Germanna Community College, one of the 23 community colleges in Virginia that comprise the Virginia Community College System, is a two-year public institution of higher education established in 1970. Germanna provides educational opportunities for the residents of the City of Fredericksburg and the counties of Caroline, Culpeper, King George, Madison, Orange, Spotsylvania and Stafford. In celebration of the school’s 50th anniversary, here’s a look back at just some of Germanna’s milestones over five decades.
1714
Gov. Alexander Spotswood establishes a frontier fort and settlement on the Rapidan River for the German miners and their families.
1956
Descendants of the original settlers at Germanna Ford organize the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies in Virginia, Inc.
People are also reading…
1966
Virginia legislature creates a community college system. A site selection committee recommends the college be located in the center of its service region.
Aug. 24, 1968
State and Fredericksburg-area officials gather to view at least six area sites for a proposed community college to serve the region.
Nov. 21, 1968
The State Department of Community Colleges announces its decision on the site of the facility serving Fredericksburg-area students: a 100-acre tract along the Rapidan in Orange County donated by the Memorial Foundation of Germanna Colonies.
Feb. 11, 1969
Dr. Dana Hamel, state director of community colleges, outlines plans for the new college at Germanna to the local ad hoc committee. The committee, which met in Spotsylvania County, took the first steps toward local financing and planning for the school.
June 5, 1969
The College Board unanimously approves the local board’s decision to name the facility Germanna Community College to recognize the foundation’s gift and the history associated with the property.
July 20, 1969
Virginia Gov. Mills E. Godwin touts the state’s community college system in an address at the site of the future school during the Memorial Foundation of the Germanna Colonies in Virginia’s annual meeting. After the speech, Godwin joins foundation members for a picnic, but leaves shortly after lunch. The governor, explains his wife, wanted to get back to Richmond in time to watch the Apollo 11 landing.
Sept. 1, 1969
Arnold E. Wirtala becomes Germanna’s first president. “I hope it will become a community center,” he says of the new college. “It should bring people together to learn, to create a cultural environment.” He would lead the college until 1980.
Jan. 8, 1970
Germanna Community College receives its first application just two days after college officials began distributing the forms. The first prospective student is John Caldwell, 17, of Stafford County.
Aug. 13, 1970
Although the school won’t officially open for two months, Germanna starts its first classes: secretarial sciences instruction at the Dahlgren Naval Weapons Laboratory. The classes are taught by a Germanna faculty member under a contractual arrangement between the school and the Naval Weapons Lab.
Oct. 1, 1970
Over two days, prospective students visit the Locust Grove campus to register for classes. They gather in the room that would become the school library.
Oct. 5, 1970
Nearly 250 students meet at Camp Rapidan in Culpeper County for Germanna orientation and initial class assignments. Other students would attend the program the next day.
Oct. 13, 1970
Germanna holds its first classes in its partially completed building, serving more than 480 students. Gov. Linwood Holton visits the campus, where he and school President Arnold Wirtala tour the facility and greet some students.
1971
Enrollment doubles at the school, reaching 800.
Feb. 12, 1971
Germanna officially makes its colors burgundy and gold, and its crest a traditional shield design. The crest is designed by Marty Price of Fredericksburg, chairman of the school’s Student Advisory Board. The shield bears 10 leaves on a vine, representing each college in the community college system. Adorning the shield are a lamp, representing learning and knowledge; a scroll designating achievement and scholarship; and a large “G” for Germanna.
June 9, 1971
The first graduate of Germanna Community College receives her certificate during an informal ceremony in the college library. Maureen Denise Newton, a 1970 graduate of Stafford High School, received her one-year certificate in clerical arts.
Oct. 17, 1971
One year after its opening, about 500 people gather in Germanna’s library for the formal dedication of the college as the Region 16 campus of the State Community College system. During the dedication, a memorial plaque is unveiled in the school’s lobby by William Martin, then-president of the Memorial Foundation of the German Colonies in Virginia, the organization that donated the land for the campus.
June 11, 1972
Germanna’s first graduating class is recognized during a ceremony on school grounds. A surprise is in store for 21 students who didn’t know they would be recognized as the school’s first honor graduates. There are 63 graduates in total, including 16 nursing majors. (Germanna’s nursing program is the first in the region for registered nurses since the 1930s.) After the outdoor ceremony, a reception is held in the student lounge.
December 1972
Germanna becomes fully accredited by the Southern Association of colleges and Schools.
1975
There are more than 1,000 students and 104 graduates. Tuition rises from $6.25 to $8.50 per credit hour.
July 1980
As Fredericksburg City Council members explore alternative uses for Maury School, talks are held about using the downtown building as a satellite campus for Germanna. The college says it lacks the funds for renovation. Counties in the west dislike the idea.
1980
William P. Briley becomes president of Germanna in August. Two key administrators, including the college dean, resign in the wake of Briley’s appointment. At his first meeting with the local college board in September, Briley proposes the establishment of a local foundation in support of the college. At the end of October, the new college leader is hospitalized with a possible heart attack, and his associates say Briley was suffering from heavy job-related stress. Enrollment at the school reaches 1,251, but the productivity of programs is challenged by the State Council for Higher Education. Also in 1980, rumors begin circulating that the college would close or be merged with Northern Virginia Community College. The rumors continue into the mid-1980s.
1983
Germanna Educational Foundation is formed, with members including representatives from each of the localities served by Germanna. Its first members are approved by the college board in November.
