The College

Organization

West Virginia Northern Community College is a public, multi-campus comprehensive community college which serves the six counties of Hancock, Brooke, Ohio, Marshall, Wetzel and Tyler. On May 9, 1972, the West Virginia Board of Regents created a dual-campus community college out of what were formerly the Hancock County Branch and the Wheeling Campus of West Liberty State College (now University.) Responding to local community requests, the College began offering courses in New Martinsville in 1973 and established a campus there in 1975. To satisfy community needs, the College offers courses at a variety of other sites within the six-county service area and participates in a tuition reciprocity agreement serving students in seven neighboring Ohio counties: Belmont, Columbiana, Harrison, Jefferson, Mahoning, Monroe and Trumbull. Metro rates apply to other designated areas in Ohio and Pennsylvania. As a comprehensive community college, West Virginia Northern offers a wide variety of programs and courses in the liberal arts and sciences, career-technical education, work place training, developmental studies, and community and continuing education. Under an open-door enrollment policy, the College admits all adults desiring postsecondary education. High school students recommended by their schools for early entrance are also admitted. Graduates receive Associate in Arts degrees, Associate in Science degrees, Associate in Applied Science degrees and certificates.

Campus Facilities

West Virginia Northern Community College has campuses located in Weirton, Wheeling and New Martinsville, with the central administrative offices located on the Wheeling Campus.

New Martinsville Campus

The New Martinsville Campus is located at 141 Main Street and is adjacent to the New Martinsville Municipal Building. It houses classrooms, computer labs, faculty and administrative offices, advising and student services, student lounge, Learning Resource Center, Academic Support Center, telecommunications classroom, science lab, and a conference room for business and community meetings.

The Francis Creative Arts Center, a two-story brick structure in close proximity to the main campus facility is home to ArtsLink, the arts council of Wetzel and Tyler counties.

Weirton Campus

The Weirton Campus is located in Weirton Heights at 150 Park Avenue on a wooded 20-acre lot. It houses classrooms, computer labs, faculty offices and administrative offices, advising and student services, student lounge, Learning Resource Center, Academic Support Center, science and nursing labs, and a conference room for business and community meetings.

Wheeling Campus

The Wheeling campus is located at 1704 Market Street at the southern end of the business district. The B&O Building originally was the main passenger terminal of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. It contains the administrative offices of the College, advising and student services, Business Office, Learning Resource Center, classrooms, laboratories, faculty offices, and Workforce and Continuing Education offices.

The Education Center, renovated in 2006, was formerly a warehouse. This building, located on Chapline Street across from the B&O building, houses the culinary arts facility, all health sciences laboratories, classrooms, faculty offices, student and faculty/ staff lounges, fitness center, as well as a 5,000 square foot multi-purpose room.

The Applied Technology Center, opened for the start of the fall 2013 semester. The ATC is located at the corner of Market and 16th streets across from the B&O Building. The ATC houses the Advanced Manufacturing  and the Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating Technology programs.

The Industrial Technology Center (formerly the WESCO building) opened in 2019.  The ITC houses the welding and energy technolog programs as well as classrooms and a student lounge.

Library/Learning Resource Centers

Each campus of West Virginia Northern Community College has a separate Library/Learning Resource Center (LRC). A wide variety of resources, both in print (24,000 volumes) and digital, are available for use by students, faculty, and staff. Access to the collection of resources in the LRCs is provided through the online catalog, Library Books and More @ Northern. To access the catalog, or many of the other electronic resources and databases, please go to the LRC Web page at: https://www.wvncc.edu/current-students/librarylearning-resource-center/1159 or find on the College home page at www.wvncc.edu on the right under More and then Library. Students, faculty, and staff can also access Library resources within their respective Portal. Each campus LRC has a number of computers, including PCs and iMacs, available to students for research, class assignments, word processing, and Internet searching. Individual and group instruction for research or any of the LRC resources is available at each campus from the LRC staff. They have the expertise to help you with your research and information needs.

Technology Within the College

West Virginia Northern Community College believes in acquiring and using technological tools, which help people learn effectively and work more efficiently, improve classroom experience for teachers and learners and lead forward-thinking, innovative trends.

All three campuses are linked multiple ways for use with interactive audio, video, and data. The system allows classes to originate at any location, enabling the instructor to maintain two-way audio and video contact with students. It allows the College to provide more course offerings to all campuses and to better utilize the expertise of its faculty. Conferences, seminars and short-term instructional programs are possible with the telecommunications equipment. 

WVNCC offers the students, staff and faculty a wide variety of comprehensive and current learning resources that are easily accessible. Each LRC has computers for student use and numerous student state-of-the-art computer labs that are available on each of the campuses. The Wheeling campus LRC includes a MakerSpace area. Brightspace is used for online course development. All classrooms on WVNCC’s three regional campuses are equipped with instructional technology. Secure wireless internet service is provided on all campuses. From the web-site, students can access the Student Portal which provides access to N.O.W. (Northern On the Web), school email, and a host of other services that WVNCC offers .  N.O.W. gives students access to grades and online registration, . Technical support for email accounts is provided by the College’s Office of Information Technology.

Email Accounts

The College assigns an email account to all students in credit hour courses upon admission. Instructions on using the account are available at each Campus Student Succes Center or through the ACTion Center. The College also assigns adjunct faculty, full time faculty and staff an email account. Students, faculty and staff must use their Northern assigned accounts for all official College transactions. The College will also provide its annual FERPA notice, campus crime statistics notification and other College information through this email account. Technical support for email accounts is provided by the College’s Office of Information Technology.

Partnerships

West Virginia Northern is pledged to a partnership strategy for the development of the Northern Panhandle. Partnerships between industry and education to identify needed general and technical skills are the best guarantee of industry’s success and of employee security and satisfaction. All the College curricula are designed and evaluated with the assistance of advisory committees. Partnership with other educational institutions, economic development and other civic and cultural groups is also a constant part of the College’s agenda for development.

Major partnerships include the following:

• EDGE (Earn a Degree Graduate Early) - a partnership with the public school districts where students in selected technical education courses can receive credit at community colleges.
• Secondary schools in our region for articulation of their technical programs for credit towards an A.A.S. Degree.
• Partnerships with Mountaineer Casino, Racetrack and Resort and Wheeling Island Hotel-Casino-Racetrack to offer training for table game dealers.
• Partnership with four-year colleges to effect full transfer of West Virginia Northern courses into baccalaureate degree programs.
• Partnership with Northern Panhandle Workforce Development Board to provide services through the American Job Center.
• Bridges to Communities - liaison with organizations such as area chambers of commerce, ArtsLink, Wheeling National Heritage Area Corporation, Regional Economic Development Partnership, Brooke Hancock Business Development Corporation, West Virginia Northern Community College Foundation, and Friends of the College organizations at the New Martinsville, Weirton and Wheeling campuses.