Mesa Community College
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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| Established | September, 1963 |
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| Type | Community College |
| President | Larry K. Christiansen |
| Faculty | 11,000 |
| Students | 28,000 |
| Location | Mesa, Arizona, United States |
| Campus | Main |
| Colors | Blue, Red, White & Black |
| Nickname | Thunderbirds |
| Website | http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/ |
Mesa Community College in Mesa, Arizona, is the largest of the 10 community colleges in the Maricopa County Community College District. Enrollment in the spring of 2002 topped 24,000 full- and part-time students. It was founded in 1963, and is particularly known for its competitive emergency medical technician program.
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[edit] Campuses
The college has one main campus and five branch campuses:
- Southern and Dobson, in the western part of Mesa, Arizona, serves the majority of the students
- Red Mountain, in northeast Mesa
- Williams Gateway, at Williams Gateway Airport
- ASU Research Park, in south Tempe, Arizona
- Country Club and Brown, in downtown Mesa.
- Centennial Way, which specializes in business and industry classes, is also in downtown Mesa.
In addition, MCC offers classes over the Internet.
[edit] Accreditation
This community college is accredited by the North Central Association, the same organization that accredits ASU. There are classes that are required to transfer, called CAS classes listed on the AZ-CAS page at http://az.transfer.org/cas/students/index.html.
[edit] Controversy and Scandal
In October and November 2006, the East Valley Tribune and the Arizona Republic investigated and uncovered several instances of alleged misconduct and questionable acts by the administration. The college and its president Larry K. Christiansen have come under fire for several acts of alleged malfeasance. The college has been the target of several investigative inquiries regarding misappropriations of athletic public funds, nepotism, and also the handling of college employee misconduct. Another investigation looked into all-expense paid trips by faculty and administration to exotic locales totaling $324,000 during the last five years, which is paid through tax dollars. These trips did not include any students. Since then, Maricopa County Community College District chancellor Rufus Glasper has immediately halted all travel. Glasper said, in response to recent scandals, but most notably the mishandling of employee misconduct, that he intends to launch an array of reviews to root out and prevent wrongdoing.
On November 15, 2006, the editorial board of The Arizona Republic's Southeast Valley bureau suggested that MCC should focus more on its credibility with the community and its students in light of recent accountability problems that have been plaguing the college for years.[1]
