General Information About the College

Raritan Valley Community College is a comprehensive two-year college that offers more than 90 associate degrees and certificates. Information about RVCC can be found by visiting its website at www.raritanval.edu.

The College’s distinguished faculty hold advanced degrees and have broad experience in their fields. Class size is small and students have easy access to excellent facilities, including the state-of-the-art Science Center and West Building, The Theatre, and The Conference Center.

The student population is approximately 7,800 each semester, which includes about 4,000 full-time students. In addition, approximately 9,500 students of all ages and backgrounds enroll in non-credit courses, customized training programs, youth programs and more through Corporate and Continuing Education.

Financial support from Hunterdon and Somerset counties, and from the State, enables the College to offer the highest quality education at a relatively low cost.

Close to 1,000 courses are offered each semester in day, evening and weekend sessions and online. Programs of study include career programs that are designed to prepare students for entry-level positions and transfer programs that prepare students for transfer to baccalaureate programs.

Comprehensive student support services, including tutoring, counseling, and transfer and career advisement, are available to all students.

A wide variety of non-credit courses, seminars, workshops and customized training for business and industry are offered through Corporate and Continuing Education.

The Theatre at Raritan Valley Community College offers the best in dance, music, theater and children’s programming year-round.

Physical Facilities

The College’s Main Campus is located on a 240-acre site in Branchburg, Somerset County, New Jersey. In addition to classrooms and laboratories, the Main Campus houses a Theatre, library, swimming pool, gymnasium, fitness center, planetarium, cafeteria, and learning resource center.

Visit the College, or call for more information at (908) 526-1200.

In support of its mission to make higher education as accessible as possible to the residents of the communities it serves, the College also offers selected courses and programs at a growing number of off-campus locations. Current off-campus sites are the following:

• Bound Brook
  111 West Union Avenue
  Bound Brook, NJ 08805
• Bridgewater
  14 Vogt Drive
  Bridgewater, NJ 08807
• Franklin
  415 Francis Street
  Somerset, NJ 08873

For further information regarding any of these sites, contact:

Jose Olivares
Director of Community Outreach
(908) 253-6688
jolivare@raritanval.edu

In partnership with area high school, the College also offers dual enrollment opportunities for concurrently enrolled high school students. Through this program, high school students meeting appropriate academic requirements take courses on their local high school campus and earn academic credit that simultaneously fulfills high school graduation requirements and RVCC Associate degree requirements. Concurrent enrollment opportunities are currently available for students attending the following high schools:

Bound Brook
Bridgewater-Raritan
Franklin
Hunterdon Central
Hunterdon Polytech
North Hunterdon
Manville
Montgomery
Somerset County Vocational/Technical
Voorhees

For further information regarding concurrent high school enrollment, contact

Tarana Baldwin
Director of Academic Program Outreach
(908) 526-8557
tbaldwin@raritanval.edu

History

Founded on November 16, 1965, as Somerset County College by resolution of the Somerset County Board of Freeholders, the College was officially established April 5, 1966, by the appointment of a nine-member Board of Trustees. The College became the state’s first bi-county college in 1987, when Hunterdon County and Somerset County agreed to share in the sponsorship of the College. Located in Somerset County, one mile from the Hunterdon border, the College is ideally situated to serve the two thriving counties.

Somerset County College opened its doors to 229 students on September 12, 1968 at its temporary home: Green Brook High School. In May of 1970, the first commencement was held for 75 graduates.

In July of 1968, the College found a permanent home with the purchase of a 240-acre site in North Branch. With the first phase of construction underway, an interim facility was built - the current Arts Building - to house all College operations. In September 1973, students finally moved into new, permanent facilities that included the current Hunterdon Hall and Somerset Hall buildings. The second phase of construction was completed in 1975, adding to the complex a new College Center - including the dining hall, bookstore, counseling, Student Activities area - and a Physical Education building featuring a full gymnasium, fitness center and swimming pool. The campus continued to grow with the opening in 1985 of a new library and 1,000-seat Theatre.

The College’s major redefining moment came in November 1986, when freeholders from Hunterdon and Somerset approved co-sponsorship of the College. The first bi-county college in the state, Somerset County College was officially renamed “Raritan Valley Community College” in July 1987.

With the merger and new name, the College continued to expand. March 1990 marked the official opening of the 100- seat Planetarium. As part of the College’s 25th anniversary celebration in 1993, the library was named to honor founding trustee Evelyn S. Field, and the Theatre was named for founding trustee Edward Nash.

In June 1993, a Child Care Center opened to serve the children of RVCC students, faculty, staff, and administrators. The Center for Advanced Teaching and Technology, which opened in 1994, brought multimedia resources into the classroom via fiber optics, enabling RVCC to become the first community college in the state to offer the new classroom technology. Four years later, the state-of-the-art Conference Center opened, serving as a conduit to bring the corporate and academic communities together.

