The Bronx Community College of the City University of New York (BCC) 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 ...

the Bronx The Bronx () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Bronx County, in the state of New York. It is south of Westchester County; north and east of the New York City borough of Manhattan, across the Harlem River; and north of the New ...

, New York City. It is part of the

City University of New York The City University of New York ( CUNY; , ) is the public university system of New York City. It is the largest urban university system in the United States, comprising 25 campuses: eleven senior colleges, seven community colleges and seven pr ...

system.

History

The college was established in 1957 through the efforts of civic-minded groups who felt that there was a growing need for more higher education facilities in the Bronx. Classes began at

Hunter College Hunter College is a public university in New York City. It is one of the constituent colleges of the City University of New York and offers studies in more than one hundred undergraduate and postgraduate fields across five schools. It also adm ...

, and later at the former site of the

Bronx High School of Science The Bronx High School of Science, commonly called Bronx Science, is a public specialized high school in The Bronx in New York City. It is operated by the New York City Department of Education. Admission to Bronx Science involves passing the Sp ...

. In 1973, the

Dormitory Authority of the State of New York The Dormitory Authority of the State of New York (DASNY ) provides construction, financing, and allied services which serve the public good of New York State. More specifically, as a New York State public-benefit corporation, DASNY provides servi ...

acquired the University Heights campus from

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then- Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, ...

(NYU), which had sold the campus under threat of imminent bankruptcy. Beginning in the fall of that year, the BCC moved its operations to the site overlooking the

Harlem River The Harlem River is an tidal strait in New York, United States, flowing between the Hudson River and the East River and separating the island of Manhattan from the Bronx on the New York mainland. The northern stretch, also called the Spuyte ...

. In 2012, the North Hall and Library opened. The building is designed to resemble many of the historic buildings on campus, and on one end is located next to an entrance of the Hall of Fame for Great Americans.

Academics

The college is home to the Center for Sustainable Energy, which was founded in 2003 as an educational resource for students pursuing careers in

alternative energy Renewable energy is energy that is collected from renewable resources that are naturally replenished on a human timescale. It includes sources such as sunlight, wind, the movement of water, and geothermal heat. Although most renewable energy ...

. Bronx Community College offers a wide array of workforce community development and personal enrichment courses and programs through Continuing & Professional Studies. CPS also delivers customized training for local employers. CPS works closely with unions, city, state and federal agencies and accepts vouchers and other forms of financial aid for individual students. Since 1987, the college is also the local administrator of the SUNY Bronx Educational Opportunity Center. The SUNY Bronx EOC provides tuition free academic and vocational programs to New Yorkers who qualify and it is funded by the University Center for Academic and Workforce Development (UCAWD) part of the

State University of New York The State University of New York (SUNY, , ) is a system of public colleges and universities in the State of New York. It is one of the largest comprehensive system of universities, colleges, and community colleges in the United States. Led by ...

Campus

The BCC campus originally housed New York University's undergraduate college and engineering school – which was absorbed by Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn in 1973 but is once again part of NYU – and was created at a time when a number of prominent local universities had made the move to upper Manhattan and the Bronx in order to build bigger campuses, including

Columbia University Columbia University (also known as Columbia, and officially as Columbia University in the City of New York) is a private research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Church in Manha ...

, and the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

. The campus consists of a mix of

Classical revival Neoclassical architecture is an architectural style produced by the Neoclassical movement that began in the mid-18th century in Italy and France. It became one of the most prominent architectural styles in the Western world. The prevailing styl ...

buildings designed by architect

Stanford White Stanford White (November 9, 1853 – June 25, 1906) was an American architect. He was also a partner in the architectural firm McKim, Mead & White, one of the most significant Beaux-Arts firms. He designed many houses for the rich, in additio ...

in 1892-1901 – including the Hall of Languages, the Cornelius Baker Hall of Philosophy and the Gould Memorial Library – and

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the ...

concrete buildings by

Marcel Breuer Marcel Lajos Breuer ( ; 21 May 1902 – 1 July 1981), was a Hungarian-born modernist architect and furniture designer. At the Bauhaus he designed the Wassily Chair and the Cesca Chair, which ''The New York Times'' have called some of the most ...

, including Begrisch Hall (1956–61) and the Colston Residence Hall and Cafeteria (1964). Other buildings – such as South Hall, formerly the Gustav H. Schwab House (1857); Butler Hall, formerly William Henry W. T. Mall House (c.1859); and MacCracken Hall, originally the Loring Andrews House (c.1880) – are repurposed mansions which predate the campus. The original landscaping for the campus was by Vaux & Co. The complex of Stanford White buildings, judged one of the finest concentrations of Beaux Arts architecture in the US, was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...

in 2012. The BCC campus is notably home to the Hall of Fame for Great Americans, founded in 1900 by Henry Mitchell MacCracken, Chancellor of NYU from 1891 to 1910. It was the first such hall of fame in the United States. The Hall, which is listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artist ...

