Salt Lake Community College opened its doors near downtown Salt
Lake City to 175 students on September 14, 1948. Then known as Salt Lake Area
Vocational School, it had 14 courses of study and 23 faculty members. Many of
the programs were designed to educate and train World War II veterans, who at
that time made up the majority of the student population.
In 1959 the school was renamed Salt Lake Trade Technical Institute,
and plans were made to develop a new campus at 4600 S. Redwood Road in order to
accommodate the growing student population. The new campus was designed to have
buildings that were dedicated to each of the school’s programs, and as these
buildings sprang up over the next decade, the school came to be known as Utah
Technical College at Salt Lake.
For the next 20 years the college experienced one of the most
rapid expansions in programs, locations, students and services in American
educational history. By 1987, the school was renamed Salt Lake Community
College, recognizing its transformation into a comprehensive two-year college
that prepares students to move on to a four-year institution or trains them to
enter the workforce.
Salt Lake Community College now has 11 campuses and locations and is
an accredited, student-focused, comprehensive college that meets the diverse
needs of the Salt Lake Valley. With more than 140 areas of study and home to
more than 60,000 students each year, the college is Utah’s number one provider
of workforce development programs and the largest supplier of transfer students
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SLCC celebrates 70 years of being your community college. To learn more about the school’s history,
check out this comprehensive timeline.
