Asheville–Buncombe Technical Community College - Ab Tech

Ashevilleâ€"Buncombe Technical Community College is a public two-year community college established in 1959 in Asheville, North Carolina. The college is one of the oldest in the North Carolina Community College System that serves Buncombe and Madison counties, although students from anywhere may enroll. As of the 2014-15 school year, the curriculum enrollment was 10,070 and continuing education enrollment was 14,053 students. These figures make the school one of the largest in the North Carolina system. A-B Tech offers more than 120 degrees, diplomas, and certificates.

Accreditation programs recognizing A-B Tech include the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the North Carolina Board of Nursing, the National Accrediting Agency for Clinical Laboratory Sciences, the Joint Review Committee on Education Radiologic Technology, the American Dental Association, the Commission on Dental Accreditation, and the Accreditation Review Committee on Education in Surgical Technology.

History

Ashevilleâ€"Buncombe Technical Community College was originally funded by a bond election. The institution was established on April 3, 1958 and began serving students September 1, 1959 as the Asheville-Buncombe Industrial Education Center.

Following legislation creating the North Carolina System of Community Colleges, enacted in 1963 by the General Assembly, the name was changed on January 9, 1964 to Asheville-Buncombe Technical Institute. This legislation enabled the college to confer the Associate in Applied Science degree for the first time at graduation ceremonies in August 1964.

The Board of Trustees approved a third name change to Asheville-Buncombe Technical College on August 6, 1979. A final name change occurred November 2, 1987 when the Board of Trustees approved Ashevilleâ€"Buncombe Technical Community College, an action that became official when endorsed by the Buncombe County Commissioners on November 3, 1987.

In October 1988, the college received approval to offer associate degree programs. In September 1989, the college enrolled its first class for the Associate in Science degree. The Associate in Arts degree was first offered during summer quarter 1990-91.

On January 18, 1990, A-B Tech opened a site in Madison County. The college had served the county from temporary quarters at the Marshall Elementary School since December 12, 1984.

By the fall term of 1997, the college had re-engineered all programs and converted to the semester system.

On October 23, 2000, BASF Corporation donated nearly 37 acres and three buildings to A-B Tech to establish a satellite site in Enka that includes a Small Business Center, the Business Development and Incubation Program, pro bono professional services, a student incubation program, the Craft Beverage Institute of the Southeast, the NC BioNetwork, and Blue Ridge Food Ventures.

On November 8, 2011, voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax increase to fund a $129 million construction campaign to provide facilities suitable for training students for 21st century jobs. Included in this plan was the $37.5 million 170,000-square-foot Ferguson Center for Allied Health and Workforce Development, the college's largest building, which opened in January 2016. Benefactors Jack and Carolyn Ferguson donated $5 million for the building's furniture and equipment. The construction included construction of a conference center and 650-space parking garage, which was christened the Mission Health/A-B Tech Conference Center in March 2016, when Mission Health made a $1 million donation to purchase naming rights for up to 10 years.

Curriculum

The first program offered by the college was Practical Nursing. Electronics Engineering Technology and the Machinist programs were started in 1960. These three curricula are still offered along with many other career and college transfer programs.

The A-B Tech offers Associates degrees in Arts, Science, Fine Arts, Engineering, Applied Science degrees, 24 college transfer pathways, and many diplomas and certificates.

Historic buildings

The Ashevilleâ€"Buncombe Technical Community College main campus is on the former estate of Col. John Kerr, a veteran (Confederate) of the American Civil War. The 144-acre campus has historic buildings, including Fernihurst, the Smith-McDowell house and Sunnicrest.

Fernihurst, the former summer residence of Col. John Kerr, is a brick Italinate style house named after the Kerr family castle in Scotland. Located on a hill, south of the Smith-McDowell house, Fernihurst is part of the A-B Tech Community College Culinary Arts Program.

The Smith-McDowell house, on the A-B Tech campus, was constructed in 1840 for James McConnell Smith. The house is the oldest brick building in Buncombe County and is currently a nonprofit museum that is included in the National Register of Historic Places.

Sunnicrest is one of five (and the only remaining) R.S. Smith-designed model cottages built by George Vanderbilt on Vernon Hill in what was then the town of Victoria. Sunnicrest houses the Human Resources Department of the A-B Tech Community College.

St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines, a Religious of Christian Education school, opened in 1908 and moved to the three-story 80-room former Victoria Inn in 1910, its third location. The school merged with Asheville Country Day School in 1987, creating Carolina Day School. A-B Tech bought the St. Genevieve campus while the new school at Asheville Country Day's campus. The only remaining building from St. Genevieve-of-the-Pines is Ivy Hall, an auditorium and gymnasium built in 1936. A-B Tech announced plans in 2016 to renovate the structure for use as a public event space and College Advancement offices.

References

External links

• Official website)