Peninsula College

This article is about Peninsula College in Port Angeles. For the medical school in Plymouth, England, see Peninsula College of Medicine and Dentistry.

Peninsula College is an open-access, comprehensive community college located in Port Angeles, Washington, on the Olympic Peninsula. It is part of the Washington Community and Technical Colleges system, and has an annual enrollment of more than 5,600 students. Peninsula College offers a Bachelor of Applied Science in Applied Management degree, transfer associate degree programs, multiple professional-technical degrees and certificates, community education courses and pre-college courses. It also has distance education and online learning options.

Peninsula College's service district encompasses Clallam and Jefferson Counties and extends from the Pacific Ocean at Neah Bay to Brinnon on Hood Canal.

History

The college was founded in 1961 because a group of local citizens wanted to be able to continue their education without having to travel great distances to college centers in Bremerton or across Puget Sound. The first classes were held in a small building on the Port Angeles High School campus, but the number of students who enrolled in the college quickly became more than the available facilities could accommodate, and plans were soon underway to build a permanent campus elsewhere in the city. Construction of the new campus began in 1964, and a year later the first classes were held on the present site of Peninsula College, with additional classes offered across the service district. Today, the main campus covers 75 acres of land in the foothills of the Olympic Mountains, overlooking the city of Port Angeles.

Facilities

Port Angeles Campus

The campus has computer labs, a lecture hall, an educare Center for young children, gymnasium, fitness center, soccer field, and a student union building, known as the Pirate Union Building or PUB. The PUB houses a theater, art gallery, food services, a bookstore, lounge area, and student government offices. Since 2001, more than 79% of the college’s original structures have been remodeled or replaced with modern educational facilities. These include Maier Hall, completed in 2011; a Library/Media Center, completed in 2008; Keegan Hall, completed in 2007; and a Longhouse, completed in 2007.

Maier Hall is the largest building on campus, at 62,950 square feet. The facility includes classrooms, a Basic Skills Center, faculty offices, and a learning lab area that includes computer, math, English, and foreign language labs. The 56,000-square-foot Keegan Hall Science and Technology Building contains a lecture hall, 13 labs, five classrooms, faculty offices, and two conference rooms in two separate wings—a Science Wing and a Technology Wing.

The Peninsula College Longhouse was the first longhouse in the nation built on a community college campus. A collaboration between the college and six local tribes: Hoh, Quileute, Makah, Port Gamble S’Klallam, Jamestown S’Klallam, and Lower Elwha Klallam, serves on a cultural center on campus.

The 26,680-square-foot library is a central teaching-learning resource with a smart classroom, individual and group study areas, conference rooms, print and nonprint collections, and research workstations.

Forks Campus

The Forks campus is located in Forks, Washington, 57 miles west of Port Angeles. The site in late-2014 moved to a newly remodeled building that includes classrooms, conference rooms and study areas.

East Jefferson County locations

Peninsula College has two locations in East Jefferson County—the main campus located in historic Fort Worden in Port Townsend, and a second site, the Jefferson Education Center, located in Port Hadlock. Basic Skills, English as a Second Language, GED classes, community education classes, and Professional Development and Business Training are offered. The college has announced a remodeling project of one of the Fort Warden building to serve as a consolidated extension site, referred to as Building 202.

Bachelor Degree

Peninsula College offers a Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Applied Management degree designed to enable applicants with AAS, AAS-T, AA, and AS degrees to combine their lower-division technical or transfer preparation with upper-division credits in business management, resulting in a four-year degree. It can enable graduates to apply directly to university MBA programs.

Arts & Sciences Transfer Education

Peninsula College awards three associate degrees designed for transfer to baccalaureate institutions awarding the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science degrees. They are an Associate in Arts, an Associate in Science, an Associate in Business Education.

Professional & Technical Education

The Associate in Applied Science and the Associate in Applied Science–Transfer degrees are awarded to students completing an instructional program designed to prepare them for entry into a specific occupation. Professional and technical education programs in which associate degrees and/or certificates are offered include Addiction Studies, Administrative Office Systems, Advanced Manufacturing-Composites Technology, Automotive Technology, Business Administration, Commercial Driver’s License, Computer Applications Technology, Criminal Justice, Cyber-security and Computer Forensics, Early Childhood Education, Emergency Medical Technician, Energy and Innovation Entrepreneurship, Food Service Management, Green Building, Homeland Security/Emergency Management, Information Technology, Multimedia Communications, Medical Assistant, Nursing, Nursing Assistant Certificate, Water Quality Control, and Welding.

Student demographics 2012-13

As an open-access institution, Peninsula College admits all persons, provided they are eighteen years of age or older; or are a high school graduate or equivalent; or have applied for admission under the provisions of a student enrollment options program such as Running Start, a successor program, or other local enrollment options program. During the 2012-2013 academic year, Peninsula College students had the following student profile:

• Full-time 40%
• Part-time 60%
• Female 58.5%
• Male 41.5%
• Median age 30.3%
• Students of color 17.4%
• Students with disabilities 5.6%
• Students who work while attending classes 29.3%
• Students with children 30.6%
• Peninsula College also had 143 international students from 15 countries.

Athletics

Peninsula College men’s and women’s teams compete in the Northwest Athletic Association of Community Colleges (NWAACC) in soccer and basketball.

Accreditation

Peninsula College is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU) to award associate and applied baccalaureate degrees. Peninsula College is approved by the Veterans Administration for attendance by veterans under Public Laws 550 and 894.

Notable alumni

• Ben Johnson, former Chairman of the Makah Tribal Council (1998–2000, 2001–2007)

External links

Main Web Site - http://www.pencol.edu/
Athletics "Home of the Pirates" - http://athletics.pencol.edu