In 1990, the Upward Bound program began at the
college. Upward Bound is a federally funded program that provides
basic skills, and motivation, and development tutoring, advising,
post secondary orientation and cultural enrichment activities
to selected high school students.
| In
1996, Hazard Community College became a
two-campus institution with the addition of Lees College,
located in nearby Jackson . Lees College was a private,
two-year liberal arts school. Lees College traces its origins
back to 1883 when the Reverend John Jay Dickey founded Jackson
Academy . In 1891, Central University of Richmond took control.
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A
short time later, Mrs. Susan P. Lees of New York City provided
generous support for the fledgling institution, and in her honor,
the school was renamed S.P. Lees Collegiate Institution. Lees
Collegiate Institute became affiliated with the Presbyterian Church
in 1906, a tie that remained for 90 years. In 1927,
the school was rechartered as a two-year college and was known
officially as Lees Junior College and then Lees College . Throughout
this period, teacher training and church-relatedness remained
constant.
In
1997, the Kentucky Community and Technical College System
(KCTCS) was created by Governor Paul Patton and the General Assembly
as part of the Kentucky Postsecondary Education Improvement Act
of 1997. On January 14, 1998, Hazard Community College , as well
as 12 other University of Kentucky community colleges, became
part of this new organization. On July 1, 1998, 15 technical colleges
became a part of KCTCS.
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In
1998, the Knott County Branch opened as part of a
Community Development Initiative and began planning its new
multi-million dollar building scheduled for opening in Fall
2002. The Knott County Branch, located in temporary facility
in the old Hindman High School building (also called the former
Knott County Board of Education Central Office Building),
has witnessed dramatic growth in students, classes, and programs
in the two years since the Kentucky legislature funded the
expansion. By 2000, more than 350 students were enrolled in
some of the sixty-six classes offered which included evening
classes taught at Knott County Central High School . |
The
Knott County Branch included a 24-unit computer lab with Internet
access, a mini-computer lab and two distance learning classrooms.
Hazard Community College , along with the Centernet Project of
the Center for Rural Development in Somerset , have made technology
available enabling the Branch to be a “technology center” which
the College keeps open for the general public.
| In
1999, the College led a community effort which secured
the Challenger Learning Center of Kentucky and situated it
in its temporary location in the city's old downtown post
office building, operated by the Hazard Independent College
Foundation and named the William D. Gorman Education Center
in honor of Hazard's mayor. |
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The
College hosts the center, which is operated by a non-profit board.
In 1997 Edward L. Clemons pledged $1 million to the College to
establish a program endowment and provide funds to support the
construction of a permanent site for the Challenger Center and
an Interactive Science Center to be located on the Hazard Campus.
The 1998 Kentucky General Assembly approved $6.5 million for the
construction of the Challenger Center and a new science classroom
addition. Ground breaking for this new center was held on October
6, 2000. March 11, 1999, the Challenger Learning
Center of Kentucky is dedicated.
| And
in 1999, as part of the Knott County Community
Development Initiative, the College began developing The Kentucky
School & Craft, which will combine education and training
of artisans in the traditional Appalachian crafts with entrepreneurial
training. |
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