| In May,
1995 Riverland Tech and RCC would consolidate
|
In
September 1996 the college christened the new college
as RCTC.
|
In
April of 1997 Karen Nagle announced that she was leaving
RCTC. In June of 2000 Supalla was appointed
the permanent President of RCTC becoming its 8th president
and the second alum to ascend to the college presidency.
|
In
1996, RCTC received the silver level of recognition
from the Minnesota Council for Quality. In
2004 and 2005 the college made application to the
Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award positioning
RCTC as a leader in the quality movement.
|
RCTC
entered the merger with 4,000 students and started
the fall term of 2004 with nearly 6,000 students.
In the spring of 2005, the college was the third
largest provider of online credits sold.
|
The
explosion of post secondary enrollment options, students,
and the Collaboration Among Rochester Educators partnership
programs with the Rochester Public Schools has led
to 1 out 4 graduates attending RCTC.
|
| In
1998 the citizens of Rochester approved the reauthorization
of a local 1/2 cent sales tax to raise $71.5 million
in proceeds for local community infrastructure enhancements.
$20 million was earmarked for the development of the
University Center Rochester.
|
$48
million in campus development, including co-developed
projects, occurred since the 1996 consolidation.
This includes the regional sports center, TELEPro,
Horticulture Technology Center, athletic fields,
interior roadway system and a new health sciences
facility.
|
The
switch was on ......again in 1998 with the switch
from quarters to semesters.
|
Academic
innovations that made their appearance in this period
was the “Common Book” idea. This
led to a selected book being a featured text in college
courses, including faculty member Fan Chen’s
book “Gang of One”.
|
RCC’s
relationship the Mayo Clinic grew with RCTC being
featured as a key Mayo Partner in 2002.
|
In
1997, the former technical college building called
Riverland Hall was renamed to the Heintz Center
in honor of Emil Heintz, long recognized as the father
of technical education in Rochester.
|
|
Tragedy
struck the RCTC community in early 2000 with the sudden
death of Dr. Joel Swisher, the football coach.
Coach Swisher compiled a record of 44-9 winning 3
Community College Conference Championships and making
four bowl appearances.
|
Chuck
Siefert replaced Swisher and the team, spurred on
by Joel’s memory, went undefeated and captured
the NJCAA Division III National Football Championship
in 2000. It was the first and only national
team championship in the college’s history.
|
In
1995 Jean Marconnet would serve as the athletic director
for both men’s and women’s sports.
|
|
Shelley
Boettcher and Jacki Banitt would receive All-American
honors in women’s softball in 2000. Boettcher
would be one of three female athletes to be named
All-American twice.
|
Women’s
soccer made its appearance as a sport at RCTC in 1998
as a club sport and was added as a regular sport in
1999. The team would win three straight regional
titles.
|
A
new mascot was unveiled in this time period.
A contest was held with RCTC staff member Darin Hoffman
with the award winning design named “Sting”.
|
| |
In
October of 2002, the campus played host to President
George W. Bush.
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Timeline: 
