Guttman was the first new community college established by City University of New York in over 40 years. The planning was begun in 2008 on the initiative of CUNY's Chancellor at the time, Matthew Goldstein. The planning phase was supported by CUNY funds, an initial allocation $8.9 million from the City of New York's annual budget, and donations from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and Michael Bloomberg's Center for Economic Opportunity. Described by The New York Times as "a multimillion-dollar experiment in how to fix what ails community colleges," Guttman College's academic structure and curriculum were designed from scratch in an effort to improve students' chances of completing their associate degrees and transferring to four-year colleges for further study. In 2010, the first faculty were appointed and Scott E. Evenbeck, professor of psychology and dean of University College at Indiana University-Purdue University, was named the founding President, taking up his post in January 2011. The college was officially established on September 11, 2011 and opened with its first intake of students in August 2012. The college had, and continues to have, an open admissions policy, provided students have a high school diploma or a Certificate of High School Equivalency. However, unlike any of the other schools within CUNY, applicants are not considered until they have attended a lengthy information session and one-on-one interviews with counselors. Of its initial 4,000 applicants, 504 went through the information session and interviews. Of those, approximately 300 decided to enroll in the founding class. The college opened under the name "New Community College." In April 2013 following the gift of a $15 million endowment from the Stella and Charles Guttman Foundation, one of the largest ever donations to a public two-year college, the CUNY Board of Trustees passed a resolution renaming the college "Stella and Charles Guttman Community College."
Academics
Opening its doors in August 2012, Stella and Charles Guttman Community College offers associate degree programs that emphasize experiential education, the adoption of learning communities and instructional teams, and a strong value placed on being simultaneously “high tech” and “high touch.” The College provides a supportive environment that nurtures student success with the goal to increase the graduation rate for our students, many of whom are the first in their family to attend college. All students begin in the required Summer Bridge Program and engage full-time in a city-centered first-year experience before starting their major coursework in one of five degree programs. Instructional teams comprising faculty members, student success advocates, graduate coordinators, peer mentors and library staff create a rich classroom environment complemented by an integrated advisement program to help students stay on the path to graduation.
