Trustees

Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) was founded in 1963 as a small, primarily business-oriented community college, and located in two floors of a commercial building in midtown Manhattan. The College evolved in response to the advent of open admissions at CUNY in 1970, and later in response to the emergence of new technologies and changes in business and industry.

By 1974, BMCC’s enrollment had increased to over 6,000 day and evening students; today it stands at more than 24,500—not including 11,000 students in the Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development—and BMCC is rated 9^th among the nation’s top 100 community colleges in awarding associate degrees to African-American, Hispanic, Asian-American and other minority students, according to Community College Week and based on data from the U.S. Department of Education.

At BMCC, associate degree programs prepare students for the third year of a 4-year education in Accounting, Allied Health, Business Management, Computer Information Systems, English, Liberal Arts, Mathematics, Media Arts and Technology, Nursing, Science, Social Sciences and Human Services, Theatre and Teacher Education.

In addition, associate degree programs in Health Information Technology, Forensic Accounting, Criminal Justice, Science for Forensics, Childhood Education, Bilingual Education, Biotechnology and others are directly linked to bachelor's degree programs at The CUNY Center's School of Professional Studies, John Jay College, City College, York College and other CUNY four-year schools.

BMCC also offers, through its Center for Continuing Education and Workforce Development, over 300 classes and certification programs in allied health, information technology, emergency management, and other expanding workforce areas. These programs offer training in traditional classrooms, online, and through onsite training opportunities with BMCC’s corporate partners.

To accommodate the school’s increasing enrollment and scheduling needs of working students, BMCC’s degree programs also offer e-learning options in over a thousand classes, in both hybrid and online course formats.

In addition, BMCC holds day and evening classes seven days a week, at the main campus in Lower Manhattan as well as at off-site locations including Lehman College in the Bronx; CUNY in the Heights in Inwood, and Brooklyn College in Midwood, Brooklyn.

MISSION

As one college within The City University of New York, BMCC shares CUNY's mission to preserve academic excellence and extend higher educational opportunity to a diversified urban population. In addition, BMCC is dedicated to providing general, liberal arts, career education and continuing education programs, relevant to the needs, interests and aspirations of students of all ages.

Consistent with the mission of CUNY to preserve academic excellence and extend higher educational opportunity to a diversified urban population BMCC deems its mission as providing general, liberal arts, and career education, including transfer programs, relevant to the needs, interests and aspirations of our students, along with continuing education for students of all ages.

The College is committed to offering quality education in a pluralistic urban environment, to fostering excellence in teaching, to facilitating the enhancement of learning, and to sustaining full access to higher education for those who seek fulfillment of personal, career or socioeconomic goals. BMCC is also committed to providing collaborative programs and services responsive to the educational, cultural and recreational needs of the community.

GOALS

Consistent with its stated mission, the College supports the following goals:

•  To provide higher education to a diverse urban constituency in support of CUNY's policy of open admissions.
•  To provide a collegiate environment conducive to the advancement and reinforcement of teaching and learning.
• To provide all students with a level of proficiency in basic skills to assure their readiness for, and likely success in, college and in the workplace.
• To enable and encourage students to make sensible and informed choices in setting their academic, career and personal goals.
• To provide for all students a general education which fosters personal development, intellectual curiosity, and critical thinking to enhance informed and effective participation in society.
• To promote multicultural awareness and understanding in our college community and respect for pluralism and diversity in our society.
• To prepare liberal arts and career students for transfer to four-year colleges.
• To prepare students in career programs for employment and career mobility.
• To encourage lifelong learning independent of degree programs.
• To enhance the cultural, recreational and social life of the community.
• To maintain a governance structure that facilitates the participation of faculty, administrators and students in the life of the College and encourages contributions and involvement by alumni and advisory groups.

CAMPUS

BMCC moved to 199 Chambers Street in Lower Manhattan, in January 1983. Situated on 4.28 acres, the main campus building spans four blocks from Chambers Street to North Moore Street, and is equivalent in length to the Empire State Building lying on its side. Sweeping Hudson River views are the backdrop for classroom, office and public gathering areas throughout the building, and BMCC makes full use of its proximity to Wall Street and City Hall areas by developing corporate partnerships that result in a wide array of student internships.

Students also benefit from internships and special workshops through BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, housed on campus in two plush theatres; both offering orchestra and mezzanine seating for up to 937 audience members.

In addition to the 71 classrooms, eight seminar rooms, and numerous labs offering the latest in medical mannequin and other allied health and emergency management training equipment, BMCC’s main campus provides three attractive lecture halls seating up to 200 students. It also features a 913-seat auditorium, a 262-seat theater and a 99-seat drama workshop. The A. Philip Randolph Memorial Library spans two floors and provides 550 quiet study carrels, over 120,000 volumes of books, 50,000 electronic journals and other resources.

BMCC also houses one of New York City’s best video arts and technology labs—including professional quality recording studios for students projects—and a newly renovated, intercollegiate-size swimming pool and gymnasium which can be divided into three regulation basketball courts.

In September 1993, BMCC received the largest donation ever made to a community college, a commercial building donated by Miles and Shirley Fiterman and renamed n their honor.

The original Fiterman Hall, located at 30 West Broadway (between Park and Barclay), was just a few short blocks from BMCC’s main campus, and sustained irreparable damage on 9/11 during the collapse of the nearby World Trade Center Towers, as well as when World Trade 7, an office building just across the street from Fiterman Hall, collapsed against it.

Eventually, in the years following 9/11, the original Fiterman Hall was razed and rebuilt. A groundbreaking ceremony for the new Fiterman Hall was hosted by Chancellor Goldstein, BMCC President Antonio Pérez, and NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg on December 1, 2009, and in August 2012, a reconstructed Fiterman Hall opened for its first semester of students.

Designed by the architectural firm Pei, Cobb, Freed, & Partners and built by Hunter Roberts Construction Group, Fiterman Hall now houses 80 classrooms, plus computer and science labs, offices, a fine arts center and public café. Seventeen stories high, it provides a rooftop conference facility, as well as stunning, multi-story glass atriums, sweeping spiral staircases, double-height musical ensemble rooms, dozens of meeting rooms and student lounges, as well as a bicycle storage area. It increases BMCC’s classroom capacity by a third, and reflects BMCC’s promise to meet the needs of this growing and constantly evolving college community.

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