, was also designed by Stanford White, and was established to honor prominent Americans who have had a significant impact on the country's history. It includes bronze busts of

Alexander Graham Bell Alexander Graham Bell (, born Alexander Bell; March 3, 1847 – August 2, 1922) was a Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patenting the first practical telephone. He also co-founded the American Telephone and T ...

Eli Whitney Eli Whitney Jr. (December 8, 1765January 8, 1825) was an American inventor, widely known for inventing the cotton gin, one of the key inventions of the Industrial Revolution that shaped the economy of the Antebellum South. Although Whitney h ...

, and

George Westinghouse George Westinghouse Jr. (October 6, 1846 – March 12, 1914) was an American entrepreneur and engineer based in Pennsylvania who created the railway air brake and was a pioneer of the electrical industry, receiving his first patent at the age o ...

along with many others. The Hall has not had any new inductees since 1973.

Athletics

Bronx Community College teams participate as a member of 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). The Broncos are a member of the

section of the City University of New York Athletic Conference (CUNYAC). Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, soccer and track & field; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, track & field and volleyball.

In popular culture

The college has been used as the set for scenes in many movies: *In 2001, parts of the film ''A Beautiful Mind'' that depicted MIT were instead filmed in the BCC, due to the film's low budget. The dome at BCC was also used in the filming of '' The Good Shepherd''. *The interior of the Gould Memorial Library was featured as a public library in the 1969 film '' Goodbye, Columbus''. *The Meister Hall building at BCC by architect

was featured as a Russian Embassy in the 2008 film ''

Burn After Reading ''Burn After Reading'' is a 2008 black comedy spy film written, produced, edited and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. It follows a recently jobless CIA analyst, Osbourne Cox ( John Malkovich) whose misplaced memoirs are found by a pair of dimw ...

'' by the

Coen brothers Joel Daniel Coen (born November 29, 1954) and Ethan Jesse Coen (born September 21, 1957),State of Minnesota. ''Minnesota Birth Index, 1935–2002''. Minnesota Department of Health. collectively known as the Coen brothers (), are American film ...

. *Other films that used the campus for filming have included ''The Thomas Crown Affair'', ''The Siege'', ''

Mona Lisa Smile ''Mona Lisa Smile'' is a 2003 American drama film produced by Revolution Studios and Columbia Pictures in association with Red Om Films Productions, directed by Mike Newell, written by Lawrence Konner and Mark Rosenthal, and starring Julia ...

'', ''Kinsey'', and ''Riding in Cars With Boys''.

Notable alumni

* David Berkowitz (b 1953), also known as the Son of Sam and .44 Caliber Killer, is an American serial killer *

Richard Carmona Richard Henry Carmona (born November 22, 1949) is an American physician, nurse, police officer, public health administrator, and politician. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the seventeenth Sur ...

(b 1949), is an American physician, nurse, police officer, public health administrator, and politician. He was a vice admiral in the Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and served as the seventeenth Surgeon General of the United States. * Joel Martinez (b 1983), professionally known as The Kid Mero, is a Dominican-American writer, comedian, TV personality, voice actor, YouTube personality, music blogger and Twitter personality. * Annabel Palma, is an American politician who served in the New York City Council from the 18th district from 2004 to 2017.

Gallery

File:BxCC Hall of Languages jeh.jpg, The Stanford White-designed Hall of Languages File:BxCC Hall of Philosophy jeh.jpg, The Hall of Philosophy, also designed by Stanford White File:Hall of Fame for Great Americans.jpg, The Hall of Fame for Great Americans is located on the BCC campus File:Gould Memorial Library dome from West 204th Street in Manhattan.jpg, The dome of the Gould Memorial Library can be seen above the trees from many locations in

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...

File:Begrisch Hall, Western Elevation crop.jpg, The western elevation of

's Begrisch Hall File:Interior of Gould Memorial Library (Rotunda and Columns).jpg, Inside the Gould Memorial Library

References

External links

* {{authority control Colleges of the City University of New York Educational institutions established in 1957 Universities and colleges in the Bronx Community colleges in New York City National Historic Landmarks in New York City 1957 establishments in New York City New York City Designated Landmarks in the Bronx NJCAA athletics National Register of Historic Places in the Bronx University Heights, Bronx