Manchester Community College (Connecticut)

The Center for Student Development offers support services for students with disabilities and those needing additional academic help, including counseling, advising, tutoring, transitional programs, and services for international and minority students. In addition to traditional tutoring, the Writing Center serves as a place where students can receive drop-in assistance with essay development and structure.

The MCC Career Services and Cooperative Education department provides employment guidance and resources for students, including for the internship program. Specialized services are available for veterans and women, as well as people with disabilities. Additional offerings include the Child Development Center, Tech-Prep programs, and Excursions in Learning programs for youth and families.

Since 1992, MCC has also offered a highly active honors program for students pursuing a more challenging curriculum.[5] The honors program allows students to conduct specialized research, pursue topics of personal interest, write papers to be submitted for publication, and otherwise engage in activities not typically undertaken by MCC students. A minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.4/4.0 must be maintained to remain in the program.

Students in the honors program can take special honors courses in fields such as literature, political science, foreign language, mathematics, and the physical sciences. They receive special notation on their transcripts, in addition to any Latin or semester honors for which they may be eligible.

Through its Continuing Education division, MCC also offers a wide variety of programs throughout the year, including regular credit programs during the summer aimed at working adults. Credits earned through the Continuing Education can be applied to an MCC degree or certificate.

Credit-free programs are also offered by the division during the spring, summer, fall, and winter periods. These are courses of general interest to the local population, typically on topics related to personal development, culture, and hobbies such as gardening and photography. Most credit-free courses meet between four and six times and do not involve the same academic requirements as credit courses.

The Continuing Education division also offers credit-free certificates, including Certified Nurse-Aide, Complete Microsoft Office, Emergency Medical Technician, Oracle Database Administrator, Precision Machining, and Principles and Practices of Real Estate certification.[6]

MCC students have successfully transferred to more than 100 public and private universities, both in Connecticut and throughout the country.

MCC has joint programs with both the University of Connecticut and Eastern Connecticut State University that provide students with guaranteed admission to either university and dual academic counseling while pursuing their associate degree. MCC was the first Connecticut community college to have an articulation agreement with UConn's College of Liberal Arts and Sciences. All students graduating with a 2.0/4.0 GPA or higher can attend any of the Connecticut State University System institutions.

MCC has the largest student activities budget within the Connecticut Community Colleges and also receives separate institutional funding for its athletics teams. All registered student organizations operate under the supervision of the Manchester Community College Student Senate, the college's student government association, which provides each active organization with an annual budget of up to $800, not including additional travel and event special funding opportunities.

The college has more than 35 student clubs and organizations, including business and pre-professional clubs, social groups, and cultural organizations. The college's student newspaper, the Live Wire, has received several awards from the Associated Collegiate Press at its national conventions during the paper's history, while the college's student-run Internet radio station, ICE Internet Radio, has been broadcasting since 2007. The college is also home to the Computer Repair and Share Club, offering computer repair to the students and staff at no charge.

The college is also home to the Manchester Community College Alumni Association, the Manchester Community College Foundation, and the Manchester Community College Organization of Active Adults (formerly the Older Adult Association).

MCC has chapters of several honor societies, with the college's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the two-year equivalent of the Phi Beta Kappa Society, being the largest and most active. Other notable honor societies with chapters at the college include Alpha Mu Gamma, a national foreign language honor society; Alpha Beta Gamma, a national business honor society; and Epsilon Pi Tau, an international honor society for technology students. In addition to holding induction ceremonies at least once a yer, most of the honor societies at Manchester Community College also hold regular events, fundraisers, and other forms of programming, both on and off campus.

The only Connecticut community college with an intercollegiate athletics program, MCC hosts four sports teams – soccer and basketball for women, and soccer and for men. The men's soccer team and women's basketball teams are particularly noted, frequently appearing in the top ten of the national rankings. In addition, the baseball team advanced to the NJCAA World Series in 1994, 2008, and 2009. All teams, known as the Cougars, competed in Region XXI of Division III of the National Junior College Athletic Association.

In February 2013, it was announced that Manchester Community College would be ending its athletic program due to budget restrictions.

The Fitness Center, open to all students, faculty, and staff, offers aerobics and weight-training facilities. Specialized courses in areas such as kickboxing, pilates, and fencing are also available.

Although most cocurricular events are restricted to enrolled credit students, many other programs are available to the Greater Manchester community as a whole. The MCC International Film Series showcases one foreign film per month in the SBM Charitable Foundation Auditorium; there is no admission charge. Special lectures offered by campus-based groups and organizations that include the Institute of Local History, part of the History Department, and the Association on Community & Inclusion, a disability rights organization, welcome interested learners from throughout the community to attend.

The Manchester campus is also frequently used by outside organizations for special events, including charity walks, club and civic organization meetings, political events, and press conferences and special information sessions conducted by other state organizations.