From modest to massive: A brief history of BCC

By Machiko Kaya and Kaitlin Strohschein
BCC was opened on the campus of Newport High School on Jan. 3, 1966. Currently, the school owns a 96 acre, 11 building main campus, a satellite campus, and 25 sites that offer exclusively continuing education classes. The school’s annual student body has grown from 464 students in 1966 to 34,000 students in 2008. Its faculty has grown from 37 instructors in 1966 to 960 faculty and 547 staff members currently. Since its creation, BCC’s systems, programs, and buildings have been changing with society and the community, said Robert Adams, a BCC public information officer. One such modern change may affect the college’s name. On Jan. 2, 2009, the word “Community” will drop off BCC’s title, and the school will officially be called “Bellevue College” if the school passes the accreditation standards of the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities. The Redmond-based Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities is a private organization unaffiliated with the government. Twenty-six of the company’s commissioners review 162 colleges in Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, Oregon, Utah and Washington, according to the NCCU’s Web site. BCC voluntarily decided to undergo the four year college accreditation process this year. “The primary reason for the transition to