Images of ECC's past and stories collected from graduates, instructors, staff and former college officials are the focus of a new book and DVD available for sale to the public to commemorate the college’s 60th anniversary in 2009.
The Community’s College: Sixty Years of Elgin Community College is the result of a two-year effort by the college that documents the programs, events and people that shaped ECC’s beginnings from a institution that started in the old Elgin High School on Gifford Street to a district containing more than 30 municipalities.
“When people see the finished product they will be very excited and pleased,” says Jack Weiss, a co-chair of the ECC Book of History Committee and a retired dean. “I think they will realize the stature the college has had in these communities for over 60 years.”
Weiss, along with fellow co-chair Polly Nash, also a retired dean, collected documents pertaining to the college and viewed hours of archival video footage for the book and DVD. She says it was a complete college effort – as students, faculty and staff collected dozens of oral histories from ECC graduates and administrators, and designed the book and produced the DVD.
“I’m pleased by how open and inviting the college community has been in this process,” says Nash. “Everyone has helped participate.”
The 120-page-plus book chronicles the college’s history by era—from its beginnings in the 1950s, planning for what is now the Main Campus in the 1960s, the doubling of District 509 in the 1970s, the growing use of technology in the 1980s, distance learning efforts in the 1990s, and preparations for college growth today. Topics include stories about ECC’s eight presidents; the evolution of student life through the college’s history; the trend of adults returning to ECC to gather new skills; and the strengthening of university partnerships.
The accompanying DVD offers opportunities to hear the ECC story through words and images of people who helped shape the college’s history. Weiss says people will see and hear Gilbert Renner, the college’s first president. The 35-minute video also includes interviews from the college’s first administrators, faculty and students,
The Community’s College: Sixty Years of Elgin Community College is available for $25 for one copy; two copies are $45; and three copies are $60. All proceeds from the sale of this book benefit the ECC Foundation’s student scholarship program.
For more information about ordering, contact the ECC Foundation at 847-214-7377 or visit www.elgin.edu/anniversary to download an order form.