Introduction
Naugatuck Valley Community College (NVCC) is a two-year community college in Waterbury, Connecticut. The campus spans 110 acres and features one of the three observatories in the state of Connecticut.
Naugatuck Valley Community College
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Information Summary
| Overall Score (about) | 47.0 |
| Total Cost On-Campus Attendance | $5,624 |
| Admission Success rate | N/A |
| Student Ratio Students-to-Faculty | 22 : 1 |
| Retention (full-time / part-time) | 59% / 43% |
| Enrollment Total (all students) | 6,237 |
Academics
The main academic divisions at NVCC include Allied Health and Physical Education; Arts and Humanities; Behavioral and Social Science; Business; Engineering Technology; and Mathematics and Science. NVCC offers degrees in most of the standard vocational and technical programs common to community colleges in the United States. Some of the most popular programs of study at NVCC include landscaping, horticulture, engineering, social work, and pre-law.
More unique options include Aviation Science; Palliative Care, which educates health professionals in the care of terminally ill patients; Grant Writing, which assists students working in non-profit industries in winning grant money; and Internet Website Design.
Online Education
NVCC partners with ed2go Online Learning and Oxygen Education to offer manufacturing, test preparation, and career training programs. To give a few examples, one can learn to be a Certified Wedding Planner, Fitness Business Manager, or Nutritionist entirely online.
Studying on Campus
NVCC encourages students to study on campus as much as they care to do. Facilities for student study include the library, which is equipped with several individual study carrels and three group study rooms, including one with several computers; the Learning Commons, with several cubbies throughout the fifth floor; computer labs, which offer networked computers and lab assistance to help with any challenges that arise; Café West, which offers wireless internet along with snacks and drinks; and the Academic Center for Excellence, featuring individual tutoring, small group tutoring, computers, and several other learning resources. There are over 1,100 networked computers for student use on campus.
Most Popular Fields of Study
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Unique Programs
There is a wide range of non-credit learning classes at NVCC to meet interests and aspirations of the community at large. Residents within the NVCC catchment area can sample offerings such as Artisan Bread and Vegetable Gardening or green energy classes to learn how to maintain solar photovoltaic systems for the home, make their houses more energy efficient; or how to reuse materials during renovations.
Kids on Campus
The Kids on Campus program offers a wide variety of enjoyable classes and workshops to school-aged children and teenagers in the Waterbury area during the summers. Past offerings include Faux Metal Art; Jewelry Making for Fun and Profit; Art, Art, Galore; Silk Screening; Fashion Design Experience; CSI: NVCC; The Making of a Band; Beginning Guitar; Belly Dancing; Hip Hop; and a Cooking class that involved learning to make pizza pockets, whoopee pies, and other “fast” foods from scratch. These classes not only engage the students of the future, but they offer current NVCC students opportunities to get involved with teaching and learning how to communicate and engage around their passion.
Admissions
In keeping with their mission to offer educational opportunities to any adult in the catchment area who cares to pursue them, admissions at NVCC are open. There may be further requirements for some programs.
International Students
International students from around the world study at NVCC. Incoming international students are expected to take the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and receive a score of 500 on the paper test or 61 on the internet-based test.
International students who maintain their status and good academic standing are eligible for on-campus employment of up to 20 hours per week after their first semester is complete. They cannot, however, work off-campus. International students should be aware that they may enter the United States no more than 30 days before the start of the semester. Students may begin their placement testing and student advising as soon as they arrive.
Financial Aid
In addition to the wide range of state and financial federal aid options open to any college or university student in Connecticut, NVCC also facilitates application to several local and targeted scholarships for their students. About 45% of students receive some type of financial aid.
Student Financial Aid Details
Students
Demographics
There are about 6,000 students enrolled at NVCC at any given time. About 2,500 of those are full-time attendees, while the remaining 3,500 attend part-time. About 45% of the student body is male and 55% is female. Roughly 71% of the student body is European American, 8% is Latino American, 7% is African American, 3% is Asian American, and 11% self-report as “other”.
Clubs and Organizations
There are several dozen student clubs and organizations at NVCC, including professional organizations, ethnic clubs, religious groups, and interest clubs. Some of the most popular organizations on campus include the Choral Society, the CT Solar-Electric Racing Team, the Fresh Ink Literary Magazine, Green Student Initiative, Opera Society, and the student newspaper, The Tamarack.
