Paul Rozycki
Overview
The history of Mott Community College is a story of 75 years of changes that have challenged the institution--challenges that few other community colleges have had to face. Over the past three-quarters of a century the college has moved from a few rooms in a corner of the city's major high school, to a charming if somewhat creaky refurbished sanitarium, to a 56-acre campus in the heart of Flint's College and Cultural Center, and then to a variety of extension centers and a branch campus.
Since 1923 the college has been at least two quite different colleges. In its first decades as Flint Junior College it was a junior college in the most classic sense, offering the first two years of a university degree, and little else. Only later, when economic demands and the educational make-up of the area changed, did the junior college evolve into a community college, offering a balance of both academic preparation for a university degree and occupational programs leading to a job.
In spite of the fact that it wasn't the oldest junior college in the state, the Flint college was the second to be accredited by the North Central Association in 1926 and has retained its accredited status ever since.
As the calendar passed the half-century mark, Flint's civic pride blossomed and important local leaders moved to establish a permanent monument to Flint's accomplishments: The College and Cultural Center which traced its origins to a General Motors founder, Charles Stewart Mott.
As major philanthropists lined up to build the Cultural Center they also came forward to support the new junior college campus. At this time C.S. Mott donated 32 acres of land adjacent to the Oak Grove campus for the purpose of building an athletic fieldhouse and, as it would turn out, a whole new campus. In 1955 Mott gave six and a quarter more acres for additional facilities. In quick succession new buildings were constructed on the donated land. The first building, the Ballenger Field House, was completed in 1954.
The Harlow H. Curtice Building was first used in 1955 and in the same year the C.S. Mott Community Center of Science and Applied Arts (the Mott Building) was built. These two buildings are now joined and form the Curtice-Mott Complex.
In 1957, the Mott Memorial Building was completed and became the home of The Senior College of the Flint College of the University of Michigan where the junior and senior years of a college degree were offered. The Cady B. Durham Natatorium, next to the Ballenger Field House, was finished in 1958. In 1959, the Michael A. Gorman Building of Science and Technology was completed, followed by the Charles Stewart Mott Library, built in 1960, and the Prahl College Center, opened in 1972. In 1973 the Board approved a master plan to remodel the college, providing for the first major face-lift since the construction of the College and Cultural Center in the 1950s. The plan was the first long-range master construction and renovation plan the college had in its first half century. By 1978, 14 remodeling and renovation projects were either completed or underway, physically remaking the campus. Part of the reconstruction plans included making the campus barrier-free for the disabled, as wheelchair accessible doors, drinking fountains and elevators were added to most buildings. In 1978 the Wagner Auto Lab was dedicated and provided training in a variety of auto repair areas and the college offered courses at 13 extension centers. In 1977 the University of Michigan began to leave the Mott Memorial Building for their new campus in downtown Flint, and the community college began moving its classes into the building.
In 1961 the Board of Education authorized a major management study on the entire educational system in Flint. As the college responded to the report, the dean of the college said that the biggest challenge for the next five years would be building an "unexcelled" occupational program while keeping a "high-caliber" transfer program. In the 1989 North Central Association Self-Study Report, Blocker is given credit for guiding the college from a junior college to a gradually evolving community college.
By 1990 there would be more than 80 career programs offered. One brief summary of the college's history, part of the NCA Self-Study Report in 1989, pointed to 1960 as the time when the nature of the college changed as it evolved into a community college.
By the late 1960s a number of factors drove the college to pursue independence from the Board of Education. In October of 1968 a formal resolution of separation was prepared. Flint Community Junior College became Genesee Community College following a district-wide vote for an operating millage and the election of a College Board of Trustees.
When C.S. Mott died in February of 1973 at age 97 there was strong sentiment from many that the name of the college should be changed to reflect its greatest benefactor. By July, Genesee Community College became formally known as Charles Stewart Mott Community College.
During the 1970s the number of students grew from about 7,200 in 1970 to nearly 10,000 in 1979. In 1975 Mott had the largest enrollment of any community college in the state with nearly 11,000 students.
In the 1970s the college continued to develop more and varied occupational programs, which became increasingly important towards the end of the decade as auto plants closed and layoffs grew in the Genesee County area.
In addition to the expansion of occupational programs, attempts were made to reach out to other groups of students in new ways. A weekend college was begun, as were women's programs, child care programs, a nursing program for the disadvantaged, a veteran's affairs coordinator, a hearing impaired program, gerontology program, classes for senior citizens, a social work program, a fire protection program, international studies program, a writing center and labor studies program.
In 1981 the college entered the computer age in a major way when student registration was computerized. The electronic age also showed its face as Mott began to offer classes via television in 1981. The program grew from two classes to the largest in the state. More than two dozen telecourses and Internet courses have been produced in the following years by the Mott faculty and staff.
In 1988, the college was able to begin a number of renovations on campus after having passed the first of several bond issues to fund the extensive remaking of the campus. By the early 1990s the college approved plans for a branch campus near Fenton. The Southern Lakes Branch Campus (SLBC) was located just north of Fenton about 15 miles south of Flint.
During this time the college also expanded the range of its academic offerings. In conjunction with Wayne State, Ferris State, Central Michigan and Eastern Michigan universities, some bachelor's and advanced degrees were available through the University Center located in the Mott Memorial Building.
On the other end of the academic spectrum, in 1991 the college provided space for the Mott Middle College. The program is designed for troubled but talented high school students in the Genesee County area. Though organizationally separate from the college, it is located in the Mott Memorial Building, and the students have access to the full college campus.
