WNCC 2010 Self-Study Report - Western Nebraska Community ...

History and Geographic Service Region of Western Nebraska Community College
Western Nebraska Community College functions as the educational hub of the Panhandle of
Nebraska. The Scottsbluff site (the original location) houses the main campus with outlying
campuses at Alliance, 60 miles to the north, and Sidney, 75 miles to the south. A comprehensive
two-year public institution serving a diverse constituency, WNCC offers opportunities from transferlevel
courses to vocational skills modules—from pre-professional foundations to workforce training.
Scottsbluff lies in the extreme western edge of the Panhandle of Nebraska, about 20 miles east of
the Wyoming border, and about midpoint north and south of the Panhandle (approximately 65
miles north of the Colorado line and 80 miles south of the South Dakota border).
The College’s service area encompasses 12 ½ counties, covering 17,000 square miles with a
population of about 93,000 people. The WNCC district is larger than the nation of Denmark, and it
equals the land area of Massachusetts and New Hampshire combined. The city of Scottsbluff has
a population of roughly 14,000 people, and its neighbor Gering (separated by a river only) has
about 10,000 citizens. Sandwiched between the two larger towns is a small area called Terrytown.
All together, nearly 25,000 people live within this zone, but a many folks live on the fringes, as with
most rural population centers. Scottsbluff-Gering is a major shopping and health-care center for
Western Nebraska and Eastern Wyoming.
The institution presently operating as Western Nebraska Community College was established in
Scottsbluff in September 1926 as an extension of the University of Nebraska. It operated for one
year as Scottsbluff Junior College and then became inactive, later being reopened in September of
1929, this time as part of the Scottsbluff Public School System. The College operated under that
charter until September 1932, when it became a public, two-year institution. In June of 1968, Scotts
Bluff County College became Nebraska Western College, operating as a junior college but fully
established as a recognized institution of higher education in the Panhandle region of Nebraska.
As a result of an active and effective drive by student groups who feared that the College was in
imminent danger of closing, not only did the College gain taxing authority across the service area,
but a modern 110,000 square feet structure was built for the new institution. Students and staff
members scrambled to move into the new Nebraska Western College building in January of 1969.
Adding residence halls, automotive technology facilities, a childcare facility, a shop, a learning
center, and other buildings, the College’s physical assets expanded across time, although that
1969 central structure has remained the anchor of the College in Scottsbluff. During the history of
Nebraska Western College’s growth, two other educational enterprises were developing in Western
Nebraska. Shortly after Nebraska Western College became a public institution, a merger occurred
with those two entities which would reshape the College again.
The Western Nebraska Vocational Technical School was founded in 1965 by the State Legislature
in Cheyenne County at the former Sioux Army Depot, approximately 12 miles west of Sidney,
Nebraska. In October 1966, classes began at the Vocational Technical School. The school
changed its name to Western Nebraska Technical College (WNTC) in 1971, remaining a technical
education institution providing auto and diesel technology instruction, cosmetology, and aircraft
maintenance training to students. Well integrated into the local community even though the
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