A community college in the SUNY system, with its main campus in Jamestown, NY. It also has a Cattaraugus County campus in Olean, NY, the North County Center near Dunkirk, NY, and even the Warren Center in Warren, PA. This writeup will focus on the Jamestown campus, because it is the heart of the system and I went there.
History
JCC was founded in 1950, oriented towards transfer and liberal arts. It has grown over the years from 169 students attending classes at Jamestown High School to an enrollment of over 4,000 among the four campuses today. It was one of the first community colleges to be accepted into the SUNY system.
The Warren Center was the first non-Jamestown campus, starting in 1987. Administration moved from a fragmented operation on Market St. to the present location in the Curwen Building in 1994. The remaining campuses are much more recent additions.
The Campus Layout
The Jamestown campus is located in the northeast part of Jamestown, among Falconer, James, and Curtis streets. It's near Falconer, NY and the Roger Tory Peterson Institute.
The campus itself consists of five buildings, mostly surrounding one inconveniently located pond. The shortest distance between point A and point B is not a path on campus.
The northwestern building is the physical education building, featuring an indoor pool, track, basketball courts, racquetball courts, and a treadwall.
South of the PE building is the Hultquist Library. The first floor is mostly dedicated to the library itself, but also has some distance learning rooms and a small SubWay. The second floor contains most of the offices for the social sciences, as well as classrooms, computer labs, and the all-important secluded rooms for entrance exams and other important tests.
East of the PE building is the Carnahan Center, properly named Katharine Jackson Carnahan Center. It is where the nursing program is concentrated, as well as JCC's Center for Continuing Education outreach program.
East of the library and south of the Carnahan Center is the main building on campus, the Arts and Sciences Center, or ARSC. The main part of the building is shaped like a doughnut, with classrooms in the center, and both classrooms and offices around the perimeter. Most technical offices are on the first floor, with English on the second floor and applied sciences on the third. The ARSC building also houses the 402-seat Scharmann Theater, the music department, and more computer labs. The physics wing is also part of ARSC, as an offshoot on the first floor.
The last building, the Hamilton Collegiate Center, is located to the south of ARSC, and contains everything else: the student union, administrative offices, the bookstore, the cafeteria, the secret lounge, the nurse, and the art room. We were always amused that art was not in ARSC.
Secret Locations
The secret lounge in Hamilton: Between the nurse and cafeteria is a short hallway. The secret lounge is right on the corner where another hallway splits off that hall.
The SubWay in Hultquist: A very small place off a corridor between the library and the northwest entrance (which faces the PE building). Disclaimer: memory is vague because I only found it once. SubWay just isn't worth going back to unless I'm fainting from hunger.
Curricula
Though it started as a liberal arts school, JCC presently also offers introductory courses in technical and scientific fields, including computer science, computer technology (a euphemism for technician), electronics, math/science, and engineering. Pilot lessons are also given in conjunction with the local airport. Other programs include nursing, English, and psychology.
The college has retained its transfer orientation, offering several certificates and a variety of associates degrees. At the time of my departure, the administration was interested in expanding to provide some four-year programs, but the plan has not yet come to fruition.
History section gleaned from the official About JCC pages at their website, http://www.sunyjcc.edu/ (as of the time of writing). Other information is derived from personal experience.
Revision 2: added Curricula section.