Celebrating BHCC Moments

In 2018 the college celebrated the end of the five-year Title III grant project, From Dreams to Reality: BHCC LifeMap. BHCC LifeMap services, Learning Communities, online curriculum maps, technology enhancements, and refined administrative processes have improved student persistence, retention and the experience for students inside and outside the classroom.

Learn more about LifeMap

In 2018, BHCC Launched its Distinguished Artist Residency. The residency is designed as a way for students to have meaningful interactions with art and practicing artists, and art's role in the College’s commitment to equity and preparing students to be agents of social change.

Event Recap: President Eddinger Welcomes Inaugural Distinguished Artist Scholar in Residence

Learn more about the Arts Residence Program

Learn more about the Mary L. Fifield Art Gallery

In 2016 the College received a $1.2 million federal TRiO Talent Search Grant from the United States Department of Education to provide college access services to prospective low-income, first-generation college students from Chelsea Public Schools as well as to local youths who have left high school and wish to return to school. Since 2011, the TRiO Chelsea Program has provided academic advising, career exploration, financial literacy, college visits and college and financial aid application support to more than 1,000 Chelsea youths from grades 7-12.

• Learn more about the Chelsea Campus
• Learn more about the Chelsea TRiO Talent Search Program

In 2018, the Richard and Susan Smith Family Foundation awarded $2.4 million to establish the Early College program at BHCC, marking the largest private grant awarded in the College’s history.

• Press Release: Bunker Hill Community College Receives $2.4M in Private Grant Funding for Early College Programs
• Learn more about Early College at BHCC
• Dual Enrollment
• Fast Track to College 

In 2016, BHCC received a $1.7 million grant from the United States Department of Education’s Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) program, created to expand the capacity of educational institutions to serve these populations as well as low income individuals.

• Learn more about AANAPISI at BHCC
• Press Release: U.S. Department of Education Awards $1.7M AANAPISI Grant to Bunker Hill Community College
• Web Story: Building the Framework for Success
• Web Story: Supporting English Language Learners at Every Step
• News Brief: BHCC Invests in Cultural Wealth by Supporting Asian/Pacific Islander Students

In 2018, the College approved a new General Education curriculum. Directly aligned with the College’s four Institutional Learning Outcomes (Inquire, Communicate, Act and Grow), the General Education Requirements were designed around a set of General Education Outcomes: INQUIRE with intention, COMMUNICATE with purpose, ACT to integrate knowledge and practice, and GROW through continuous learning.

• Learn more about the Gen Ed Initiative
• View the General Education Requirements

In May 2017, BHCC in partnership with the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) celebrated the Grand Opening of the Pao Arts Center. The Center was Chinatown’s first community-based arts, culture and education center, and at the time, BHCC’s newest instructional center.

• Event Recap: BHCC Celebrates the Grand Opening of the Pao Arts Center
• Press Release: Pao Arts Center and Bunker Hill Community College Presents: Looking at Power and Privilege – A Bunker Hill Community College Visual Media Arts Faculty
• New Center Positions Equity at its Core
• Learn more about the Pao Arts Center

In May 2017, BHCC in partnership with the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center (BCNC) celebrated the Grand Opening of the Pao Arts Center. The Center was Chinatown’s first community-based arts, culture and education center, and at the time, BHCC’s newest instructional center.

• Event Recap: BHCC Celebrates the Grand Opening of the Pao Arts Center
• Press Release: Pao Arts Center and Bunker Hill Community College Presents: Looking at Power and Privilege – A Bunker Hill Community College Visual Media Arts Faculty
• New Center Positions Equity at its Core
• Learn more about the Pao Arts Center

In 2017, in a bid to reduce achievement and opportunity gaps among its diverse student population, the Department of Higher Education (DHE) awarded $100,000 to BHCC to develop a Center for Cultural Wealth and Equity, to advance culturally relevant teaching and learning practices. Ongoing CECW activities seek to not only advance the development of culturally inclusive practices at the institution, but is also focused on better supporting the success of BHCC students by aligning the transfer pathways between BHCC and the University of Massachusetts Boston.

• News Brief: BHCC Receives $100K Grant to Develop Center for Cultural Wealth and Equity
• MA DHE 2019 News Release: Baker-Polito Administration Delivers $1.15 Million to Drive Campus Innovations, Support Student Success
• Event Recap: Dismantling Power and Privilege to Achieve Equity in Higher Education
• Learn more about the Center for Equity and Cultural Wealth

In 2015, BHCC’s Learn and Earn Internship Program, in partnership with the program’s founding sponsor, Massachusetts Competitive Partnership (MACP), received a national Award of Excellence in the Outstanding College/Corporate Partnership category from the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC).

• Press Release: Bunker Hill Community College’s Learn and Earn Program Wins National Award
• Learn more about Learn and Earn
• Fall 2012 BHCC Magazine: Getting a Foot in the Door
• Fall 2014 BHCC Magazine Going Places
• Press Release: Bunker Hill Community College Learn and Earn Program Receives Deval Patrick Award

In 2018, Student Central opened in its new location in the newly-remodeled B-Lobby. BHCC Student Central offers centralized student services related to Financial Aid, Student Payment, Registration and Academic Records. In addition to a physical Student Central location in the Charlestown Campus B-Lobby, students can also visit the Chelsea Campus Student Services Office, or access Virtual Student Central on the BHCC website, providing access to services from home or after business hours.

• Visit the Student Central website
• Read the Student Central Community Service Pledge

In 2012, BHCC was named as one of only four community colleges nationally to earn a Gates Foundation Catalyst Fund grant to expand its Learning Communities. The Catalyst Fund grants, administered by Achieving the Dream, assisted BHCC in the scaling of its Learning Community program. Two years later in 2014, BHCC was awarded the Leah Meyer Austin Award from Achieving the Dream (ATD) in recognition of the outstanding achievement of the Learning Communities program in supporting and promoting student success through a culture of evidence, continuous improvement, systemic institutional change, broad engagement of stakeholders, and equity, with particular attention to low-income students and students of color.

• Learn more about Learning Communities
• Learn more about Achieving the Dream
• The Interview: President Eddinger Interviews Karen A. Stout, Ed.D., of Achieving the Dream
• Press Release: BHCC Student Recognized at Achieving the Dream’s Annual Conference
• Center for American Progress report on Learning communities success for part-time students

In January 2014, BHCC work with low-income students earned praise from President Barack Obama at a national gathering of education leaders yesterday at the White House. BHCC President Pam Y. Eddinger was among a select group of approximately 100 college and university presidents, along with higher education leaders, philanthropists and nonprofit organizations, invited to attend a summit on education at the White House. 

Read the press release and watch the video.

In 2019, Bunker Hill Community College opened the DISH Food Pantry. The mission of the DISH Food Pantry is to Deliver Information, Sustenance, and Health (DISH) to the Bunker Hill Community College campus community. The DISH aims to empower those in need to obtain resources so that they may focus on being healthy, happy, and successful at BHCC without the barrier of fighting hunger. The DISH is a student-driven and supported resource that is committed to being a safe, dignified, and stigma-free environment.

• Event Recap: BHCC Opens the DISH Food Pantry
• News Brief: Blue Cross Blue Shield highlights DISH Partnership with Food for Free 
• Visit the DISH website
• Follow the DISH on social media: @bhccdish

In 2016, Bunker Hill Community College received a $100,000 grant from Achieving the Dream (ATD) to support the launch of the OER initiative, which aimed to remove financial roadblocks that can derail student progress toward degree.

• March 2-6 is OER Week, view our list of upcoming events
• OER at BHCC
• View our upcoming OER courses in BHCC SelfService