Rockland Community College (RCC) is a public community college in the town of Ramapo, New York in Rockland County. It is part of the State University of New York. The college, established in 1959, became the 18th community college to join the SUNY system. The college offers 51 programs and offers associate degrees and certificates. Additionally, students can earn other degrees, including Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Science, and Master of Arts in the arts and sciences, Doctoral Program in Executive Leadership (EdD), technology, and health professions while attending classes at Rockland through articulation programs with four-year schools. The current enrollment is 6,859 students.

This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page. (Learn how and when to remove these template messages) This article contains content that is written like an advertisement. (June 2018) This article may contain an excessive amount of intricate detail that may interest only a particular audience. (March 2020)

Quick Facts Type, Established ...

Rockland Community College

Type	Public community college
Established	1959; 65 years ago (1959)
Parent institution	State University of New York
President	Dr. Lester Edgardo Sandres Rápalo
Provost	Dr. Victoria Ukachukwu
Academic staff	525[1]
Undergraduates	6,859[1][2]
Location	Suffern , New York , United States
Campus	175 acres (0.71 km2)
Colors	Killarney, Gunsmoke, Cream Can, Tangerine & White
Nickname	Fighting Hawks
Affiliations	State University of New York
Mascot	Rocky the Hawk
Website	www.sunyrockland.edu

Close

The main campus is in Suffern, New York, but classes are also offered at an extension sites in Haverstraw, Nyack and Orangeburg. The Spring Valley satellite campus, sold for $4.2 million, has been discontinued. It was located in the historic North Main Street School.^[3] Instructions were discontinued at the Haverstraw Extension Center in 2020.

The college has more than 525 full and part-time faculty members, including several Fulbright Scholars,^[4] SUNY Chancellor's Award winners, and published authors and artists. The faculty-student ratio is 22:1. Rockland has the third highest transfer rate in the SUNY system and has a Continuing Education programs which served about 3,500 each year.

An institution called Rockland College, chartered by the state Board of Regents in 1878, existed for sixteen years in Nyack, New York.

Rockland Junior College, supported by federal funds disbursed through New York State, and sponsored by Nyack High School was established in 1932 as one of several depression-era two-year schools. New York University and Syracuse University accepted two years of credit from the college. Rockland Junior College shut down in 1935.

Rockland Community College came eighteen years and later was organized to be an affordable, two-year college in location convenient for county residents; it was planned that it would raise taxes by only $4 a year. At the time, Rockland County, the state's smallest in geographic area outside of New York City, was growing exponentially in population and in demand for a skilled, educated work force. Between 1956 and 1970, Rockland's population was one of the fastest growing in the state, expected to double from 107,000 to 215,000 and the number of high school graduates was projected to rise from 700 to 2,463.

Large local industries like Avon Products in Suffern and Lederle Laboratories in Pearl River required more skilled workers, and the growth of Rockland County hospitals, Nyack Hospital and Good Samaritan Hospital in Suffern warranted the creation of a nursing program.

Sixty-nine percent of parents polled expressed interest in their children attending a community college in Rockland County, and 183 high school juniors indicated a strong interest in and an ability to attend a community college in Rockland County.

In 2020, According to the United States Census Bureau, Rockland County, the thirteenth largest county in the State of New York population is 338,329,^[5] Rockland County 65 public schools population is estimated at 40,000 students which includes 22,000 attending the 10 public high schools which currently has a graduation rate of 87%.

The main campus and main entrance on Almshouse Road is located on the crest of a sloping rise in a former farm community known as Mechanicsville, renamed Viola when a post office was established in 1882. The original property included:

• A wooden barn that was converted into a theater and assembly room in the second semester.
• Fields leased to local farmers that yielded tomatoes and cabbage. The college later acquired 150 acres (0.6 km²) of farmland—100 to the south from the Hurschle Brothers Farm, and 50 to the west from the Springsteen Farm—for its current 175-acre (0.7 km²) campus. The barn was used for registration, physical education classes, sports team practices, large classes and final exams, dance classes, student-faculty talent shows, worship services, films, guest lecture series, concert series, even war protest rallies. It also served as the College Barn Theater. The Barn burned in January 1979; in 1983 it was replaced by the Cultural Arts Center.
• A "potter's field" cemetery, the burial grounds for many of the Almshouse residents. Shortly after the college was founded, the county deeded a tract of land in the northern section for establishing a veterans' cemetery, which remains today.
• A small square building with barred windows that served as the first Rockland County jail, later the Ramapo town police headquarters, and still later a police radio station. It was converted into offices and men's locker rooms for the physical education program in the second semester.
• A narrow, tree-lined country lane known as Almshouse Road, which became an interior access road when the current College Road was built.
• The three-story, colonial design Almshouse. In front of the Almshouse is a wooden gazebo that still stands.

RCC is sponsored by the County of Rockland and operating and administered by a ten-member Rockland Community College Board of Trustees that is appointed pursuant to New York State Education Law § 6306.^[12] Nine of the Trustees serve seven-year terms, with five of those appointed by the county and four by the Governor. The tenth trustee is a voting, student representative.^[13] The board in turn appoints a President who hires and supervises the staff. RCC is a community college unit of the State University of New York and is also subject to regulation and visitation by the Regents of the University of the State of New York.

The college is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education.^[14] Some specific programs are also programmatically accredited:

• Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc (ACEN),^[15] formerly National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, Inc. (NLNAC).
• American Occupational Therapy Association Accreditation Council for Occupational Therapy Education^[16]
• New York State Board of Regents, State Education Department, Office of the Professions (Nursing Education)^[17]

Rockland Community College offers 40 associate degrees and 11 one-year certificate programs.^[18] It also partners with other institutions to provide students with pathways to some bachelor's and master's degrees. Like most community colleges, it also provides continuing education and life skills courses.

In 2017 Rockland Community College was ranked the best community college in New York for adult learners in Washington Monthly's recent annual ranking of American colleges and universities. Rockland Community College rated twenty-eighth nationwide out of nearly 1,500 two-year colleges.^[19] The following year, the college was named the fifth Campus Pride's 2018 Best of the Best LGBTQ-Friendly Colleges & Universities^[20]

In 2021, Rockland Community College received the Insight into Diversity Higher Education Excellence in Diversity (HEED) Award^[21]

In 2022, Economic Mobility Workforce Innovation (EMWI) Division of Rockland Community College was introduced focusing on Workforce development that provides employment prospects in work markets by offering comprehensive certificate programs, including Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Medical credentials, Commercial Driver's License (CDL), Google IT, "stack-able" credentials and community educational programs such as Computer literacy and Scholastic Aptitude Test review courses.

The Rockland Hawks compete in the Mid Hudson Conference and belong to Region XV of the National Junior College Athletic Association. Many RCC alumni advance to competing at National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) or National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) sponsored colleges or universities and several have gone on to professional sports careers as players, coaches, scouts and trainers.

• Edmund W. Gordon, education scholar
• Dan Masterson, poet

• David Carlucci, New York's 38th State Senate district - January 1, 2011 – December 31, 2020.
• Abel Ferrara, film director best known for Bad Lieutenant and King of New York.^[28]
• Bruce Kreutzer, assistant coach for the Orlando Magic of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and former RCC basketball player.^[29]
• Thomas P. Morahan (1931 - 2010), New York's 38th State Senate district - May 1999 – July 12, 2010, New York State Assembly 96th district - January 1981 – December 1982.
• Michael Salzhauer, AKA Dr. Miami, best known for being a celebrity plastic surgeon.