Hinds Community College

Hinds Community College is a community college with its main campus located in Raymond, Mississippi, about five miles west of Jackson, the state capital. The Hinds Community College District includes Hinds County, Claiborne County, part of Copiah County, Rankin County, and Warren County. With an enrollment of nearly 32,000 students at six campuses, it is the largest educational institution in the state, a rarity among community colleges.

Academics
The college currently provides academic college-level courses for the first two years of four-year degree programs that must be completed at senior colleges or universities. It also provides two-year technical degree programs, post-secondary career (formerly called "vocational") programs, secondary (high-school) career education, and short-term training and continuing education.

History
The college began as a small agricultural high school in 1917 with 117 students and eight faculty members. In its transformation into a junior college, it began offering college level academic courses in 1922 and was accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1926. During the World War II years, a vocational education curriculum was added to the college's offerings, and in the late 1960s, technical degree programs were added.

Branch locations in Jackson and Vicksburg were opened in the 1970s. These branches primarily offered high school vocational education, though some college-level night courses were taught. Utica Junior College, a historically black junior college whose history dates back to 1903, merged with Hinds Junior College in 1982 under Federal court order as part of a class action racial discrimination lawsuit. The Pearl-Rankin Vocational/Career Center was opened in the town of Pearl in 1983, offering high school vocational education and some college-level night courses. This branch later became the Rankin Campus and currently offers academic, technical, and career programs. The Jackson Campus-Nursing/Allied Health Center was opened in Jackson in 1984, offering nursing and other medical and dental programs. This center, together with the existing branch in Jackson, became known as the Jackson Campus. A Resource and Coordinating Unit for Economic Development (RCU) was added in 1988 in Raymond and the Eagle Ridge Conference Center was opened in 1996 under the administration of the RCU. The Vicksburg branch became the Vicksburg Campus in 2002 and now offers college-level programs.

Hinds Junior College changed its name to Hinds Community College in 1987 and 13 of the 14 other Mississippi public two-year colleges also adopted the "community" label. Hinds linked up with other two-year colleges by means of the Community College Network (CCN) in 1994. This system allows a course to be offered at one college location while students may participate in the course at several other college locations by means of video conferencing. All of the state public two-year colleges formed the Mississippi Virtual Community College (MVCC) in 1999 to offer courses to students over the Internet. On March 29, 2010, an instructor threatened a 29-year-old student with detention (not a punishment at the college) for swearing outside of class. At a subsequent hearing the student was unconstitutionally barred from his course by the college, and was issued demerits. The student has requested help from the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education to fight the punishment.

Campuses

 * Academic/Technical Center, Jackson
 * Nursing/Allied Health Center, Jackson
 * Rankin Campus, Pearl
 * Raymond Campus, Raymond
 * Utica Campus, Utica
 * Vicksburg-Warren Campus, Vicksburg
 * Aviation Maintenance/Commercial Aviation, John Bell Williams Airport, Raymond

Athletics
The college sponsors varsity football, basketball, baseball, golf, track, tennis, and soccer programs for men, and soccer, basketball, tennis, and softball programs for women.

Notable alumni

 * John Bell Williams, former Governor of Mississippi
 * Chad Bradford, MLB player
 * Corey Bradford, NFL player
 * Phil Bryant, 64th and current Governor of Mississippi
 * John Copeland, NFL player
 * Beasley Denson, former Tribal Chief of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians
 * Faith Hill, Country music singer
 * Grady Jackson, NFL player
 * Earl Leggett, NFL player
 * Leon Lett, Dallas Cowboys Pro Bowl player
 * Scott Mateer, former songwriter and radio disc jockey
 * Ryan McBean, NFL player
 * Michael Myers, NFL player
 * Derek Newton, NFL player
 * Greg Peterson, NFL player
 * Trell Kimmons, Sprinter.

Additional reading

 * Hinds Community College. History of Hinds Community College. 16 August 2006.