Timeline

Spring 1962

Former Parks Commissioner and urban planner Robert Moses and current Parks Commissioner Newbold Morris submit a proposal to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, requesting that the former Maritime Training Station at Manhattan Beach be demolished and redesigned as a public recreation area.

May 7, 1962

The Manhattan Beach Community Group, a neighborhood civic organization that strongly opposed the Moses proposal, appoints a committee to promote the establishment of Kingsborough Community College on the site. Through the efforts of committee members Samuel Bonom, Dr. William Leader, Morris J. Stein, Herman Field, and Henry Modell (as well as allies Brooklyn Borough President Abe Stark and Congressman Abraham J. Multer), the proposal is brought to Mayor Robert F. Wagner, who is favorable to the plan and arranges a meeting between the group and Gustave G. Rosenberg, Chair of the New York Board of Higher Education on October 25, 1962. 

October 30, 1962

Gustave G. Rosenberg appoints a separate Kingsborough Community College Committee, chaired by Board of Higher Education member Gladys M. Dorman.  Other members of this second committee include Mary S. Ingraham, Edward D. Re, Arthur Rosencrans, and Arleigh B. Williamson.

September 12, 1963

The State University of New York approves the establishment of Kingsborough Community College.

January 1964

At the recommendation of Gladys M. Dorman, the Board of Higher Education nominates Jacob I. Hartstein as Kingsborough Community College’s first president. 

April 20, 1964

After considering alternate locations suggested by the City Planning Commission in January, the Site Selection Board finally approves the establishment of Kingsborough Community College at the Manhattan Beach site on April 20, 1964.

September 17, 1964

More than 400 students attend the first student convocation hosted by President Jacob I. Hartstein, which included invited guests Gladys M. Dorman and Gustave G. Rosenberg.

September 23 1964

Kingsborough Community College opens its doors, welcoming 468 students and 39 faculty members.  Classes are initially held in two annex locations: the former Public School 98 at 26^th Street and Avenue Z in Sheepshead Bay, and at the Masonic Temple at Clermont and Lafayette Avenues in Mid-Brooklyn. 

March 25, 1965

President Jacob I. Hartstein officially inaugurated as KCC President at ceremonies held at Whitman Hall, Brooklyn College.

Jacob I. Hartstein
President, 1964-1969

March 1965

The inaugural issue of Scepter, the campus newspaper, is published.   

April 1965

A 60-acre tract of land at Manhattan Beach is formally deeded to the Board of Higher Education.   

August 31, 1965

KCC moves from P.S. 98 to the Manhattan Beach campus, with classes held in two rehabilitated military classrooms. Enrollments increase so rapidly that in addition to the continuing use of the Mid-Brooklyn campus, space is rented at the Manhattan Beach Jewish Center on West End Avenue the following year.

Spring, 1966

The first volume of Odyssey, the college yearbook, is published.  The first issue of Antheon, the annual literary and arts magazine, makes its debut in June.

June 7, 1966

Commencement exercises are held at Whitman Auditorium, Brooklyn College, for Kingsborough’s first graduating class.

April 18, 1967

Noted journalist and author Jane Jacobs, author of The Death and Life of Great American Cities (1961) visits KCC as part of a program entitled “The Social Uses of Power.”

Spring 1967

As political debate in America surrounding the Vietnam War escalates, two opposing student groups are founded during this turbulent historical moment: a Kingsborough chapter of the Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) and, on the opposite end of the spectrum, the American Students for Liberty (ASL). On May 23, some three hundred students attend a debate in which four KCC faculty members argue for and against the war and the policies of the Johnson Administration.

January 1968

The Board of Higher Education approves the Master Plan for the Kingsborough Community College campus and architectural drawings are completed for the permanent campus.   

January 1968

Construction of a series of eight temporary buildings is initiated to house classrooms, laboratories, a library, a cafeteria, offices, and a gymnasium.  The temporary buildings are located in the northeast quadrant of the campus so as not to interfere with permanent construction.

1969

Joseph Shenker

Acting President, 1969-1970

May 15, 1969

An open house is held in the T-2 Auditorium to honor Gladys M. Dorman, Chair of the Board of Higher Education’s KCC Committee, and Brooklyn Borough President Abe Stark for their pioneering contributions to the founding of Kingsborough.

June 8, 1970

U.S. Congresswoman (and later Presidential candidate) Shirley Chisholm, the first African American woman elected to Congress, is the Commencement speaker at KCC’s fifth graduation ceremony.

