Huntington Junior College (HJC) is a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * "In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorded ...

junior college A junior college is a type of post-secondary institution that offers vocational and academic training that is designed to prepare students for either skilled trades and technical occupations or support roles in professions such as engineering, a ...

Huntington, West Virginia Huntington is a city in Cabell County, West Virginia, Cabell and Wayne County, West Virginia, Wayne counties in the U.S. state of West Virginia. The County seat, seat of Cabell County, the city is located at the confluence of the Ohio River, O ...

. It was founded in 1936 and its campus is currently located in the former Cabell County Public Library building. The college offers six

associate degree An associate degree or associate's degree is an undergraduate degree awarded after a course of post-secondary study lasting two to three years. It is a level of academic qualification above a high school diploma and below a bachelor's degree ...

programs as well as stackable certificates and micro-credentials. It is

accredited Accreditation is the independent, third-party evaluation of a conformity assessment body (such as certification body, inspection body or laboratory) against recognised standards, conveying formal demonstration of its impartiality and competence to ...

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 ...

History

Carnegie Public Library 2012-10-14 15-18-12

During the mid-1930s,

Huntington Huntington may refer to: Places Canada * Huntington, Nova Scotia New Zealand * Huntington, New Zealand a suburb in Hamilton, New Zealand United Kingdom * Huntington, Cheshire, England * Huntington, East Lothian, Scotland * Huntingto ...

resident Chester A. Riley Jr. identified the need for an institution to prepare the city's workforce for the skilled manufacturing and office positions that were available as a result of the area's economic growth. Riley and his wife, Peggy, established Huntington Junior College in 1936 in downtown Huntington. On its opening day, the college's faculty consisted of two teachers and its student population consisted of five secretarial students. Its initial curriculum consisted of courses in

shorthand Shorthand is an abbreviated symbolic writing method that increases speed and brevity of writing as compared to Cursive, longhand, a more common method of writing a language. The process of writing in shorthand is called stenography, from the Gr ...

typing Typing is the process of writing or inputting text by pressing keys on a typewriter, computer keyboard, mobile phone, or calculator. It can be distinguished from other means of text input, such as handwriting recognition, handwriting and speech ...

, and

bookkeeping Bookkeeping is the recording of financial transactions, and is part of the process of accounting in business and other organizations. It involves preparing source documents for all transactions, operations, and other events of a business. T ...

. For its first two years in operation, HJC was located at 920 Fifth Avenue, above the present location of Jim's Steak & Spaghetti House. Chester A. Riley Jr., served as the college's president for over 60 years. Around 1980, HJC relocated to the former Cabell County Public Library building in downtown Huntington at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Ninth Street. The college renovated the library building to accommodate its academic programs while preserving the structure's historic integrity. On November 14, 1997, HJC was

by the

of the

North Central Association of Colleges and Schools The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools (NCA), also known as the North Central Association, was a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states engaged in educational accreditation. It ...

. HJC commemorated the 75th anniversary of its establishment on August 31, 2011. From its foundation in 1936 until 2011, more than approximately 5,200 people graduated from HJC. In September 2022, the college was re-accredited through the 2031–2032 school year by The Higher Learning Commission. The college was granted non-profit status in March 2023. Carolyn Smith served as president and director of HJC until March 2022 when it was acquired by SensibleSchool, Inc.

Frederic J. Fransen Frederic John Fransen (born 1965) is an American academic. Although he first came to prominence as the author of ''The Supranational Politics of Jean Monnet'', a study of Monnet's critical contributions to the foundations of the European Union, ...

, the CEO of Certell, Inc. became president of HJC. Kiko Suarez was appointed Chief Academic Officer in June of that year.

Academics

According to the

Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education 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 Ad ...

