What is Two-Year College

Community colleges have played a significant role in the strength of America's workforce for over a century. Throughout the past one hundred years, the two-year college system has evolved into a significant contributor for economic strength and growth. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a historical analysis of the modern community college. In doing so, the reader will have a clear understanding of why and how a contemporary community college came into existence, as well as causal factors to its success. Following the historical analysis, this chapter will discuss the creation of a dental hygiene program at a rural two-year college. The intent is to give this chapter's reader insight to the process by which a community college creates workforce-based programming.