitcom that aired on ABC from September 14, 1978, to May 27, 1982. A spin-off after a highly successful episode of ''Happy Days'', "My Favorite Orkan", it starred Robin Williams as Mork, an extraterrest ...

Myles Jury Myles Madison Jury (born October 31, 1988) is an American mixed martial artist. He is currently signed with Bellator MMA, competing in the Lightweight division. He is a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Background Jury was born in Hazel Park ...

- wrestler; professional

mixed martial arts Mixed martial arts (MMA), sometimes referred to as cage fighting, no holds barred (NHB), and ultimate fighting, and originally referred to as Vale Tudo is a full-contact combat sport based on striking, grappling and ground fighting, inc ...

fighter * Tomo Miličević - lead guitarist of rock band

Thirty Seconds to Mars Thirty Seconds to Mars (commonly stylized as 30 Seconds to Mars) is an American rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1998. The band consists of brothers Jared Leto (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards) and Shannon Leto (drums, ...

Ted Nugent Theodore Anthony Nugent (; born December 13, 1948) is an American rock musician and activist. He initially gained fame as the lead guitarist and occasional lead vocalist of The Amboy Dukes, a band formed in 1963 that played psychedelic rock ...

- rock musician * Jem Targal - bass guitarist and singer for the rock group

Third Power Third Power was an American psychedelic hard rock band from Detroit, Michigan, who released one album in 1970. The group was formed in 1969, and became a prominent local club band before signing to Vanguard Records.WORB Worb is a municipality in the Bern-Mittelland administrative district in the canton of Bern in Switzerland. History Worb is first mentioned around 1130-46 as ''Worw''. The oldest traces of settlements in the area include scattered neolith ...

- Defunct Radio Station

References

External links

Official website
{{authority control Community colleges in Michigan Michigan Community College Athletic Association Universities and colleges in Oakland County, Michigan Schools in Auburn Hills, Michigan Bloomfield Hills, Michigan Farmington Hills, Michigan Pontiac, Michigan Southfield, Michigan Two-year colleges in the United States Educational institutions established in 1965 NJCAA athletics 1965 establishments in Michigan