Statement of Purpose - 1979

Rhode Island Junior College

Rhode Island Junior College is an institution that is broad in purpose, creative in design, and service oriented. Founded with the aim of serving all the citizens of the State and providing educational opportunities for all Rhode Island, the Junior College has continued to fulfill this purpose through its fifteen year history.

In looking to the future of Rhode Island’s community college system, off-campus sites have already been established in Newport and in Westerly to bring the services of the College even closer to the community. Under the leadership of the College’s second president, Edward J. Liston, inaugurated April 1, 1979, Rhode Island Junior College will carry on the expansion of both credit and non-credit courses. As in the past, each year will bring new services, courses of instruction, and programs geared to the needs of the students and the communities of Rhode Island.

The challenge for Rhode Island Junior College lies in providing both transfer and career-oriented programs of the highest caliber. In the transfer program the Junior College has established an equality of academic instruction comparable to any collegiate level program. The career-oriented programs offer students both the cultural and vocational advantages of collegiate life as well as training in those technical disciplines, which will provide students with saleable skills and the potential for economic self-sufficiency. In meeting this dual challenge, no post-secondary institution could provide more service and support to its community than Rhode Island Junior College has done and will continue to do.