Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College (Southern) 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 ...

with its main campus in

Mount Gay, West Virginia Mount Gay-Shamrock is a census-designated place (CDP) in Logan County, West Virginia, United States. Mount Gay-Shamrock has a 2020 population of 1,360. Mount Gay-Shamrock is currently declining at a rate of -2.51% annually. The population was 1, ...

. It is part of the

West Virginia Community and Technical College System West Virginia Community and Technical College System is a statewide system of nine regional community colleges serving the state of West Virginia. It was created to bring uniformity to the state's system of community colleges. Previously some ...

History

The school was founded as the

Logan Logan may refer to: Places * Mount Logan (disambiguation) Australia * Logan (Queensland electoral district), an electoral district in the Queensland Legislative Assembly * Logan, Victoria, small locality near St. Arnaud * Logan City, local gove ...

and Williamson branches of Marshall College in 1960 and renamed as branches of

Marshall University Marshall University is a public university, public research university in Huntington, West Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1837 and is named after John Marshall, the fourth Chief Justice of the United States, chief justice of the Uni ...

when their mother institution achieved university status in 1961. It had community college jurisdiction over

and

Mingo The Mingo people are an Iroquoian group of Native Americans, primarily Seneca and Cayuga, who migrated west from New York to the Ohio Country in the mid-18th century, and their descendants. Some Susquehannock survivors also joined them, a ...

counties. In both cases, the schools were housed in the buildings that had been surplussed by the desegregation of public education. The "branch college", as it was often called, sported basketball teams at each of its two campuses. In 1970, the two branches were merged and became a stand-alone community college. The college's jurisdiction was expanded to include Boone County and Wyoming County. Classes in these counties were held in leased locations until 1971, when a permanent building was constructed in Williamson. In the 1980s, the college was refocused and permanent buildings were built in each county.

Academics

Southern provides both

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 ...

s in 2-year fields (career/technical programs) and the first two years of a four-year degree in the anticipation of a transfer to a bachelor's level institution. The service area of the school was expanded by 1995 legislation that divided West Virginia into eleven districts. Southern serves all of Boone, Lincoln, Logan, McDowell, Mingo, and Wyoming counties. As of 2023, approximately 1,100 students are enrolled at the college and thirty-seven percent are part-time students. Less than half of the students who enrolled in Fall of 2022 returned the following fall; 19 percent graduated and did not return the following fall, while 32 percent simply did not return. The school has no residential programs and no athletics. In 2021, new college president Pam Alderman changed the school colors from gold and black to a light blue. In 2022, Alderman created the school's first mascot Bestfoot, which was reported as a choice by students.

Locations

Prior to the early 2020s, Southern campuses were located in Mount Gay, Williamson,

Foster Foster may refer to: People * Foster (surname) * Foster Brooks (1912–2001), American actor * Foster Moreau (born 1997), American football player * Foster Sarell (born 1998), American football player * John Foster Dulles (1888–1959), America ...

, and

Saulsville Saulsville is a township near Atteridgeville in the City of Tshwane in the Gauteng province of South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces ...

, with a site in

Hamlin Hamlin may refer to: Places United States * Hamlin, Iowa, a city * Hamlin, Kansas, a city * Hamlin, Kentucky, a town * Hamlin, Maine, a town * Hamlin, Michigan, a former community * Hamlin, New York, a town ** Hamlin (CDP), New York, a censu ...

. However, as of 2024, new college president President Pam Alderman chose to close the Wyoming Campus and offered the building for sale. Another campus was lost later in 2024 when the Boone County Board of Education ejected Southern from its shared building.

References

External links

* {{authority control Two-year colleges in the United States West Virginia Community and Technical College System Education in Boone County, West Virginia Education in Logan County, West Virginia Education in Mingo County, West Virginia Education in Wyoming County, West Virginia Universities and colleges established in 1960 1960 establishments in West Virginia