Recent additions to the College complex include the Institute for Holocaust and Genocide Resource Center and the Paul Robeson Institute for Ethics, Leadership and Social Justice. In September 2002, the Christine Todd Whitman Science Center opened. The state-of-the-art facility houses the biology, biotechnology, chemistry, physics and engineering laboratories, as well as a lecture hall that provides interactive centers for teaching using technology. An Academic Support Center opened in September 2005, enabling students who need extra help in such areas as math, writing or science to find everything they need in one centralized location at the College. The West Building opened in Fall 2007. The 18-classroom building houses the Computer Science department. In a far-reaching effort to enhance workforce training programs for Somerset County residents while reducing administrative costs by sharing services, in July 2010 RVCC assumed administration of all post-secondary programs previously offered by the Somerset County Technology Institute (SCTI) in Bridgewater.

From its early days in Green Brook High School to today, Raritan Valley Community College is constantly expanding and improving to meet the changing educational needs of Somerset and Hunterdon county residents.

Accreditation

Raritan Valley Community College is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education, Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools, 3624 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA 19104, (215) 662-5606. The following College programs are accredited: Nursing - National League for Nursing; Ophthalmic Science - Commission on Opticianry Accreditation; and Health Information Technology - CAHIIM, the Commission on Accreditation for Health Informatics and Information Management Education. The Paralegal Studies Program is approved by the American Bar Association. Raritan Valley Community College is licensed to operate and to award associate degrees, diplomas, and certificates by the New Jersey Commission of Higher Education.

All accreditation documents are housed in the Office of the President. Copies of these documents are available for review during regular business hours.

Affirmative Action and Compliance Statement

Raritan Valley Community College is firmly committed to a policy of Equal Opportunity and Affirmative Action, and will implement the policy to assure that the benefits, services, activities, programs and employment opportunities offered at the institution are available to all persons regardless of race, creed, color, national origin, ancestry, age, sex, marital status, religion, affectional or sexual orientation, gender identification and expression, atypical hereditary cellular or blood trait, genetic information, liability for service in the Armed Forces of the United States, or disability, and in accordance with the state and Federal Laws: Title IX, Title VII, Civil Rights Act of 1964; Executive Order 11246, as amended; Title IX, Educational Amendments of 1972; section 503 and 504, Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended; Veteran’s Assistance Act of 1972; as amended. Inquiries regarding compliance with Civil Rights Laws may be directed to the Human Resources Office, (908) 526-1200, extension 8345.

Membership

Raritan Valley Community College is a member of:

• The American Council on Education
• The Association of Governing Boards
• American Association of Community Colleges
• The New Jersey Association of Colleges & Universities
• The Association for Continuing Higher Education
• The National League of Nursing
• National Institute for Staff and Organizational Development (NISOD)
• Alliance Members of League of Innovation
• New Jersey Virtual Community College Consortium
• American Mathematical Association of Two-Year Colleges
• National Association of Developmental Education (NADE)

Americans with Disabilities Act

If you require special accommodations, contact the Coordinator of Disability Services at (908) 526-1200, extension 8418. For additional information, check the RVCC website. Raritan Valley Community College fully complies with the regulations and stipulations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended. No student or employee may be discriminated against based upon a disability.

Distance Learning

RVCC offers 125 online and hybrid courses, including almost 50 general education courses. Hybrid courses, where class time is divided between traditional classroom or lab activities and online instruction, combine the convenience of online courses with the personal attention of classroom interaction.

RVCC offers the following degree programs entirely online:

• A.A. in Liberal Arts
• A.S. in Business Administration
• A.S. in Management Information Systems
• Certificate in CPA Education Requirement

In addition, at least 85 percent of the courses are offered online for the following degree programs:

• A.A. in Business Liberal Arts
• A.A. in Criminal Justice
• A.A. in English
• A.A. in Liberal Arts-Communication Studies
• A.A. in Liberal Arts-Social Science Option
• A.S. in Health Science
• A.S. in Science and Mathematics-Computer Science
• A.S. in Mathematics
• A.A.S. in Accounting
• A.A.S. in Business Management
• A.A.S. in Marketing
• A.A.S. in Health Information Technology
• Certificate in Corrections
• Certificate in Health Information Technology-Medical Coding

Academic Departments

RVCC offers the following nine Academic Departments:

Business & Public Service
Third Floor, Hunterdon Hall
Ellen J. Lindemann, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8878

Communication & Languages
Second Floor, Somerset Hall
S. Laurie Reynolds, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 6698

Computer Science
West Building
Steven Schwartz, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8969

English
Third Floor, Somerset Hall
Christine Pipitone-Herron, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8816

Health Science Education
Second Floor, Hunterdon Hall
Patrice Case, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8877

Humanities, Social Science & Education
Third Floor, Somerset Hall
Kimberly Schirner, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8816

Mathematics
Second Floor, Somerset Hall
Patti Hulsen, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 6698

Science & Engineering
Whitman Science Center
Margaret Czerw, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8817

Visual and Performing Arts
Arts Building
Ann Tsubota, Chair
(908) 526-1200, extension 8876