, HJC is classified as an "exclusively undergraduate two-year" associate's college. HJC is accredited by the

. The college's Medical Assisting Program is accredited by the

Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health Education Programs (CAAHEP) is an accreditation agency for postsecondary education programs in 30 health science fields. Programmatic accreditation is granted after an education program is reviewed and ...

Administration

, Fred Fransen was the college's president. The college is also advised by a governing board consisting of community business and academic leaders. The governing board provides guidance on the college's curricula and general operations.

Curriculum

In the 2021–2022 academic year, HJC offered six associate degree programs in administrative technology,

business management Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

dental assisting Dental may refer to: * Dental consonant, in phonetics * Dental Records, an independent UK record label * Dentistry, oral medicine * Teeth See also * * Dental care (disambiguation) * Dentist (disambiguation) * Tooth (disambiguation) A tooth (: t ...

medical assisting A medical assistant, also known as a "clinical assistant" or healthcare assistant in the US, is an allied health professional who supports the work of physicians, nurse practitioners, physician assistants and other health professionals, usually ...

medical coding A medical classification is used to transform descriptions of medical diagnoses or procedures into standardized statistical code in a process known as clinical coding. Diagnosis classifications list diagnosis codes, which are used to track disea ...

, and substance use counseling. Most of these programs are offered through

hybrid learning Blended learning or hybrid learning, also known as technology-mediated instruction, web-enhanced instruction, or mixed-mode instruction, is an approach to education that combines online educational materials and opportunities for interaction onli ...

. HJC utilizes the academic quarter calendar consisting of four three-month quarters of classes.

Admissions and tuition

HJC has an

open admissions Open admissions, or open enrollment, is a type of unselective and noncompetitive college admissions process in the United States in which the only criterion for entrance is a high school diploma or a certificate of attendance or General Educati ...

policy. Full-time tuition during the 2021–2022 academic year was $10,050. In fall 2022, the college announced that it had frozen tuition for the third year in a row. The college has a 95% retention rate. In 2019, HJC students had a student loan default rate of 6%, below the national average of 15.2% for similar schools.

Student body

As of fall 2022, the student body totaled 151 students, according to the

National Center for Education Statistics The National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) is the principal federal agency responsible for collecting, analyzing, and reporting data on education in the United States. Established under , it operates within the Institute of Education S ...

. The college has 6 full-time total faculty and 5 part-time faculty and a student-to-faculty ratio of 18 to 1. According to fall 2021 data on undergraduate student age, 15% of the college's students were aged 24 and under and 85% of students were aged 25 and over. Regarding the residence of the school's undergraduate students, 80% of students were in-state and 20% of students were out-of-state. The majority (86%) of the students enrolled at HJC are enrolled in

distance education Distance education, also known as distance learning, is the education of students who may not always be physically present at school, or where the learner and the teacher are separated in both time and distance; today, it usually involves online ...

, with 56% enrolled only in distance education, and 13% not enrolled in distance education.

Campus

HJC is located in the former Cabell County Public Library building in downtown

. The

Beaux-Arts style Beaux-Arts architecture ( , ) was the academic architectural style taught at the in Paris, particularly from the 1830s to the end of the 19th century. It drew upon the principles of French neoclassicism, but also incorporated Renaissance and B ...

Carnegie library building was constructed between 1902 and 1903, with $35,000 of its funds donated by

Andrew Carnegie Andrew Carnegie ( , ; November 25, 1835August 11, 1919) was a Scottish-American industrialist and philanthropist. Carnegie led the expansion of the History of the iron and steel industry in the United States, American steel industry in the late ...

. Cabell County Public Library vacated the building in 1980, after which, the edifice was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on April 3, 1980. According to the United States Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, HJC is classified as having a small city campus setting. There is no campus housing for the college's student population.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Huntington Junior College 1936 establishments in West Virginia Education in Cabell County, West Virginia Universities and colleges established in 1936 For-profit universities and colleges in the United States Huntington, West Virginia Two-year colleges in the United States Private universities and colleges in West Virginia