West Virginia University at Parkersburg is a public community college in Parkersburg, West Virginia. Although it was originally part of West Virginia University, it is now an independent public institution with its own board of governors and degree-granting authority. Conceived as a community college to serve seven counties in west central West Virginia, it now offers baccalaureate programs. It is the largest community college in West Virginia and the state's fifth largest public college with over 3,900 students. WVU Parkersburg is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. History The college was founded in 1961 as the Parkersburg Branch of West Virginia University. The school's name was changed to West Virginia University-Parkersburg Center in 1966. It became Parkersburg Community College (PCC) in 1971 and was originally governed by the West Virginia Board of Regents. In a reorganization of the state's higher education governance structure in 1989, the West Virginia Legislature enacted S.B. 420 which, among other initiatives, renamed PCC as West Virginia University at Parkersburg, designating it a regional campus of WVU, and transferred its governance to the newly formed University System of West Virginia. In 2008, the governance structure of WVU Parkersburg was changed by the state legislature. WVU Parkersburg is now controlled locally by a board of governors and is part of a statewide network of independently accredited community colleges known as the West Virginia Community and Technical College System (CTCS). The WVU Parkersburg Board of Governors approved a Memorandum of Understanding with WVU on May 18, 2009, which outlined a formal relationship between the two schools and designated WVU Parkersburg as an "affiliated institution” of WVU. Naming issues The school was founded as the Parkersburg Branch of West Virginia University in 1961. Its name was changed to West Virginia University-Parkersburg Center in 1966 and then Parkersburg Community College in 1971. Under Governor Gaston Caperton in 1990, a redesign of the state system of higher education was proposed. The state Speaker of the House was from Parkersburg and added the renaming to the bill. In 1995 this system was replaced by yet another system of college organization under Governor Cecil Underwood, however the school retained the name WVU Parkersburg. In 2008, the state adopted another system of college organization and "divorced" the community colleges from their parent institutions. WVU and WVU Parkersburg developed several agreements and a memorandum of understanding in the spring of 2009 allowing WVU Parkersburg to