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Once a technical institute, VWCC celebrates being one of the first colleges in the state’s community college system.
Julianne Rainone Jacob / Currentimage: courtesy of Virginia Western Community College / archival image courtesy of the Virginia Room, Roanoke Public Libraries
Before it was Virginia Western Community College, this Roanoke institution had another name. But its mission has remained largely the same.
Pictured here is what once was Roanoke Technical Institute. The institute opened in 1961 as an offshoot of Virginia Tech. Its purpose was to train technicians in the industrial, scientific, electrical and mechanical arts and sciences as a way to enhance the economic efficiency and safety of the manufacturing, engineering and industrial enterprises of the state.
Six years after it opened, the institute merged with the University of Virginia’s Roanoke Center to become Virginia Western, according to a historical account published in The Roanoke Times.
It was one of the first colleges in the state’s new community college system, which was financed by Virginia’s first sales tax and created to provide needed workforce training and education for the commonwealth.
There was an obvious demand for a community college education. More than 1,240 students enrolled when Virginia Western opened its doors, leading to long registration lines and a rush on the college’s mere 238 parking spaces, according to The Roanoke Times.
Now Virginia Western, one of 23 community colleges in the state system, has an annual enrollment of more than 9,000 students in credit courses. Also, there are more than 1,400 students enrolled in its fast-track workforce and continuing education classes.
The areas of study range from engineering and manufacturing to culinary arts and healthcare.
Virginia Western hasn’t stopped growing. The college’s largest building to date, a new 72,000-square-foot facility for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, opened last year on the 70-acre campus. The building houses an array of academic programs, including mechatronics, engineering, biology, chemistry, biotechnology, physics and mathematics.
“We want to prepare students for careers that are available now and those that don’t even exist yet,” said Amy White, dean of STEM at Virginia Western, in a news release.
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