Hinds Community College

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

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.