Arapahoe Community College is a public community college in Littleton, Colorado. It was founded in 1965 as the first community college to open in the Denver area.
History
The college began after a grass-roots movement by Littleton residents, led by Littleton activist Virginia Baker, to provide post-high school education in the area. Arapahoe Junior College began with 550 students. After some years of independent operation, ACC joined the Colorado Community College System, comprising 13 institutions. In 2013, Frank Lee Earley self-published an illustrated memoir, "The View From the Fourth Floor: A Personal History of Arapahoe Community College, 1965–2005", which gives a first-person account of the founding and growth of the college. In 2013, Frank Lee Earley self-published an illustrated memoir, The View From the Fourth Floor: A Personal History of Arapahoe Community College, 1965–2005. In January 2017, the college announced plans to construct a $40 million campus in the Meadows community of Castle Rock, Colorado. The campus was planned to be a collaborative project between ACC, Colorado State University, and Douglas County School District. Construction on the campus broke ground on May 21, 2018 and will open August 16, 2019.
Academics
ACC serves over 21,000 credit and non-credit students yearly across its three campuses in the southern portion of the Greater Denver Metropolitan area: Arapahoe Community College serves the southern portion of the Greater Denver Metropolitan area with three campuses:
The main campus, at 5900 South Santa Fe Drive, Littleton, CO, 80120
Parker Campus, at 15653 Brookstone Drive, Parker, CO 80134
Castle Rock Campus, at 4700 Castleton Way, Castle Rock, CO 80109
ACC is accredited by The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. It has an open-door admissions policy as well as a "concurrent enrollment" program for high school students, allowing such students to earn college credits while still enrolled in high school. In the 2014–2015 academic year, high school students accounted for about a quarter of ACC's total enrollment. The college offers over 90 degree and certificate programs. In addition to its traditional classroom learning environment, ACC has over 200 courses available online. These classes, which include classes such as accounting, mathematics and history, can be used to count towards an associate degree. ACC uses the online learning management system Desire2Learn as the platform for online classes.
Awards
Arapahoe Community College's annual literary magazine, Progenitor, won the American Scholastic Press Association's annual magazine competition with First Place with Special Merit in 2014 and 2015. The publication also won an award for excellence from the University & College Designers Association in 2015. In 2012, the magazine was a finalist for the Associated Press Pacemaker Magazine Award and won first place in the American Scholastic Press Association annual magazine competition. In 2011, ACC's Equality Club won the New Group Award in the first annual Out in the Silence Award for Youth Activism.