Responding to NCA’s general education initiative, in 1991 the college significantly revised its basic degree requirements regarding general education to require courses with a multi-cultural focus, humanities or social science courses and laboratory science courses. Students were also expected to demonstrate basic math proficiency, learn to use a computer, and take at least one course that included "writing across the curriculum."
In 1986 the Foundation for Mott Community College was established as an organization for channeling private contributions to the college. Funds from both corporate and individual donors are used for many college activities, scholarships and community activities.
In 1985 the North Central Association renewed Mott’s accreditation for another five years. In 1989, a self-study of the college was completed and in 1990, North Central extended the college's accreditation for a ten-year period.
In 1992 the college gained the approval of a $20 million bond issue that financed continued remodeling of classroom buildings, a total renovation of the Gorman building, and an updating of the campus computer system. The bond issue also funded Mott's expansion of three new occupational areas: technology, health care, and culinary arts. By the mid-1990s the college had installed a professional state-of-the-art commercial kitchen in its newly designed Applewood Cafe.
The college commissioned Dick Alfred and Pat Carter, University of Michigan consultants, to conduct a thorough study of Mott and its future goals. The study was probably the most significant examination the college had experienced since the Booz, Allen and Hamilton Report of the early 1960s.
The Alfred-Carter Task Force recommended eight major areas of improvement
for the college. They included:
By mid 1998 the voters approved a $36 million bond issue for development of a Regional Technology Center to provide technological job training for the changing economic demands in the area. A millage vote for an increase in operating funds, however, failed.
The area served by Mott Community College is centered in the city of Flint, the largest city and county seat of Genesee County Michigan. The city was first settled by whites in 1819 and was incorporated as a city in 1855. In the 1880's and 1890's it was a center for the lumbering industry. Before the turn of the century it had become a center for the wagon and carriage industry that in turn provided the basis for the newly emerging automotive manufacturing business. In 1908 William C. Durant founded the General Motors Corporation in Flint, consolidating several auto-manufacturing companies into a single unit. One of the earliest investors in General Motors was Charles Stewart Mott, the philanthropist for whom the college is named.
With the dramatic growth in the auto industry in the early part of the century the auto plants expanded and the city population boomed, growing from about 38,000 in 1910 to 156,000 in1930. The economic opportunities attracted immigrants from the rural south as well as eastern and southern Europe to the Flint area. The events of the Great Depression led to huge layoffs of workers and spurred attempts to unionize autoworkers. In 1936 and 1937 Flint was the site of "The Sit-down Strike" that led General Motors (and later other auto companies) to recognize the United Auto Workers as the key union for those working in the auto plants.
By the 1950s the city was booming as General Motors dominated the auto market in the U.S. and Flint was selected as an All-American city for its growth and accomplishments. At this time C.S. Mott, Michael Gorman and other civic leaders initiated the development of the "College and Cultural Center" just east of downtown Flint. The huge project included an art museum, a public library, a planetarium, a large auditorium, a smaller theater, a museum and a new campus for what was then Flint Junior College.
By the 1970s and 80's, General Motors' market share declined, and the region faced increasing layoffs as one auto plant after another was closed. The city of Flint was particularly hard hit, dropping from a population of over 190,000 in the early 1970s to about 135,000 today. Genesee County did remain more stable, down only slightly from a population of just over 450,000 to a total of about 436,000 today. Over the last 25 years auto manufacturing jobs have declined from about 80,000 to approximately 33,000 today. Estimates are that the number will continue to decline as General Motors closes additional plants in the area. In recent years, however, unemployment has dropped as auto sales have been strong. In 1997 the unemployment rate was 5.4 percent and per-capita income was $22,815. In September of 1998 the unemployment rate was 4.5 percent. The area has also seen strong economic growth from nearby Flint township to the west, a large retail shopping area and from Oakland County to the south with its high-tech economic base. The economic base of the county is changing dramatically, and sometimes painfully, as the role of the auto industry and manufacturing declines in importance.
The region faced its share of racial tension and yet became the first city in the nation to pass an open housing law in a public vote and the first major city to elect a black mayor. Almost 50 percent of the city of Flint population and about 19 percent of the county is African-American.
With its strong union membership and large African American population, the county has usually given Democrats an advantage at the polls. Yet in the southern part of the county Republicans do find some success.
In addition to Mott Community College, the largest institution of higher education in the area, the region includes several other colleges and universities: Baker College, the largest branch of a statewide system of private colleges, generally oriented towards business; The University of Michigan-Flint, a satellite campus of the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, offering a wide variety of bachelor’s degrees and several master’s programs; Kettering University (previously General Motors Institute) a private university focusing on engineering and management.
The area also offers cultural and recreational opportunities. In addition to the College and Cultural Center's DeWaters Art Center, Whiting Auditorium, Sloan Museum and Whiting Auditorium, nearby Crossroads Village gives visitors a view of life in a small village a century ago. Flint has its own symphony orchestra and also brings nationally known performers to the Whiting Auditorium. Several groups operate area art galleries, and there are a number of active theater groups in Flint and surrounding communities.
Self-Study Office telephone number: (810) 232-8032
MCC/NCA 2000
Website: http://edtech.mcc.edu/nca/index.htm
E-mail address:
ncassg@edtech.mcc.edu
OR
Ncaselfstudy@email.mcc.edu
Self-Study Coordinators: Susan Edwards
2120MMB sedwards@edtech.mcc.edu
Jim Drummond 2120MMB drummond@edtech.mcc.edu
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Mott Community College - North Central Self-study
Created: 6/1/98 Updated:01/10/2000