1970

Theodore Powell

President, 1970-1971

September 1970

The Radio Club is founded, with Professor John Manbeck as faculty advisor; the club soon thereafter inaugurates the college’s first radio station, WKCC. In November 1977 the station switches from AM to the new FM format; as there was already a WKCC-FM in existence, the station chose new call letters, WKRB

April 27, 1971

Boxer and activist Muhammad Ali speaks to Kingsborough students at two events.

1971

Leon M. Goldstein

President,1971-1999

April 27, 1971

The Mid-Brooklyn (Masonic Temple) campus, in use since fall 1964, is vacated to provide classroom space for Medgar Evers College, established in 1970.

March 18, 1972

Famed author Anthony Burgess discusses A Clockwork Orange and other works with KCC students.

April 30, 1972

U.S. Senator and Presidential hopeful Eugene J. McCarthy presents a talk to KCC students, “Toward a Responsible Presidency.”

September 22, 1972

Actor and activist Jane Fonda, along with folk singer Holly Near and activist Tom Hayden, visits KCC as part of antiwar movement activities, sponsored by the Responsive Attitude Program (RAP), a student organization. 

Fall 1973

Construction of the eight temporary buildings and groundbreaking occurs for Phase I of the New Campus Construction is completed.  U.S. Senator Jacob Javitz attends Land Grant ceremony at Kingsborough deeding six more acres of land to the college from the federal government.

May 1977

Demolition begins on the original Administration (A) Building, the oldest remaining building on the campus, which dated from the 1930s.  The North and South buildings, remnants of the Maritime Training Station and used by the college since 1965, were also later demolished.

Fall 1977

Osamu Shimoda’s thirty-five foot, Cor-Ten steel sculpture Ascendance is installed outside the Administration Building. 

1981

Irving Glasser
Acting President, 1981

1985

Governor Mario Cuomo visits Kingsborough.

1988

Groundbreaking of the Marine and Academic Center.

1990

The Kingsborough Light atop the Marine and Academic Center is activated – U.S. Coast Guard Light List #3168

Spring 1991

Passage, a monumental steel sculpture by American artist Melvin Edwards, is inaugurated outside the new Marine Academic Center. 

Summer 1991

A film adaption of David Mamet’s Glengarry Glen Ross, featuring a stellar cast that includes Ed Harris and Jack Lemmon, is filmed in part on the Kingsborough campus.

April 6-8, 1995

The AIDS Memorial Quilt (The Names Project) is on view in the KCC gymnasium as part of a nationwide exhibition tour.  More than 1,100 quilts, each 3 x 6 feet, memorialize those who lost their lives during the AIDS epidemic

1995

The new Kingsborough High School for the Sciences (now the Leon M. Goldstein High School for the Sciences) opens.

1999

Vice-President Al Gore holds a Town Hall meeting on Kingsborough’s campus

1999

Michael Zibrin
Acting President, 1999-2000

2000

Byron McClenney

President, 2000-2003

2001-2002

A new logo is developed for the college, depicting the navigational light atop the Marine and Academic Center as a welcoming beacon.

2004

Regina S. Peruggi

President, 2004-2013

2004

The Academic Village Building (V Building) is completed and opens.

2004

The Kingsborough Community College Way, a pathway to honor graduates, faculty, staff, friends, and business partners is created.

2006

Learning Communities, a KCC program in which one group of students are enrolled in two classes linked by theme, proves to be successful, inspiring other community colleges to adopt the program. Two years later (2008), Learning Communities receives national attention for its innovative pedagogy, as fifteen community colleges come to KCC to receive training.

The ONE STOP Student Center opens, providing students with centralized resources to aid with enrollment and registration.

Online registration becomes available to all students.

2007

KCC’s Center for Economic and Workforce Development opens, providing New York’s under- and unemployed residents with the training and skills necessary to advance their current careers or educational goals.

New certificate programs include Gerontology, Maritime Technology Deckhand, Certified Medical Office Assistant, and Culinary Arts.

U.S. Department of Labor awards $1.6M grant to KCC for Project Welcome, the only community-based job-training program in the country focused on the tourism and hospitality industry.

Author Gay Talese speaks at KCC as part of CUNY’s Best Selling Author Series.

2008

Fifteen community colleges come to KCC to be trained in establishing learning communities.

