Indian Hills Community College (IHCC) was established as Merged Area XV by the Iowa Board of Public Instruction on June 3, 1966. The college district includes the school systems in Appanoose, Davis, Jefferson, Keokuk, Lucas, Mahaska, Monroe, Van Buren, Wapello and Wayne counties in southeast Iowa.
The college began operations July 1, 1966, at the Ottumwa Industrial Airport under governance of a nine-member board of trustees. Then called Iowa Tech - Area XV Community College, the college conducted technical education programs that included those formerly operated by the Ottumwa Community School Board. The airport campus of Indian Hills covers 215 acres and is located seven miles northwest of Ottumwa. Technical programs in Aviation Maintenance Technology and Aviation Pilot Training are operated at that location today.
Centerville joins
The Merged Area Board assumed responsibilities July 1, 1968, for operations of Centerville Junior College, which had been established by the Centerville Community School Board in 1930.
The Centerville campus was completed in 1970 on a 72-acre site northwest of the community. Offerings include Arts and Sciences courses and technical education programs in Drafting and Virtual Reality Technology, Building Trades, and Practical Nursing.
Ottumwa Heights
The boards of Indian Hills Community College and Ottumwa Heights College merged operations on July 1, 1979. Ottumwa Heights, a private college operated by the Sisters of Humility of Mary, began in 1864, when the Visitation Academy was established in Ottumwa. The St. Joseph Academy was founded in 1925. It name was changed to Ottumwa Heights College five years later.
The Ottumwa Heights College facility, a 126-acre campus located on Grandview Avenue on the north side of Ottumwa, was purchased by the Indian Hills Community College Board of Trustees in 1981. It is the administrative center of IHCC and houses Arts and Sciences programs and the majority of the technical education and health occupations programs. The original building is used for administrative offices, the library, an art gallery, an auditorium, dormitory space, and Arts and Sciences and some technical education classes. The library and art gallery were completed in the former chapel in 1984.
Adding on
A building program at this site has resulted in a number of new facilities. The Hellyer Student Life Center and the Efner Academic Hall were dedicated and opened in October of 1985. The Economic Development Center, now known as the Bennett Student Services Center, was completed in 1987. This building was renovated in 2001 and provides a "one-stop shopping" point for Indian Hills students. Offices for recruiting and marketing, counseling, student services, the Registrar, veterans services, financial aid and the college bookstore are all located under one roof.
The Advanced Technology Center, just east of the Hellyer Student Life Center, was completed in the fall of 1990.Trustee Hall, a dormitory building that also houses the Student Union, Student Health Service, and Testing Center, was added to the campus in the summer of 1992.
The Early Childhood Development and Day Care Center, completed in 1994, provides quality child care services and serves as a laboratory site for students enrolled in our child development programs.
The Video Conferencing and Training Center was completed in 1996. The Tom Arnold Net Center, built in 1997, is the home of the Indian Hills volleyball team and provides year-round tennis to citizens in the Ottumwa area.
Oak Hall, the newest dormitory on the Ottumwa campus, opened to students in the fall of 2000. That same time the first dormitory on the Centerville campus also opened to students. Since then, the college has embarked on an extensive plan to remodel the existing dorms into "apartment-style" living, giving students a range of housing options from a one-person room to a four-person suite.
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Ottumwa & Centerville, IA
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