In the 1960s, MVTI changed its name to Southern Maine Vocational Technical Institution and began awarding its first Associate in Applied Science degrees.
Another name change came in the 1980s, when SMVTI became Southern Maine Technical College after the Maine Legislature changed the name of the state’s Vocational Technical Institute System to the Maine Technical College System.
The transformation continued in 2003 when the Maine Legislature established the Maine Community College System to provide affordable postsecondary education as a pathway to the workforce or to a baccalaureate institution. The College name was changed once more, to Southern Maine Community College.
SMCC experienced rapid growth after becoming a community college, with enrollment nearly tripling in a decade. In 2011, the College added a second campus, the Midcoast Campus in Brunswick, located on the site of the former Brunswick Naval Air Station.
SMCC has come a long way from a small school in Augusta to Maine’s largest community college. We now serve about 6,000 students from around the state and around the globe, and offer more than 40 degree and certificate programs at our campuses in South Portland and Brunswick, online and at satellite locations throughout southern Maine.