JEFFERSON STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE – ST. CLAIR-PELL CITY CAMPUS
Jefferson State Community College celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. The school’s four campuses in Jefferson, Shelby, St. Clair and Chilton counties serve more than 14,300 students each year. On top of that, 3,650 high school students earn college credit through the school’s dual enrollment program and approximately 2,500 students receive workforce certification for in-
demand jobs in as little as six weeks. The college, along with its students and alumni, adds more than $574 million annually in income to its four-county service area.
Jefferson State’s St. Clair-Pell City campus opened in 2006 and has served more than 6,850 students in St. Clair County. It offers a variety of transfer programs and career and technical degree programs, including nursing, manufacturing and technology, mechatronics and welding.
The campus also offers many short-certificate programs that deliver non-credit workforce training for jobs such as welding, IT, commercial driver’s license, lineworker, heavy equipment operation, web development, certified nursing assistant, medical assistant, pharmacy technician and more. These “fast track” offerings can be completed between six weeks and six months.
In August 2024, the St. Clair-Pell City campus introduced the Women in Welding scholarship program, made possible through a grant from the Women’s Foundation of Alabama. The 15-week welding course covered all course expenses and provided transportation stipend and tools for 12 women participants.
GADSDEN STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE
Gadsden State Community College operates five campuses in Etowah, Calhoun and Cherokee counties and is one of six historically Black community colleges in the state. According to the school’s fall 2024 summary, its total enrollment was just over 5,000 students; the majority take classes online or at the Wallace Drive campus in Gadsden.
Among the school’s top programs are child development, civil engineering and technology, computer and information sciences, emergency medical technology, industrial maintenance technology, office administration, registered nursing, salon and spa management and welding. Sixty-five of the college’s programs can be completed in two years or less and prepare graduates for direct entry into the workforce. Top dual enrollment programs are electrical technology, emergency medical services, general studies, human services, mechanical design technology and welding technology.
In June 2024, the college opened a new Advanced Manufacturing and Workforce Skills Training Center on the East Broad Campus. The $24 million center features 10 laboratories, seven classrooms, 11 offices, a multipurpose room, 10 tool and storage rooms, a storm shelter, a testing suite, a kitchen and serving area, a breakroom and six restroom areas. It also includes glass viewing areas for prospective students and industry partners. The college’s mechatronics, industrial automation, precision machining, mechanical design technology, additive manufacturing and electronics engineering programs are housed there.
In May 2024, the college announced plans for a large-scale renovation of the Wallace Hall Fine Arts Center and academic wing. The nearly $7.9 million project will include a complete renovation of classrooms and studio space, renovations to the computer lab and restrooms and new electrical, plumbing and mechanical systems. Exterior renovations include an updated brick and precast facade, a new courtyard with lighting, new front entries for the Fine Arts Center and the academic wing and all new windows.
In April 2024, Gadsden State broke ground on a $10 million baseball-softball complex that will have synthetic turf, LED lighting, new scoreboards, locker rooms and restrooms, a concessions building, bleachers seating 150, press boxes and a covered hitting facility with three synthetic turf hitting and pitching lanes.
WALLACE STATE COMMUNITY COLLEGE – ONEONTA CAMPUS
Wallace State Community College’s Oneonta campus, an extension of the college’s main campus in Hanceville, offers a variety of academic and technical programs and courses that are designed to meet the educational and workforce needs of its community.
The Oneonta campus was established in 2016 in a building that has since been converted into a Technical Center. The Academic Center, located in downtown Oneonta next to the library, opened in 2019 and houses academic programs, classrooms, computer labs, science labs and administrative offices.
In response to high demand, Wallace State is expanding its workforce training options with the addition of a full-time CDL instructor. The college also has a robust adult education program serving Blount County, and the Oneonta campus offers free ESL and GED classes.
Students can also pursue associate degrees in arts and science, taking courses in general studies and liberal arts, all options that are ideal for those planning to transfer to a four-year university.
The Oneonta campus graduated its first nursing cohort in August 2024. More than a dozen students successfully earned a practical nursing certificate and the opportunity to sit for the NCLEX licensure exam to become licensed practical nurses. The students were also extended the opportunity to continue their nursing education at the main Hanceville campus to earn an associate degree in nursing and sit for the NCLEX licensure exam to become registered nurses.
With graduation and completion rates among the highest in the nation, Wallace State has earned national and regional attention for its commitment to student success.
The Aspen Institute has named Wallace State a finalist for its 2025 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. The institute also recognized Wallace State President Dr. Vicki Karolewics as one of 25 innovative leaders selected from across the country to participate in the second cohort of the Aspen Presidents Fellowship sponsored by JPMorgan Chase.
Wallace State has been named an Achieving the Dream Leader College, is ranked by Southern Business and Development among the Top 3 institutions in the South for workforce development, has been named a Center of Excellence by the National League for Nursing and the National Security Administration, rated the Top Online Community College in Alabama, a Military Friendly Institution and an All-Steinway School.
This article appears in the April 2025 issue of Business Alabama.
