Profile
Our Mission
The City University of New York defines its mission in terms of two basic themes: maintaining and expanding its commitment to academic excellence, and providing access to higher education for all who seek it as “an avenue to economic advancement and personal fulfillment to the citizens of New York City, and in particular to the economically and socially disadvantaged among them.”
Borough of Manhattan Community College (BMCC) was founded in 1963 and opened in 1964 as a small, primarily business-oriented, community college offering programs aimed at the midtown business community. During the next two decades, the mission of the College changed in response to the advent of the City University’s open admissions policy in 1970 and in response to the emergence of new technologies and changes in business and industry. Open admissions significantly extended higher educational opportunities to thousands of students, many of them non- traditional. After BMCC relocated in 1983 to its new building at 199 Chambers Street, the programs of the College became more diversified and reflected many of the emerging new technologies. BMCC now offers a wide range of degree programs, including Accounting, Accounting for Forensic Accounting, Animation and Motion Graphics, Art Foundations, Biotechnology Science, Business Administration, Business Management, Child Care/Early Childhood Education, Childhood and Bilingual Childhood Education, Children and Youth Studies, Communication Studies, Community Health Education, Computer Information Systems, Computer Network Technology, Computer Science, Criminal Justice, Digital Marketing, Economics, Engineering Science, Ethnic Studies, Financial Management, Gender and Women’s Studies, Geographic Information Science, Gerontology, Health Information Technology, History, Human Services, Liberal Arts, Linguistics and Literacy, Mathematics, Mathematics and Science for Secondary Education, Modern Languages, Multimedia Programming and Design, Music, Nursing, Paramedic, Psychology, Public and Nonprofit Administration, Public Health, Respiratory Therapy, School Health Education, Science, Science for Forensics, Science for Health Professions, Secondary Education in Social Studies, Small Business Entrepreneurship, Sociology, Theatre, Video Arts and Technology, and Writing and Literature as well as many non-degree programs in Adult and Continuing Education.
Borough of Manhattan Community College is a vibrant, pluralistic learning community committed to the intellectual and personal growth of students. Working closely with organizations across New York City and beyond, we prepare students from around the globe for degree completion, successful transfer, career achievement, lifelong learning, and civic participation.
Our History
BMCC opened in 1964 as a small, primarily business-oriented community college whose educational focus was to prepare students for business careers and to provide a general liberal arts education for those who wished to transfer to 4-year colleges. At that time, the College occupied rental space in midtown Manhattan.
By 1974, enrollment had expanded from 467 students in 1964 to over 6,000 day and evening students. It became clear that renting classroom and office space was too expensive for a long-term solution, so the City of New York began plans to build a new campus for BMCC downtown on Chambers Street.
The fiscal crisis of 1976 intervened and brought building to a halt with only a steel frame erected. After a five-year hiatus, construction on the new campus resumed, and the College was able to occupy its new home at 199 Chambers Street in 1983. The new campus is home to the BMCC Tribeca Performing Arts Center, which houses three theaters, including the largest theater in lower Manhattan. Athletic facilities include an intercollegiate-size swimming pool and a gymnasium, which can be divided into three regulation-size basketball courts.
Ten years later, in 1993, BMCC received the largest gift made to a community college, a 15-story office building at 30 West Broadway donated by Miles and Shirley Fiterman. That building, irreparably damaged on 9/11 when World Trade 7 fell against it, was razed and the new Fiterman Hall, built in its place, opened in Fall 2012.
Funds for the deconstruction and rebuilding of Fiterman Hall were made possible by a public/private partnership involving Community Board 1 in Lower Manhattan, the Dormitory Authority of the State of New York, the Office of NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, The City University of New York and others. The new Miles and Shirley Fiterman Hall, a 14-story building designed by the architectural firm of Pei Cobb Freed and Partners and built by Hunter Roberts Construction, increased BMCC’s classroom capacity by about a third.
It also houses the Shirley Fiterman Art Center, which in partnership with the BMCC Foundation Board, showcases local and national artists in large, light- filled galleries that are free and open to the public. Situated next door to the World Trade Center site and 9/11 Memorial Museum, it has emerged as a cultural destination for visitors to New York City from all five boroughs and beyond.
Our Facility
The campus, situated on 4.28 acres, became occupied in January 1983. The modern structure, spanning four blocks from Chambers Street to North Moore Street, is equivalent to the Empire State Building lying on its side (minus the tower). The College has 71 classrooms, eight seminar rooms, numerous laboratories, and three lecture halls. The campus library, named after the African- American labor leader and social activist A. Philip Randolph (1889–1979), contains about 120,000 volumes of books and reference titles, 350 print magazine/journal subscriptions, over 28,000 electronic journals, magazines and newspapers; 10,000 electronic books and 18,000 reels of microfilm.
BMCC also boasts an intercollegiate-size swimming pool and a gymnasium that can be divided into three regulation basketball courts.
Other Features of BMCC
A day-care center
A state-of-the-art conference center
An art gallery
A Media Center containing HDTV television and audio studios, multi-media labs and networked post-production facilities
A comprehensive college bookstore
A performing arts center featuring three theatres
Three dining facilities
Production facilities for television programs
Human Patient Simulation Lab
The Media Center
Since its inception, the BMCC Media Center has been among the finest and most technically current in the country. Its mission is to serve the students, faculty, and staff of BMCC—and the community at large—by providing high-quality media production and distribution services.
This multi-million dollar resource supports the academic and professional training programs of the College. The Center provides a full inventory of audio-visual support equipment for your use in conference rooms and lecture halls as well as teleconferencing, media production, and duplication services.
The campus is wired for closed circuit television distribution and operates specialized lab facilities for multimedia development, graphic design, and broadcast quality video editing. The Media Center have 2 HD TV studios, 2 AVID, Graphics, Protool Digital Media Labs and Audio Studio for students majoring in Video Arts and Technology (VAT).
The BMCC Media Center produces original video and television programming for the College, the University and outside clients. The Center’s staff is comprised of accomplished media and educational professionals who are dedicated to bringing to the students, faculty, and community a high level of media services in support of the mission of the College and the University.
Off-Site Programs
The purpose of BMCC’s Off-Site Programs is to bring the College to the community. BMCC wants to expand possibilities and serve the needs of students who want access to higher education. The Off-Site Programs provide students with more options and greater convenience by offering classes at a variety of locations throughout the city during day, evening and weekend hours.
Off-site classes are offered at six locations: Inwood/Washington Heights, Harlem (7th Avenue and 125th Street) State Office Building, Brooklyn College, Lehman College, John Jay College, St. John’s University - Manhattan Campus and Long Island University - Brooklyn Campus. Students can take one course or a full schedule of classes at our off-site locations. This is an ideal opportunity for busy people juggling work and family responsibilities. BMCC also maintains an administrative presence at all sites.