Mission, History & Governance
Mission | History | Governance
Documents
College Mission The mission of Garrett College is to provide quality higher
education, lifelong learning, and access to the universe
of information so that individuals, businesses, and the community
can achieve personal, entrepreneurial, and collective success.
General Goals
The general goals state purposes to which
two-year public colleges commonly aspire.
1. To provide open access to affordable higher education.
2. To foster high ethical standards, personal and academic
integrity, the diligent pursuit of truth, and equity in the
treatment of all members of the college community.
3. To encourage and assist students in developing a world
view which includes an understanding of diverse cultures
and global issues.
4. To reflect in curriculum design and course offerings
the traditional conviction that human potential is best achieved
through the harmonious development of mind, body, and spirit.
5. To provide educational opportunities and experiences
that enable the student to acquire knowledge required for
successful advanced scholarly studies and personal achievement.
6. To provide career development through educational opportunities
and experiences that enable the student to receive training
balanced among technical, career, and general education.
7. To offer opportunities and experiences for lifelong
learning to a regional population with diverse interests
and changing needs especially for developmental, professional,
and skills training.
8. To strengthen learning, teaching, and institutional
services through a program of comprehensive assessment.
9. To enhance instructional programming and information
services through new technologies.
10. To support student learning through placement testing,
advising, counseling, job placement, developmental education,
tutoring, financial aid, co-curricular events, and extra-curricular
activities.
11. To support business through training, counseling,
and technical assistance.
12. To provide services to address community needs.
Specific Goals
The specific goals identify
the main purposes and ideals pertinent to Garrett’s
service region, its people, heritage, culture, and economy.
1. THE EDUCATIONAL GOAL: Garrett believes in the inherent
value of higher education and lifelong learning as sources
of personal development and in the practical value of a higher
education as a means for achieving economic betterment and
enrichment of quality of life. The College also recognizes
a special obligation to design and provide a curriculum of
study matched to the distinctive needs of the people of its
region. Because the local business environment is one in
which general skills are often as valuable as specialized
skills, Garrett’s curriculum will blend opportunities
for general education in the liberal arts and sciences with
specialization in the practical arts. Continuing Education
will provide a broad variety of learning experiences ranging
from adult basic and career education to personal and professional
development.
Garrett believes that it has a special obligation to advance
a curriculum for academic and professional achievement. Garrett
is the only center of higher education in the county. It
needs to prepare its graduates to compete successfully with
students and employees anywhere. To maximize success in a
rigorous academic program, Garrett will develop an institutional
environment and support programs that motivate and encourage
individual achievement, self-confidence, and success. The
College will stress teaching excellence as a fundamental
and primary institutional commitment. It will also provide
distance education and telecommunications opportunities in
order to prepare its graduates for success in the Information
Age of the new millennium. It will further provide programs
of multiculturalism and global education so that Garrett
Countians can participate effectively in a world of increasing
cultural and global interaction.
2. THE STUDENT GOAL: Garrett College believes it can best
overcome barriers to obtaining a higher education by respecting
and caring for students as individuals, by defining their
strengths and needs, by starting where they are ready to
begin, by providing them with supportive programs and services,
and by motivating and encouraging them to achieve standards
of personal and academic excellence. Garrett seeks to make
itself known as a friendly, open, and supportive college
that makes every student feel welcome and that supports each
individual's aspirations for a better life. It strives to
achieve this mission with full consideration of the scope
and diversity of the needs of both traditional and nontraditional
learners for programs of formal and informal education, practical
training, and personal development and enrichment.
3. THE
COMMUNIVERSITY GOAL: To better serve and advantage a rural
community with limited capital resources, Garrett College
will facilitate provision of access to the full universe
of information in order to facilitate worldwide communications,
foster lifelong learning, improve instructional methodologies,
strengthen economic infrastructure, supplement allied health
services, and stimulate cultural exchange.
4. THE ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT GOAL: Garrett College will
use its resources to promote regional economic development
and to enter into active partnership with regional government,
business, industry, and economic agencies, public and private,
to foster strength and prosperity in regional agriculture,
tourism, small and big business, and industry.
5. THE CULTURAL GOAL: Garrett College
will cooperate with state, regional, and local agencies and
organizations, and concerned residents to preserve and perpetuate
the cultural and artistic heritage and traditions of Garrett
County, and Garrett will seek to make itself a "window
on the world," a
looking glass through which Garrett Countians can participate
in the broader repertoire of human cultural and arts achievement.
Garrett will support programs in multiculturalism and global
education toward this end.
6. THE ENVIRONMENTAL GOAL: Garrett College is located in
a region of exceptional natural beauty. The forests, farmlands,
lakes, streams, and wetlands that surround Garrett have provided
resources for Garrett County’s cultural and economic
development. The health of these resources is critical to
the county’s continued well-being. Recognizing the
value of its unique surroundings, Garrett seeks to serve
as a leader in environmental awareness by fostering within
the college and community an appreciation for the environment;
by promoting a reasoned, balanced approach to environmental
issues facing the community; and by striving to operate in
an environmentally-sensitive manner.
HistoryIn 1967, rural
Garrett Countians voted by a two-to-one majority to found a
community college. The Garrett County Board of Education served
as the Board of Trustees of Garrett Community College until
1976, when the Governor appointed a separate College Board.
McHenry was selected to be the site of the College because
it was the geographical center of the County and could serve
all Garrett Countians equally.
Garrett College opened its doors in September 1971 with a
class of 144 freshmen – 57 full-time and 87 part-time
students. The original campus facility consisted of an Administration
Building, a Learning Center, and a Gymnasium. The Student Center
was completed in January 1983. This facility houses the Student
Assistance Center, Registration Office, Bookstore, Career Information
Center, Laker Cafe, Student Government Office,
student lounge, and game room. The Information Technology Center
was added in 1996, and the Continuing Education and Training
Center in 1979. The center for Adventure and Outdoor Studies
and the Garrett Information Enterprise Center are recent additions.
In 1993, Garrett Hall, Garrett’s first residence hall,
opened to house sixty on-campus students and is located adjacent
to the main campus. Our newest housing complex, Laker Hall,
opened
Fall 2007 and houses 124 students in apartment style living.
The new Learning Resource Center opened in Spring
2008.
In more recent years, Garrett established a trio of signature
programs. It has acquired a national reputation for its Adventure
Sports program, the first of its kind in the United States,
and a regional reputation for its Natural Resources and Wildlife
Technology program. It also offers Maryland’s only degree
program in Juvenile Justice.
Governance Documents
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