January 1985
Alabama transplant Marshall W. Smith—a historian, outdoorsman, pianist and teacher—becomes president of Germanna. “The strange thing about Germanna,” he says, “is that it is a rural college, serving middle America, yet on its eastern side is a fast-growing suburban area.” Smith is installed as president in a May ceremony, but remains in the position only 19 months. (He leaves to take a post with the Virginia Community College System.) Also during that May ceremony, biology professor Robert A. Hodge receives the school’s first award for an outstanding faculty member.
October 1986
Frank S. Turnage, dean of instructional and student services at Blue Ridge Community College, is named president of Germanna. “I’m planning and expecting to be there for a number of years,” Turnage tells The Free Lance–Star. Turnage immediately has a fight on his hands to keep GCC open. He says only the highly regarded nursing program convinced the state to keep it open despite stagnant enrollment, before rapid growth, particularly in the Fredericksburg area, causes enrollment to begin to increase, rocketing past 2,500. Turnage would serve as the school’s president until 2007.
1986-mid 1990s
Germanna is the fastest growing community college in the state.
Sept. 11, 1989
Germanna College Board selects a 70-acre site, donated by the John T. Hazel Family, for a Fredericksburg area campus in Spotsylvania County. State funding for Phase I is acquired mainly through the efforts of Del. V. Earl Dickinson. Additional support is received from the local governments in the Germanna service region and from private donations.
July 1995
The new campus begins to take shape at the Lee’s Hill site, as the new building’s steel beam framework is erected. The building under construction would be three stories and 76,000 square feet, containing classrooms, a library, offices, a cafeteria and computer and science labs.
Jan. 8, 1997
Students begin registering for classes at the new Fredericksburg area campus in Spotsylvania.
June 7, 1997
The Fredericksburg area campus building is dedicated to Del. V. Earl Dickinson for his efforts toward and support of the new campus.
Oct. 29, 2004
Germanna holds a “wire-cutting” ceremony for its new, $7.7 million Workforce Development and Technology Center. The sleek two-story, 40,000-square-foot brick building is the second facility to be built at the college’s campus in Spotsylvania. “The center will certainly be a major cornerstone in our ability to market the region to businesses,” said Gene Bailey, then-president of the Fredericksburg Regional Alliance and the keynote speaker at the event.
2006
The Joseph R. Daniel Technology Center opens in Culpeper. The Germanna Educational Foundation had received its largest single gift to date: 100 acres donated by Rose Bente Lee, Kaye and Marie Andrus, Nicholas and Flora Tomasetti, and Philip and Susan DeSiato.
2007
David A. Sam, vice president for academic affairs at Pensacola Junior College in Florida, becomes president of Germanna. “Germanna has doubled in size in last 10 years, and it looks like there’s lots of opportunities to grow in the next 10 years or more,” Sam says in an interview after being named to the post. “The school has a good reputation of providing service and quality. It’s an opportunity to help make a difference in the seven-county area.”
2007–12
Expansion, continued population growth and the Great Recession cause Germanna enrollment to boom, reaching about 12,000, including noncredit workforce students, as well as transfer students.
July 29, 2009
Germanna opens a Stafford County Center at Aquia with the support of the Stafford Economic Development Authority. Gov. Tim Kaine is on hand—wielding super-size scissors—to cut the ribbon and officially open the new facility. The four new classrooms were expected to hold 52 classes—from accounting to religion—and serve 1,000 students.
Jan. 8, 2011
Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell and Rep. Rob Wittman help Germanna officials celebrate the groundbreaking of a new academic building, a $25 million Science and Engineering Building and Information Commons at the school’s Fredericksburg area campus. The facility would open in 2012.
Aug. 23, 2011
An earthquake centered in Louisa County damages the structure of the Earl V. Dickinson Building at the Fredericksburg area campus. The building would be restored and ready for classes for the fall 2012 semester.
August 2012
Classes begin at a 15,000-square-foot Automotive Technology Center off U.S. 1 just north of Centreport Parkway in Stafford County. The center includes a classroom, a 24-station computer lab and two automotive labs with four bays each. Germanna opens the new facility with the help of Stafford EDA.
2015
Caroline Center, which provides a variety of professional development programs and services, opens in Caroline County.
July 2017
Janet Gullickson, leaving a position as president of Spokane Falls Community College in Washington State, is named the sixth president of Germanna. She is the first woman in the position. “My husband and I are so excited. Germanna is a fabulous [community] college to take over and take forward based on all of the successes and stable leadership [it has] had already for years,” Gullickson says in an interview after the announcement in an interview after her appointment is announced. “I see no downsides in this adventure and I can’t wait to get to know the people of the communities and to get to know the people on the campuses and our students.” She is selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants from across the country.
August 2017
The Fredericksburg Center for Advanced Technology opens in Central Park, expanding accessibility to noncredit workforce training.
October 2017
Germanna is selected as one of 150 community colleges in the U.S. by the Aspen Institute, an educational and policy studies organization. It would make Aspen’s top 150 again in 2019.
June 2, 2018
A celebration is held for the Germanna’s Barbara J. Fried Center in Stafford County. The facility opens with support from Barbara, Adam and Rhonda Fried, who help cut the ribbon at the site’s grand opening. This larger Stafford center is a step toward building a permanent campus in Stafford. “We are extremely excited that we are finally in a position to serve the Stafford community better,” Germanna President Janet Gullickson says at the time.