Kalamazoo Valley Community College - History

History

The community college district was established by voters in 1966, enrolled its first students in the fall of 1968, and currently enrolls more than 13,500 students. With the selection of Marilyn J. Schlack as its second president in 1982, KVCC was the first two-year college in Michigan to have a female president.

As recommended by a citizens committee, KVCC assumed the governance of Kalamazoo's public museum, passed a charter tax to support its operations, and successfully completed a $20-million capital campaign to build what is now the Kalamazoo Valley Museum in downtown Kalamazoo. Since its opening in February 1996, it has attracted 1.25 million visitors. In 2004, KVCC opened the Center for New Media as part of the Arcadia Commons Campus to teach the creativity and skills needed by employees in the Information Age that has spawned the World Wide Web and e-commerce. Programs include graphic design, video game art, animation, e Business and several more.

In May of each odd-numbered year, the college, the Center for New Media and the museum hosts the Kalamazoo Animation Festival International in downtown Kalamazoo. Independent and student animators from around the world will take part in the competition, vying for $15,000 in prizes. Screenings of the best of established, pioneering and breakthrough animators are part of the festival along with dozens of entertaining and educational seminars.

KVCC is the headquarters of the Midwest Institute for International/Intercultural Education, a consortium of 50 community colleges that infuses curricula across the board with global components to expand the perspectives of students.