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Volunteer State Community College (VSCC) is a public two-year community college in Gallatin, Tennessee, serving an eleven-county region including the counties of Clay, Jackson, Macon, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, Robertson, Smith, Sumner, Trousdale, and Wilson. The College strives to offer education to a diverse campus community throughout our service area.
Volunteer State Community College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award the Associate Degree and certificates. Contact the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097, or call 404-679-4500, or at SACSCOC for questions about the accreditation of Volunteer State Community College.
Volunteer State Community College is approved by the Tennessee State Approving Agency for the training of veterans and their eligible dependents. Volunteer State Community College holds membership in the American Association of Community and Junior Colleges, and the Southern Association of Junior Colleges, and the Tennessee College Association.
The College is an Equal Opportunity Institution of Higher Learning of the Tennessee State Board of Regents and maintains an “open-door” policy of accepting any student who desires to improve through education. A Faculty Assembly offers the faculty opportunities to become involved in decision making on an advisory level. The assembly is designed to improve communications between the faculty and administration and to express collective faculty opinion on issues of concern. The assembly is chaired by a speaker who is chosen from the body by the elected divisional representatives.
Brief History
The establishment of a state community college in Gallatin was a collaborative effort by many civic leaders and citizens of Sumner County, as well as State officials. A unified proposal for a college was presented to the Tennessee Higher Education Commission in Nashville on September 11, 1967. Following the recommendation of State Education Commissioner J. H. Warf, Governor Buford Ellington presented the college legislation to the 1969 General Assembly, where it was adopted. The Tennessee Higher Education Commission authorized the State Board of Education to establish a community college in Sumner County on June 2, 1969. A 100-acre tract on Nashville Pike was selected for the new campus. The property was deeded to the State on December 4, 1969.
The Board approved the name Volunteer State Community College on July 2, 1970. The Board held groundbreaking ceremonies for the first four buildings on November 5, 1970. Until the initial campus facilities were completed and occupied in early 1972, temporary operations were held in the Cordell Hull Hotel in Gallatin. Using the hotel and the educational facilities of several Gallatin churches, the College began instruction in the fall of 1971 with 581 students. In 1972, the General Assembly established the Tennessee Board of Regents as the governing board for the State University and Community College System, and the College’s central control transferred from the State Board of Education to the Regents System.
Since its 1971 founding, Volunteer State Community College has experienced phenomenal growth in enrollment, curriculum, staff, programs, public service, facilities, and quality. The main campus of Volunteer State Community College now comprises eighteen academic buildings, and the College’s locations in Livingston, Cookeville, and Springfield continue to grow in every respect. Numerous off-campus operations extend the College’s instructional and public service roles throughout its multi-county area.
Statement of Mission
Volunteer State Community College builds futures by providing accessible, high-quality education in a supportive learning environment that connects students to opportunity, strengthens communities, and expands pathways to careers and continued education.
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