THE PRESIDENT'S OFFICE
Fredericksburg Area CampusGermanna Center for Advanced TechnologyLocust Grove Campus
Stafford Campus Entrance

Germanna Community College is one of the twenty-three community colleges in Virginia that comprise the Virginia Community College System. It is a two-year public institution of higher education established in 1970. The College takes pride in serving the residents of Caroline, Culpeper, King George, Madison, Orange, Spotsylvania, and Stafford counties and the City of Fredericksburg.

The College is governed by policies set by the State Board for Community Colleges with support and advice from the Germanna Community College Board. Primary funding for the College is provided by the State, supplemented by contributions from seven counties and one city and by student tuition.

Who We Are

Germanna Community College is a public institution of higher education in the Virginia Community College System. As a comprehensive community college, Germanna provides quality, accessible, and affordable educational opportunities for the residents of the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Culpeper, King George, Madison, Orange, Spotsylvania and Stafford.

Mission

As a public, comprehensive community college, Germanna provides accessible, quality educational and training opportunities that meet our communities’ changing learning needs.

This Mission is achieved through:
  • courses, programs, and services that enable students to gain access to and succeed in higher education;
  • associate degrees and courses that prepare students to advance to and succeed in four year colleges and universities;
  • training and services to develop successful employees who meet employers’ specific needs;
  • training, associate degrees, and certificates for students to enter and succeed in the workplace; and
  • services and support for community and economic development.
Vision

Germanna Community College is recognized as the region’s leader and preferred partner providing excellence in accessible educational opportunities and related services to our communities. Our quality learning experiences enable students to participate effectively in the social, economic, political, intellectual, and cultural life of their communities. Germanna, a dynamic learning organization, is the premiere gateway to personal and community development.

Values

Our values influence our thoughts, guide our decisions, mold our policies, and help determine our course of action. Student learning and success are at the heart of all that we do and are demonstrated by:

  • Passion for learning and teaching: We demonstrate our commitment to the belief that everyone can learn. Although at different rates and in different ways, all learners can learn if we challenge, support, and believe in them through everything we do and in every decision we make.
  • Integrity : We are true to our mission, to our values, to our learners, to our communities, and to each other. We say what we mean and we do what we say. We admit our mistakes and take responsibility for our actions.
  • Culture of service: We are dedicated to serving the educational and training needs of our students and communities. Our individual wants are secondary to the mission we serve.
  • Excellence: We seek to achieve excellence and to foster and develop excellence in our learners. We continuously improve our teaching and organizational systems and processes. We embody a culture of evidence and make decisions using that evidence.
  • Professionalism : We exhibit the skill, competence, and character expected of educational professionals.
  • Stewardship : We practice servant leadership. We effectively manage and maintain the resources in our care. We uphold the responsibility placed on us as teachers and supporters of teachers of the current and future citizens of our service area, our commonwealth, and our nation.
  • Respect : We treat our students, our stakeholders, our resources and each other with courtesy and respect. We respect each other enough to speak truths and have courageous conversations, and we do so with civility.

College Strategic Initiatives

Germanna Community College has established strategic planning initiatives considered critical to achieving its Mission and realizing its Vision. These initiatives are:

  • Become a learning-centered college, where teaching is the means and learning is the end.
  • Develop outreach efforts, programs, and services that fulfill the promise of our Mission for all residents of the College’s service area.
  • Develop the organizational culture and structure that support and invest in people to achieve the College’s Mission, Vision, and Values.
  • Develop additional resources to better enable the College to achieve its Mission.
  • Develop systems of continuous improvement and a culture of evidence.


Accreditation

Germanna Community College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award the associate degree.  Contact the Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call 404-679-4500 for questions about the accreditation of Germanna Community College.

In addition, the AAS nursing program is accredited by the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission (61 Broadway, 33 rd Floor, New York, NY 10006; telephone number 800-669-1656, extension 153) and both the AAS nursing and the practical nursing certificate programs are approved by the Virginia Board of Nursing (6603 West Broad Street, 5th Floor, Richmond, VA 23230-1712; telephone number 804-662-9909).


Location & Facilities



Fredericksburg Area Campus


The Fredericksburg Area Campus is located at Lee’s Hill in Spotsylvania County near the intersection of Interstate 95 at Routes 1 and 17 South. Phase I of the Fredericksburg Area Campus opened January, 1997.

