Cleveland Community College (CCC) has been celebrating 50 years of service throughout 2015. Founded on July 1, 1965, as the Cleveland Unit of Gaston College, CCC began offering classes in the fall of 1965 in two rented buildings on North Morgan Street. At the time, the college had only a handful of full-time employees and fewer than 40 students.
In 1967 - just two years after the first courses were offered - CCC became a free-standing institution with its own Board of Trustees: Cleveland County Technical Institute. The institute grew rapidly, offering classes in borrowed spaces, including many church basements. In 1969, CCC moved to county-owned property located on South Post Road - the location where the college resides today.
In the early 1970s, a long-range building plan was developed. The first two buildings, now known as the Wright Occupational Complex and the B Building, were opened for the fall quarter in 1974. The campus continued to grow significantly in both students and buildings in the 1970s and 1980s. The Jack Hunt Campus Center, which includes the Rose Library and the Keeter Auditorium, and the Student Activities Center greatly changed the face of the campus.
The College was renamed Cleveland County Technical College in 1980, and then, in 1987, when it began offering two-year college transfer programs, it became Cleveland Community College.
In the late 1990s, the College added more classroom and office space with the construction of the Paksoy Technology Center. In 2002, the Brown Emergency Training Center was opened.
When the great recession hit Cleveland County, enrollment at CCC hit an all-time high. Almost 4,400 students enrolled in the Spring 2010 semester, breaking all previous enrollment records. Enrollment has since leveled off as the economy has improved.
In 2011, CCC was selected as one of only 120 community colleges in the country to qualify for the inaugural Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, ranking it in the top 10 percent of all community colleges in the country.
In January of 2014, CCC President Dr. L. Steve Thornburg was named the Wells Fargo President of the Year by the NC State Board of Community Colleges. Thornburg had become president of CCC in 1990 after the retirement of founding president, Dr. James Broughton Petty.
CCC celebrated its 50-year anniversary throughout the 2015 calendar year with a variety of activities, including an art exhibit, a birthday bash, a 5K run and the placement of a time capsule.