Mar 28, 2024  
2022-2023 Catalog 
    
2022-2023 Catalog [ARCHIVED CATALOG]

History of the College


Capital Community College (CCC) opened as Greater Hartford Community College in 1967 one year after Connecticut established a two-year community college system. A freshman class of 388 students enrolled at a two-story brick building on the east edge of historic Colt Park on Sequassen Street. Led by its first President, Arthur C. Banks Jr., the college grew on its “temporary campus” for seven years.

In 1974 fall enrollment was nearing 2,500. The college moved to a six-story building on Woodland Street, the former Phoenix Insurance Company, to accommodate rapid growth and expand into professional programs. In the same year Capital was established Hartford’s technical institute on Flatbush Avenue, founded in 1946 as the Connecticut Engineering Institute, granted its first technical degrees with Thomas V. Raimondi as its first President. In 1992 the two schools merged in a state-mandated consolidation, operating at two campuses four miles apart.

At the end of 1999 the former G. Fox & Company Department Store on Main Street was selected as the site for a single campus. In 2002 the Community College opened on Main Street after a top-to-bottom renovation of the retail building that is still revered as a downtown landmark where generations of residents shopped and worked. Major employers in insurance, health care and government are within walking distance of a campus adjacent to a revitalized public transit system and major highways. CCC is neighbor to acclaimed art, cultural and historic institutions that provide opportunities to extend classrooms into the city and its neighborhoods.

Since 1969, 328,961 students have enrolled and 16,792 degrees and certificates have been granted. One of 12 community colleges in Connecticut, Capital is one of New England’s most ethnically diverse campuses.

Our Chronology from 1946 to Present

1946 The Connecticut Engineering Institute opens in Hartford as a pilot project that would become Hartford State Technical College.
1948 The Engineering Institute holds its first commencement
1950 The school’s name is changed to Hartford State Technical Institute
1960 Hartford State Technical Institute opens a new campus at 401 Flatbush Avenue
1967 Greater Hartford Community College is founded and enrolls 339 students at classroom facilities in the city’s historic South Meadows. Arthur C. Banks, Jr. becomes its first president.
1967 The State Technical Institute becomes Hartford State Technical College with Thomas V. Raimondi as its first president.
1974 Greater Hartford Community College re-locates to the former Phoenix Insurance Company building at 61 Woodland Street in the city’s Asylum Hill neighborhood.
1992 Greater Hartford Community College merges with Hartford State Technical College in a state-mandated consolidation. The new institution is re-named Capital Community-Technical College
2000 Capital Community-Technical College becomes Capital Community College.
2002 The College moves to a consolidated campus at 950 Main Street.
2010 The College was designated a “Leader College” for its accomplishments on Key Student Achievement Indicators by Achieving the Dream: Community Colleges Count.
2013 Capital confers more than 500 associate degrees and certificates for the third consecutive year. The number of graduates reflects a decade of program and enrollment growth in downtown Hartford.
2014 Through the Hartford Heritage Project students enjoy free admission to cultural and arts institutions in the city and faculty incorporate placebased learning across the curriculum.
2015 The College confers its first degree in Biotechnology and adds new degree and certificate programs in Cybersecurity.
2016 College marks the 40th anniversary of its first graduating class of nurses from its nationally accredited associate degree in nursing program.
2017 Capital holds its 70th Commencement in recognition of the first graduates of the Connecticut Engineering Institute in 1947 - a forerunner of Hartford State Technical College.
2017 The College observes the 50th anniversary of its founding and is ranked in the top 10 of two-year colleges in the nation for adult learners by Washington Monthly.
2018 G. Duncan Harris, Ed.D is appointed Campus Chief Executive Officer succeeding President Wilfredo Nieves, Ed.D.
2019 For a third consecutive year Capital is a top 25 school in the nation for adult learners in The Washington Monthly’s rankings for two-year colleges.
2020
Capital, the first college in Connecticut to be designated an Hispanic Serving Institution (H.S.I.), wins a $3 million, U.S. Department of Education grant for its CASA Guided Pathways project to improve retention and graduation rates of Hispanic and low-income students.