HarperCollege

Harper College
As soon as 1950, discussion began about starting a college. An energetic committee was at work with the work in 1961, and a community survey ended in 1962. In 1964, a place college committee studied the feasibility of creating a residential district college. The analysis committee’s report concluded with all the recommendation that “the citizens of these two high school districts…take appropriate steps to bring the voters with the four townships the proposal a college be established.”

Harper College Blackboard

At the start of 1966, the existing 200-acre campus site in Palatine was selected, and also the College was named William Rainey Harper College, in honor of the first President of the University of Chicago and the originator from the community college concept. In the spring, district voters approved a bond referendum by way of a four-to-one margin.



In 1967, Harper’s first faculty members were hired, and courses of instruction for 1,725 students were begun in temporary facilities in September. In the same year, the school broke ground for the first six buildings on campus property.



The William Rainey Harper Educational Foundation was incorporated in 1973 to broaden and enrich the College program through support for these projects as scholarships and special project initiatives funded by private donations towards the College.



In September 1975, a prosperous funding referendum was held that allowed the school to proceed with completion of the Palatine campus. Buildings G and H, housing vocational technology shops and laboratories, were finished in 1977. The Board of Trustees named an interim successor following your founding College President resigned. Harper’s second President assumed the positioning the year after.



In 1978, the College began an important effort to produce a brand new master plan together with a thorough self-study effort. A referendum to improve operating revenue didn't gain voter approval that year. This led to major budget cuts in an effort to match expenditures with income.



By 1980, the campus had increased to fifteen buildings with the opening with the sports and physical eduction, athletics, and recreation facility (Building M) and business, social science, and vocational education housed in Buildings I and J.



In 1982, the College established a CAD/CAM training center in cooperation rich in technology firms in your community. The guts was designed to provide instruction and resource materials concerning computer-aided design and manufacturing.



In February 1985, district residents approved a tax rate increase for operation from the College. This was the very first boost in tax support for the educational programs, services, and operating expenses of Harper College considering that the College was established.



In 1988, the College hired its third President following your retirement of the second President. The College began a comprehensive study in 1990 which resulted in the vision statement “Our Preferred Future.” More than 1,000 College personnel and community residents worked together to produce this document to serve being a Harper College planning guide before the year 2000. In response to a rising industry need, the Corporate Services department, now called Harper College for Businesses, was established in 1991 because the College’s office of first contact representing all programs of great interest to businesses and industry, including credit classes, training, and customised training.



In 1992, a fresh Information Systems Division was formed. Harper designed a new technology plan in 1994, following two years of extensive participation and input by administrators, faculty, and staff. In 1993, the faculty opened Building S to deal with the Publications and Communication Services department. In spring 1994, the Liberal Arts building was opened. Building L included the Liberal Arts Division office,classrooms, faculty offices, and the College Bookstore. A studio (Black Box) theater and three-dimensional art studios occupy the first floor of the facility. Both buildings were a part of a building phase which also included renovations to Building F which houses the training Resources Center and the Academic Enrichment and Language Studies Division.



In 1994, the faculty purchased the Northeast Center (NEC). The Board of Trustees approved the first and second phases of the Technology Plan in 1995 and 1996. The campus computer network was finished in 1996, providing links between offices and classrooms so that as a resource to position Harper for advanced schooling in the present century.



In 1997, Harper College received a 10-year re-accreditation from your North Central Association’s Commission on Higher Education.



In 1998, your fourth President was hired. The faculty implemented a new shared governance structure and published its first comprehensive strategic long range plan (SLRP). Groundbreaking for your new Performing Arts Center (PAC) and the Wojcik Conference Center happened on May 18, 2000. The brand new buildings were partially funded through the Illinois Capital Development Board. In 2002, the conference center opened and was named the Wojcik Conference Center in recognition of your $1.One million member initiative grant provided to Harper by Illinois State Representative Kay Wojcik. At a special Board meeting on August



With a special Board meeting on August 16, 2000, the Trustees were given a comprehensive long-range Campus Master Plan. The program was meant to guide the College in to the future. On November 7, 2000, the Harper College district residents passed an $88.8 million referendum to create a brand new facility to house Harper’s growing science, technology, and health care programs. Construction of Avanté began in fall 2001.



On August 29, 2001, Harper College obtained a new facility in Schaumburg for the Technical Education and Consulting at Harper (TECH) program. The ability, now known as the Harper Professional Center (HPC), may be the site for the new Steps for success degree option.



In 2004, Harper College served when using 37,338 credit and noncredit students through the summer, fall, and spring terms, making Harper one of many largest vocational schools in the country. In 2004, Harper College opened Avanté, Center for Science, Health Careers, and Emerging Technologies. In 2005, Avanté was selected like a Merit Award finalist through the Chicago Building Congress (CBC). The CBC praised Avanté because of its distinctive design and outstanding construction, and its particular positive effect on the encompassing community. In the year 2006, Harper College received the nation's Science Foundation Undergraduate Research grant.

- See more at: http://goforward.harpercollege.edu/about/history/index.php#sthash.l9m1K1WM.dpuf