The Community College of Rhode Island (CCRI) 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 sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...

Rhode Island Rhode Island ( ) is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Connecticut to its west; Massachusetts to its north and east; and the Atlantic Ocean to its south via Rhode Island Sound and Block Is ...

. It is the only community college in the state and the largest community college in

New England New England is a region consisting of six states in the Northeastern United States: Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Vermont. It is bordered by the state of New York (state), New York to the west and by the ...

. The college's primary facility is located in

Warwick Warwick ( ) is a market town, civil parish and the county town of Warwickshire in the Warwick District in England, adjacent to the River Avon, Warwickshire, River Avon. It is south of Coventry, and south-east of Birmingham. It is adjoined wit ...

, with additional college buildings throughout the state.

History

It was founded as Rhode Island Junior College, "RIJC", in 1964 with 325 students studying at the Henry Barnard School in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence () is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Rhode Island, most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. The county seat of Providence County, Rhode Island, Providence County, it is o ...

. In 1965, a portion of the nearby former Brown & Sharpe manufacturing facility was converted into classroom space and served as the college's primary facility until 1972. The Knight campus in

Warwick, Rhode Island Warwick ( or ) is a city in Kent County, Rhode Island, United States, and is the third-largest city in the state, with a population of 82,823 at the 2020 United States Census, 2020 census. Warwick is located approximately south of downtown Pr ...

, built on the donated Knight Estate, opened in 1972 as the school's first permanent building and flagship campus. It was followed by three additional campus and two satellite locations. The Margaret M. Jacoby Observatory, located on the Knight Campus grounds, was opened in 1978. The school was renamed the Community College of Rhode Island in June 1980.

Presidents

The following is a list of presidents of the Community College of Rhode Island.

Campuses

The college's primary facility is located in

, with additional college buildings throughout the state. *Knight Campus (

, opened in 1972) *Flanagan Campus ( Lincoln, opened in 1976) *Liston Campus ( Providence, opened in 1990) *Newport County Campus ( Newport, opened in 2006) *Satellite Campus, Westerly Education Center ( Westerly) *Satellite Campus, Woonsocket Education Center ( Woonsocket)

Architecture

Community College of Rhode Island Knight Campus-side

The college's flagship Knight building in Warwick was designed by the Chicago and New York architecture firm of Perkins & Will, in conjunction with Providence firms Harkness & Geddes and Robinson Green Beretta. The campus was designed to house all academic, social, and recreational functions in a single building. The building itself is an enormous concrete structure which terminates in a semicircle, and ranges in height from four to six stories. The design is a notable example of

Brutalist architecture 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 Minimalism (art), minimalist constructions th ...

, and was heavily influenced by the philosophy of

Le Corbusier Charles-Édouard Jeanneret (6 October 188727 August 1965), known as Le Corbusier ( , ; ), was a Swiss-French architectural designer, painter, urban planner and writer, who was one of the pioneers of what is now regarded as modern architecture ...

. The building was hailed by the Rhode Island Historical Preservation Commission as "one of the most striking and innovative contemporary structures in the state" when it opened in 1972. Over time, the Brutalist style generally lost its appeal and became seen as "drab," "hulking," and "bureaucratic," associated with large-scale mass-planning. In 2019, the Knight campus building made local news after being named "eighth ugliest college campus in the United States" by a lifestyle blog.

Academic profile

The college offers the following degrees: *Associate in Arts (A.A.) *Associate in Science (A.S.) *Associate in Applied Science (A.A.S.) *Associate in Applied Science in Technical Studies (A.A.S.-T.S.) *Associate in Fine Arts (A.F.A.) Several one-year certificates are also awarded.

Student life

The school's student newspaper is ''The Unfiltered Lens'', which began publication in 2007. It replaced the ''Knightly News'', which had been active in the 1980s, but had become defunct several years prior to the ''Lens founding.

Athletics

The college athletics teams are nicknamed the Knights.

Notable alumni

Rhéal Cormier Rhéal Paul Cormier (; April 23, 1967 – March 8, 2021) was a Canadian-American professional baseball left-handed pitcher who played in Major League Baseball (MLB), for the St. Louis Cardinals, Boston Red Sox (twice), Montreal Expos, Phil ...

- professional baseball player * Rebecca Haynes - professional basketball player *

Jvke Jacob Dodge Lawson (born 3 March 2001), known professionally as Jvke (stylized in all caps and pronounced "Jake /dʒeɪk/"), is an American singer-songwriter, record producer, and social media personality. During the COVID-19 lockdowns, he star ...

- singer-songwriter and producer * Ken McDonald - college basketball coach * Cynthia Mendes - member of the Rhode Island State Senate * Alex Owumi - professional basketball player * Joe Polisena - member of the Rhode Island State Senate * Tiny the Terrible, professional wrestler and politician

References

External links

* {{coord, 41.868087, -71.386899, type:edu_globe:earth_region:US-RI, display=title Buildings and structures in Newport County, Rhode Island Buildings and structures in Warwick, Rhode Island Community colleges in Rhode Island Education in Kent County, Rhode Island Education in Newport County, Rhode Island Universities and colleges established in 1964 Universities and colleges in Providence, Rhode Island 1964 establishments in Rhode Island NJCAA schools Two-year colleges in the United States