U.S. Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship recognizes the Center for Economic and Workforce Development’s work in Virtual Enterprise as the “Most Innovative Entrepreneurship Course of the Year.”

June 12, 2009

Dr. Jill Biden, wife of Vice-President Joe Biden and community college advocate and teacher, serves as keynote speaker at Commencement.  Mayor Michael Bloomberg also attends as a special guest.

2010

Single Stop USA opens a center on campus to assist students in securing needed financial support, enabling them to stay in school and complete their education.

2011

KCC receives $50,000 and the “Hero Award” for innovative work in learning communities from the Robin Hood Foundation.

2011

The Urban Farm is established, providing students and the community with urban farming expertise and first-hand experience in building a more sustainable food system.

2013

Stuart Suss

Interim President, 2013-2014

2013

Kingsborough Community College is named a Finalist with Distinction in the competition for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence, placing it among the top four community colleges in the nation.

2014

Farley Herzek
President, 2014-2017

2014

Best-selling novelist and nonfiction author Jonathan Safran Foer speaks at KCC to discuss his book Eating Animals, as part of the groundbreaking college-wide program KCC Reads.

2015

Kingsborough was the only community college in New York State to earn the “Achieving the Dream” Leader College distinction—a national designation awarded to community colleges that commit to improving student success and closing achievement gaps.   

2016

The Art Gallery at KCC, now the Kingsborough Art Museum (KAM), celebrates its 40^th Anniversary.

2016

Kingsborough begins construction on a state-of-the-art Student Union and Intercultural Center (SU&IC).  The center enabling students to have meaningful exchanges that bridge cultural, religious, ideological, political, and lifestyle divides and differences.

June 2017

The annual Rarebit Animation Festival, featuring short films created by KCC and other CUNY students and hosted by the Kingsborough Art Museum, is inaugurated

2017

Peter M. Cohen

Interim President, 2017-2018

2018

Claudia V. Schrader

President, 2018 - Present

2018

Noted American sculptor Melvin Edwards returns to Kingsborough to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of his monumental sculpture Passage

2018

Kingsborough celebrates the 50^th Anniversary of its third graduating class – 1968.

2018

The Kingsborough Holocaust Center opens at Robert J. Kibbee Library

June, 2019

Commencement speaker Leonard Riggio, founder and Chairman of Barnes and Noble Booksellers, announces his donation of one million dollars in scholarship funds for Kingsborough students.

February  2020

Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul announces a major funding award to KCC's Maritime Technology Apprenticeship Program, the first marine mechanics apprenticeship approved by the NY State Department of Labor.

June 2021

Actor/Comedian Chris Rock receives an honorary doctorate at Kingsborough's 56th Commencement Exercises.

September 2021

Kingsborough is ranked 2022's #1 Community College in NY by Niche.com.

October 2021

The New York City Council awarded Kingsborough Community College $1.5 million for its offshore wind basic safety training facility.

2022

Kingsborough unveils its new satellite location at Cypress Hills East New York Community Center, Chestnut Commons.

2022

After two years of masks, social distancing, and remote learning, Kingsborough resumes in-person classes as the COVID-19 pandemic subsides.

2022

The first phase of the Student Union & Intercultural Center (SU&IC) is completed, with NY State Senator Roxanne Persaud--who followed the development of the project from its inception--present for the dedication.

February 22, 2023

Kingsborough Community College hosts its first boroughwide CUNY Presidents and Legislators Breakfast in the MAC Rotunda.

April, 2023

The Aspen Institute names KCC a finalist for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence for the third time.

June, 2023

More than 1,800 Students Graduate from Kingsborough Community College at its 58th Commencement Ceremony

August 28 , 2023

The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) National Institute of Food and Agriculture (NIFA) awarded KCC a $250,000 grant to launch “Hydroponics at Kingsborough Community College,” an innovative new program to help students gain access to new green careers.

September, 2023

Niche.com ranks Kingsborough 2024's #1 Community College in NY. 

September 12, 2023

Kingsborough celebrates its 60^th Anniversary, inaugurating its first Founders Day, September 12, 2023, in commemoration of the college’s 60^th Anniversary.

January 10, 2024

KCC Welcomes Interim President Dr. Suri Duitch.

February 13, 2024

KCC Named a Top Producer of Fulbright U.S. Scholars.

March 3, 2024

KCC’s student journal of arts, “Antheon,”  wins GDUSA American Graphic Design Award.