Cathryn Addy
The Community College System of NH, in a partnership led by the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation recently announced that high school students graduating in 2021 will be offered a tuition-free class at any of NH’s community colleges this fall. This “Gift to the Class of 2021” is a celebration of the resiliency of a class that has had to overcome challenges unique to our time. It is also a reflection of the collective unwavering dedication to students and the communities we serve.
This year, Great Bay Community College (GBCC) celebrated its 75th Commencement. The college began in 1945 as the State Trade School at Portsmouth and has become one of northern New England’s leading two-year institutions of higher learning, offering degree and certificate programs in the sciences, technical studies, and liberal arts while serving as an educational and career hub for students, businesses, and the community. We have enhanced our offerings as a response to the shi
Great Bay Community College president Cathryn Addy was working in Connecticut’s higher education system in 2011, when a proposal to merge the state’s community colleges and universities came to fruition.
Connecticut, as well as states such as Alaska, Georgia, Maine, Pennsylvania, Vermont, and Wisconsin, are welcoming New Hampshire to the list of states that have considered the consolidation of public college systems. So far I think people are open-minded about it and as long as we can be assured that the synergies we’ve established can continue, it can be good, Addy said.
In his biennial budget address on Thursday, Feb. 11, Gov. Chris Sununu announced his intent to merge the Community College System of New Hampshire and the University System of New Hampshire, calling it an “opportunity that can wait no longer.”