Sandhills Community College

Sandhills Community College is a community college located in Pinehurst, North Carolina. Sandhills was chartered in 1963, and officially opened October 1, 1965. It was the first comprehensive community college in North Carolina to offer a degree for transfer to a four-year college or university. It is part of the 58-campus North Carolina Community College System.

Enrollment

Sandhills has almost 4,000 students enrolled in college-credit curriculum courses and over 11,000 students enrolled in continuing education courses annually.

Campus

Sandhills Community College is located on of long leaf pine-filled land in Pinehurst, North Carolina. The college moved to its present location from Southern Pines in March 1966.

The Sandhills Community College campus comprises ten instructional buildings. Two additions to the college campus are the Dempsey Student Center and Little Hall. Named for Dr. John Dempsey, the current and only the second President of Sandhills, the Dempsey Student Center houses the college bookstore, areas for study, a gymnasium, a fitness center, locker rooms, a game room, a full-service cafeteria, dining areas, and the Ewing Leadership Center. Outside of the Dempsey Student Center is a basketball court, tennis courts, sports fields, a picnic shelter, walking trails and a ropes course.

Computer Technologies, Hospitality and Culinary Arts, and Engineering Technologies are taught in the building named in honor of the college’s long-time Board of Trustee chair, George W. Little. In Little Hall, the Charles and Jane Wellard Technology Center houses state-of-the-art computer equipment and culinary and baking classes are conducted in the Peggy Kirk Bell Center for Hospitality and the Culinary Arts.

Several structures on the campus are undergoing renovations using a 2008 Bond Referendum. Hewett Hall, home of the Landscape Gardening Program, is being demolished and will be replaced with a new two-story facility. Sirotek Hall, where the Automotive Program conducts courses, will see renovations as will the maintenance facility on campus. Blue Hall will be town down and replaced with a two-story building which will house the Mathematics, English and other departments.

The college is also home to the 32-acre Sandhills Horticulture Gardens. Designed and maintained by students in the Landscape Gardening program, the site contains 14 themed gardens, including a whimsical children’s garden and a new Japanese Garden. The largest accessible holly collection on the east coast is found in the Ebersole Holly Garden. A formal English Garden exhibits several smaller gardens, including the Holly Maze, the Fountain Courtyard, the Sunken Garden, the Ceremonial Courtyard, and the Herb Garden.

In addition to the main campus, the Hoke Center located in Raeford provides curriculum, continuing education and basic job skills courses. Basic Skills and Human Resources Development courses are offered at the Westmoore Center in Robbins, NC.

University studies

Sandhills Community College was the first comprehensive community college in North Carolina to offer a college transfer degree. Students are prepared for transfer to four-year colleges and universities through the University Studies Program.

The General Education Transfer Core Diploma guarantees that all 16 universities in the University of North Carolina system will accept, as a block, courses completed as part of the diploma. Students can also transfer with an Associate in Arts, Fine Arts or Science degree.

All instructors in the Sandhills University Studies Program hold at least a Master’s Degree.

Degree Programs

In addition to the University Studies Program, Sandhills Community College offers 36 two-year Associate in Applied Science Degrees (AAS). These programs provide the training necessary to permit entry into increasingly complex and sophisticated employment in business, industry, health, and public service. The AAS degree programs combine a solid foundation in general education with specialized knowledge and skills. Certain programs offer 2+2 transferable agreements with several four-year institutions.

AAS degrees are obtainable in 11 fields that serve the local and extended community: Hospitality and Culinary Arts, Computers, Business, Engineering Technology, Nursing, Health Sciences, Social Services, Automotive, Landscape Gardening, Golf Course Management, and Cosmetology.

Sandhills continually evaluates the local economy with respect to the training and education local businesses desire from prospective employees. Programs are added that fulfill these needs.

Diploma & Certificate Programs

Students desiring training in specific areas which require a certificate or diploma have 35 options from which to choose. These can be earned in a shorter span of time.

Sandhills was the first community college in the nation to guarantee that each graduate is competent in his or her area of expertise or the college will retrain the student free of charge.

Continuing Education

Non-credit continuing education opportunities are offered for professional and personal interests. Computer courses, basic skills education, cooking classes and many special interest courses are all popular choices. Sandhills also strives to enhance the intellectual, physical and personal well being of active retirees in the area through the Center for Creative Retirement.

First Step, Huskins & Dual Enrollment

Courses are also available for high school students at Sandhills. The Huskins Program consists of college courses taught by Sandhills faculty on the campuses of Moore and Hoke County High Schools. In addition, through a dual enrollment program, courses can be taken by high school students on the Sandhills Pinehurst campus or at the Hoke County Center in Raeford. College credit is given through both programs.

Financial Considerations

Attending Sandhills is a fraction of the cost of public and private colleges and universities. Students are able to offset most of the cost with financial aid or by receiving one of the more than three hundred scholarships available through the generosity of local donors. The Sandhills Community College Foundation guarantees, “No deserving student will be denied a Sandhills education because of an inability to pay.” Sandhills is one of the few community colleges in the nation that offers such a guarantee of educational opportunity.

References

• Sandhills' Facts & History sandhills.edu. Retrieved on October 6, 2008.

External links

• Sandhills Community College official site