Mount Pleasant Magazine Sept/Oct 2014

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50Year Anniversaries
TridentTechnical College
A Half Century of Educating
South Carolinians
1964 was a year of significant
change in America. President Lyndon B.
Johnson declared a war on poverty. The
Beatles changed the face of popular music.
Muhammad Ali – then Cassius Clay –
stunned the sports world by knocking
out Sonny Liston and claiming the world
heavyweight boxing title.
In South Carolina, a new institution of higher learning,
the Berkeley-Charleston-Dorchester
Technical Education Center, opened its
doors with two buildings
and a grand total of 226
students.
If that name means
nothing to you, don’t
feel alone. After nearly
a decade of growth and
innovation under that
cumbersome B-C-D
Tech name, the technical
college merged with a
downtown Charleston
private business school,
Palmer College, to become
Trident Technical College.
The name has nothing to do with the three-pronged
spear brandished by Neptune, the mythological god of the
sea. It was chosen to reflect the three-county Lowcountry
constituency of the new college.
Trident not only caught on right away, but so did the
unique educational experience offered by the technical
college. The school awards two-year associate degrees,
one-year diplomas and certificates geared toward students
headed directly into the business world, along with
counseling and assistance for those seeking transfers to
four-year college programs elsewhere.
Today, Trident Technical College boasts four campuses
and three sites and serves more than 17,000 students
annually, making it the second largest undergraduate
institution in South Carolina, trailing only the University
By BILL FarLey
of South Carolina itself.
Three years ago, Trident continued its expansion plans
by opening a site in Summerville as well as a campus in
Mount Pleasant, tucked away behind the Wando Crossing
Shopping Center just off Highway 17 North in a modest
and functional building that once housed a high-end
furniture store.
Under the guidance of Trident President Dr. Mary
Thornley and Mount Pleasant Dean Mike Patterson,
an educator and Air Force veteran, the campus offers a
wide range of opportunities to just under 500 students
each semester. According
to Patterson, the campus
could easily accommodate as
many as 1,000 students each
term, offering a wide range
of academic and business-
oriented courses, brush-up
remediation services and
career and college transfer
guidance.
Adult Continuing
Education is also an
important part of the Trident
Mount Pleasant mix, as is
its multifaceted, high-energy
summer Kids’ College program for learners ages 7 through
16.
This fall, the school is introducing a pioneering split
semester format that breaks its traditional 15-week
terms into two seven-week sessions. The goal, according
to Patterson, is to build on the success of Trident’s Fast
Forward program, which has had enviable results in
boosting students’ success rates across the board and
allowing them to focus on fewer courses at one time.
Talk to any Trident administrator and he or she will
likely cite accessibility, convenience and affordability as
key reasons why Lowcountry students choose their college.
With its numerous locations and flexible curricula, those
first two attributes are obvious. As for affordability, even
in this era of staggering college costs, full-time students at
Trident Technical College has four campuses and three sites and serves more
than 17,000 students annually.
Photo provided by Trident Technical College.