Dining
The Marigold Café and Sandwich Board features Caribbean décor and soups, sandwiches, and salads five days a week. It is open for both breakfast and lunch.
Transportation To and From Campus
City buses run regularly to the campus from Waterbury and the surrounding area. Students coming from outside of the area can easily access Waterbury by rail and by plane. The Northwest Region JobLinks program provides transportation to the campus for low income and temporarily disabled residences of Waterbury, Torrington, and the Housatonic Region. For $1.50 (as of 2011) students belonging to these categories are able to get door-to-door transportation services.
Career Services
The Office of Career Services at NVCC offers a wide range of students to graduating students to help them launch successful careers using their academic credentials. These services include assistance writing resumes and cover letters; practice job interviews; research on potential employers, and workshops on using the internet for locating employment opportunities. The office keeps job listings for the area on hand and updates them daily. Graduating students are asked to fill out a portfolio of information that includes their transcripts, aspirations, and faculty reference letters. The Career Services Office can then forward potential job descriptions to students and release their entire file to potential employers as directed. NVCC also offers an online interactive career planning program called Sigi3.
Student Enrollment Demographics
Athletics
NVCC does not sponsor any intervarsity athletics teams. There is a Fitness Center for student use featuring treadmills, elliptical trainers, stationary bikes, a stair climber, free weights, and a weight system.
Local Community
Waterbury is a city of over 110,000 77 miles northeast of New York City. It is within a two-hour drive of Boston, Providence, and New York City. It is also easy driving distance from beaches along the Atlantic Ocean as well as recreational mountain areas. The city is historically heavily Italian-American. It is also home to Portuguese, Lebanese, Albanian, Lithuanian, Irish, and French Canadian communities, making for a healthfully diverse community and student body. It is a largely Democrat-affiliated town, and particularly politically active, due in part to its important role as a campaign spot for politicians from John Kennedy to Joe Lieberman.
A regional campus of the University of Connecticut and Post University are both located in Waterbury, and many transfer students go on to earn bachelor’s degrees from these schools. Top employers in Waterbury include AT&T, MacDermid, Waterbury Hospital, the City of Waterbury, St. Mary’s Hosptal, and the state of Connecticut.
For most of its history, Waterbury’s economy was heavily dependent on the Waterbury Clock Company, a huge and extremely popular watch-making business. It eventually became known as Timex Group, and manufactures the Timex watches so well known today in nearby Middlebury. Man NVCC graduates in the trades go on to work for Timex—many of them the grandchildren and great-grandchildren of Waterbury Clock Company workers.
The only museum in Connecticut dedicated to Connecticut artists, the Mattatuck Museum Arts and History Center is located in Waterbury. Waterbury is also home to the Timexpo Museum, with three levels of exhibits about the history of the Waterbury Clock Company.
Faculty
Over 97% of faculty members at NVCC hold advanced degrees in their area of expertise.
Additional School Information
Women’s Center
NVCC’s Women’s Center supports the intellectual, academic, personal, and professional growth of female students. The Center develops programs, sponsors conferences, and hosts other kinds of events that help to educate students and the wider community about recognizing, confronting, and ultimately dismantling barriers of gender, race, sexual orientation, and disability. Many member organizations on campus and beyond support the work of the Women’s Center, including Center for Teaching, Academic Center for Excellence, Office of Community Engagement, Student Government Association, the local organization combating violence against women called Jane Doe No More, and the Women Business Development Center.
Bibliography
Career Services. Naugatuck Valley Community College. Web. 29 May 2011.
College Facts. Naugatuck Valley Community College. Web. 29 May 2011.
Fiske, Edward B. Fiske Guide to Colleges 2011. Chicago: Sourcebooks, 2010. Print.
General Information. Naugatuck Valley Community College. Web. 29 May 2011.
Kids College Brochure. Naugatuck Valley Community College. Web. 29 May 2011.
Pope, Loren. Looking Beyond the Ivy League: Finding the College That’s Right for You. New York: Penguin. 2007. Print.
Student Center. Naugatuck Valley Community College. Web. 29 May 2011.
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