The 76,000 square-foot building includes classrooms, laboratories, library, student lounge, bookstore, and offices for faculty and administrative staff to provide a full range of services to students. ImagesThe College received funds during the 2000 legislative session to construct a second building at the campus. Additional facilities, including tennis courts, playing fields, nature trails, jogging paths, and picnic areas, are planned for future development of the 70-acre campus.

Phase II, The Workforce Development and Technology Center, opened in October 2004, is a 40,000 square-foot building devoted to the use of technology for the delivery of instruction and advanced technology training programs.

Located at the junction of U.S. Route 29 and State Route 3 adjacent to the town of Culpeper, the Germanna Center for Advanced Technology occupies 34 acres. Built on two levels, the 39,000 square foot facility is designed primarily for workforce development instruction and technology training. A wide variety of credit classes are also offered.

Some of its features include:

Daniel Technology Center
  • conference center that seats 700 theatre-style
  • banquet seating for 300
  • manufacturing technology lab
  • executive conference room
  • interactive video theatre
  • computer tech lab
  • training suite
  • catering kitchen

Locust Grove Campus

The Locust Grove campus is located on Route 3 midway between Culpeper and Fredericksburg. The campus consists of 100 beautifully wooded acres adjacent to the Rapidan River in Orange County.

The campus building of approximately 65,000 square feet includes classrooms, laboratories (including a state-of-the-art technologies laboratory), a wellness center, bookstore, administrative and faculty offices, a library, information services, business office, and student lounge. Outdoor facilities include tennis courts and a playing field, as well as nature trails, jogging paths, and a picnic area.




Travel Directions
Fredericksburg  | DTC Locust Grove  |  Stafford


History

Bullet  Germanna Foundation

Germanna Community College takes its name from a group of settlers at Germanna Ford on the Rapidan River, where in 1714, Governor Alexander Spotswood established a frontier fort and settlement for the German miners and their families. He named it Germanna in honor of Queen Anne of England and the settlers. During the colonial period, Governor Spotswood established iron foundries at the settlement. The Governor's home, called Colonel Spotswood's Enchanted Castle, sat a short distance north of where the College stands today.

In 1956, descendants of the original settlers at Germanna Ford organized the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc. In 1966, the Virginia legislature created a community college system intended to provide higher learning in both academic and technical areas within commuting distance of every citizen of the Commonwealth. A site selection committee recommended that the College be located in the center of its service region. In 1969, the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies donated 100 acres of property along the Rapidan River to the Commonwealth of Virginia for the location of a community college. On June 5, 1969, the College Board unanimously chose the name Germanna Community College to recognize this generous gift and the local history associated with it.

The College, under the presidency of Dr. Arnold Wirtala, opened temporary offices in the Law Building in Fredericksburg while campus facilities were being completed. Germanna held its first classes on October 13, 1970, in its partially completed building. By winter quarter 1971, the entire building was in use.

In 1980, Dr. Willliam P. Briley succeeded Dr. Wirtala as Germanna's president; in 1985, Dr. Marshall Smith became Germanna's third president. One year later, Dr. Francis S. Turnage was selected as Germanna's fourth president. Under the leadership of Dr. Turnage, Germanna has undergone steady growth.

On October 13, 2000, past and present students, faculty, and staff celebrated Germanna's thirtieth anniversary.

The opening of the Fredericksburg Area Campus in January, 1997 was a major undertaking for the College. The 70-acre site, donated by the John T. Hazel Family, was selected by the Germanna Board on September 12, 1989. State funding for Phase I was acquired mainly through the efforts of Delegate V. Earl Dickinson for whom the first building is named. Additional support was received from the local governments in the Germanna Community College service region and from private donations.

Phase II, The Workforce Development and Technology Center, opened in October 2004, is a 40,000 square-foot building devoted to the use of technology for the delivery of instruction and advanced technology training programs.

On September 9, 1998, the College’s Educational Foundation received its largest single gift to date: 100 acres of land in Culpeper, Virginia. The land was generously donated by Rose Bente Lee, Kaye and Marie Andrus, Nicholas and Flora Tomasetti, and Philip and Susan DeSiato. The college broke ground in October 2004 and construction is currently underway to build a Center for Advanced Technology at the site. Click here for the latest pictures and information.


 
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