Illinois Central College


Illinois Central College is a public community college with its largest campus in East Peoria, Illinois. It is part of the Illinois Community College System and its district, Illinois Community College District 514, is a area covering most of Peoria, Tazewell, and Woodford counties and parts of Bureau, Logan, Marshall, Livingston, McLean, Stark, and Mason counties.

Academics

ICC offers 69 transferable Associate in Arts and Sciences programs, 84 Associate in Applied Science programs, and 104 occupational certificate programs. More than 3,300 classes are offered each semester, and the average class size is 14. It is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.

Campuses

ICC has three campuses:
The East Peoria Campus is home to the Performing Arts Center, the David R. Leitch Career and Counseling Center, the Lee Morgan School of Industrial Technology, the Caterpillar Dealer Service Technology Program, and the General Motors Automotive Service Educational program. Illinois Central College's web curriculum is recognized by as a WOW Professional Academy.
The former Downtown Campus was formally closed prior to the 2018-19 academic year.
Illinois Central College has libraries at fourteen locations: the Thomas K. Thomas Building in downtown Peoria; in Cedar Hall at the North Campus; and in the Edwards Library and Administration Building in East Peoria Illinois. The library faculty at the East Peoria campus run an associate degree program for future library technical assistants. This program has an agreement with the University of Maine at Augusta that makes it possible to quickly complete both the two-year degree and an online baccalaureate degree for those wishing to get a senior posting or go on to graduate school. ICC has agreements with the OSF and Methodist Colleges of Nursing and with Illinois State University's Mennonite College of Nursing where students can earn an associate and then a bachelor's in nursing; it also has an LPN-RN program, an LPN program, a medical technician program, and a CNA program. ICC recently started a culinary school at the North Campus.

Student life

ICC has more than 40 official student clubs and organizations. Academic clubs include the CONNECT program for transfer students, and 4 honor societies: Sigma Kappa Delta, Lambda Beta, Phi Rho Pi, and Phi Theta Kappa.
The Harbinger is the student newspaper and is distributed six times per year at no charge. Newspaper work can be arranged as academic credit or as an extra-curricular activity. The ICC ARTS Journal, featuring student writing and artwork, is published annually.

Sports

ICC is a member of the National Junior College Athletic Association and participates in intercollegiate NJCAA basketball, cross country, soccer, men's baseball, men's golf, women's fast-pitch softball, and women's volleyball. Intercollegiate participation is only open to full-time students with a 2.0 grade point average.
Intramural sports include basketball, bowling, flag football, tennis, and volleyball. In 2008, an intramural "card series" was established with spades, euchre, and Uno tournaments.
There is a disc golf course and a tennis court on campus, as well as the Lorene Ramsey Gymnasium and Fitness Center, which was drastically expanded from 2009 to 2011.

Championship teams

The six-time national champion women's basketball program is well known. Lorene Ramsey's 33 years coaching the team brought them 887 wins to 197 losses, and five NJCAA Women's Basketball Championship titles in Division II: 1992, 1993, 1998, 1999, and 2003. After Ramsey's retirement, the team achieved a sixth championship win in 2006. Famous players from the women's basketball team include Christelle N'Garsanet, who was signed by the New York Liberty in the WNBA, and Cindy Ellis, who played for the Milwaukee Does in the Women's Professional Basketball League and was in the trials for the 1976 Olympic team.
The ICC softball team has also been national champions twice: 1982, and 1998 as NJCAA Division I.
In Fall 2009, the Illinois Central College Women's Volleyball team won the NJCAA Division II National Championship.

Notable alumni