Fifty Years Of Excellence
1957
Wayne Community College came to life as the Goldsboro Industrial Education Center on June 15. Several of these centers were established in North Carolina to provide vocational training for industry workers, and WCC was among the first. Under the governance of the Goldsboro City Board of Education, the IEC used classrooms in Goldsboro High School.
Dwight D. Eisenhower is president.
Soviets launch Sputnik, first artificial satellite.
Dr. Seuss publishes The Cat In The Hat.
The Frisbee is invented.
1958
Hula Hoops become popular.
Lego toy bricks are first introduced.
1959
Alaska and Hawaii become 49th and 50th States.
The Sound Of Music opens on Broadway.
1960
With community support in early 1960, a “temporary” campus was established and was used for all of the college’s operations until 1978, and for the majority of operations until 1989.
Alfred Hitchcock's Psycho is released.
First televised presidential debates.
1961
Bay of Pigs invasion.
Berlin wall is built.
Soviets launch first man in space.
1962
The last year Goldsboro IEC was directed by Kenneth Marshall and Hal K. Plonk. Marshall and Plonk performed the duties since 1957.
Goldsboro IEC became a full-time center in the fall of 1962, with eight faculty and 47 students. In August 1962, Dr. H.B. Monroe became the first president of the institution and served until 1966.
Marilyn Monroe is found dead.
1963
Dr. Martin Luther King gives "I have a dream" speech at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C.
President John F. Kennedy is assassinated.
1964
By January 1964, Goldsboro IEC had become Wayne Technical Institute. Enrollment increased steadily, and by fall of 1966, there were 550 students in curriculum programs on campus and another 1,500 extension students.
US begins military presence in Vietnam.
Congress passes the Civil Rights Act.
Cassius Clay (aka Mahammad Ali) becomes World Heavyweight Champion.
Hasbro launches GI Joe action figure.
1965
Bob Dylan records Like A Rolling Stone.
Los Angeles riots occur.
Malcolm X is assassinated.
NY City great blackout.
1966
Dr. Clyde A. Erwin, Jr. becomes president of WCC in July 1966. Dr. Erwin serves the college for 20 years.
Mass draft protests in the US.
The Star Trek television series airs.
1967
In November 1967, a community vote approved the necessary financial support for Wayne Technical Institute to become Wayne Community College. One year later, curriculum enrollment was approximately 700 and has since grown to approximately 4,300, with an additional 9,300 taking non-credit classes through the division of Continuing Education and Workforce Preparedness.
1968
Lyndon Johnson is president.
Martin Luther King, Jr. is assassinated in Memphis.
Senator Robert F. Kennedy is assassinated in Los Angeles.
1969
Wayne Community College gained accreditation by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools in 1969. Reaffirmation of accreditation has been maintained since then, with periodic reviews by the agency’s Commission on Colleges, and most recently earned the commission’s approval in 2006.
US Astornaut Neil Armstrong becomes first person to walk on the moon.
1970
Beatles break up.
Palestinian group hijacks five planes.
Protesting students at Kent State are shot.
1971
VCR is introduced.
Richard Nixon is president.
1972
M*A*S*H premiers on television.
Mark Spitz wins seven gold medals.
Watergate scandal begins.
1973
Paul Getty kidnapped.
Sears Tower is built.
1974
The college’s rapid growth continued and student population overwhelming the existing facilities. In January 1974, the Board of Trustees commissioned the development of a Master Plan for campus relocation to a new site on Wayne Memorial Drive.
Patty Hearst is kidnapped.
Mikhail Baryshnikov defects.
Evil Knievel attempts to jump the Snake River Canyon in Idaho.
1975
Arthur Ashe is the first black man to win Wimbledon.
Microsoft is founded.
Gerald Ford is president.
1976
Nadia Comaneci is given seven perfect 10 scores at the Olympics.
America celebrates its bicentennial.
1977
Elvis found dead in Memphis.
The mini-series Roots airs on television.
South African anti-apartheid leader Steve Biko tortured to death.
Stars Wars is released.
1978
The first building on the new campus, constructed in 1978, housed programs in auto-diesel technology, welding, watchmaking, drafting and electronics.
John Paul II becomes Pope.
Jonestown massacre occurs.
1979
Jimmy Carter is president.
Americans held hostage in Iran.
Nuclear accident on Three Mile Island
Sony introduces the Walkman.
1980
John Lennon is assassinated.
Mount St. Helens erupts.
Rubik's Cube is popular
1981
Assassination attempt is made on the Pope.
Assassination attempt is made on US President Ronald Reagan.
Sandra Day O'Conner is the first woman to be appointed to the US Supreme Court.
Pac-Man is extremely popular.
IBM introduces the personal computer.
1982
E.T. is released.
Michael Jackson releases Thriller.
1983
Cabbage Patch Kids are popular.
Sally Ride becomes the first woman in space.
US Embassy in Beirut is bombed.
Washington Redskins win Superbowl XVII.
Dallas is the top television show.
1984
Indira Gandhi is killed.
Vietnam War Memorial opens at Arlington Cemetery.
Amadeus takes Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor at Academy Awards.
Tina Turner wins Grammy Record Of The Year for What's Love Got To Do With It?.
1985
Gorbachev becomes Soviet leader.
TWA Flight 847 is hijacked.
The LA Lakers defeat the Boston Celtics for the NBA Championship.
The top movie of the year is Back To The Future.
1986
Dr. G. Herman Porter becomes president of WCC on October 8, 1986.
The passage of a local bond referendum in 1986 by a two-to-one margin provided $9.9 million in construction funds. This commitment was matched by state funds during the years to follow.
NASA Challenger space shuttle explodes.
Chernobyl nuclear accident occurs.
U.S.S.R. launches Mir space station.
1987
Open Your Heart by Madonna is the No. 1 song of the year.
The Cardinal of the Kremlin by Tom Clancy is the top fiction book.
The Grammy for Record Of The Year goes to Paul Simon for Graceland.
Whitney Houston wins female vocalist Grammy for I Wanna Dance With Somebody.
DNA first used to convict criminals.
1988
Pan Am Flight 103 is bombed over Lockerbie.
Whitney Houston's So Emotional is the top song of the year.
LA Dodgers win the World Series over the Oakland A's.
1989
Berlin wall falls.
Exxon Valdez spills millions fo gallons of oil on coastline.
Students massacred in China's Tiananmen Square.
Who Framed Roger Rabbit? is No. 1 at the box office.
1990
Gulf War begins.
Hubble Telescope is launched into space.
Nelson Mandela is freed.
Cheers is the most popular television show.
1991
George Bush is president.
Japan is world's largest automaker.
Bronze Age man found frozen in glacier.
1992
As the local economy improved, WCC’s campus relocation efforts began to progress, led by Dr. G. Herman Porter until 1992.
Dr. Edward H. Wilson becomes president of WCC on July 1, 1992.
By the fall of 1992, five buildings were completed on the current WCC campus.
Eric Clapton takes home Record Of The Year, Song Of The Year, Album Of The Year and Male Vocalist Of The Year at the Grammys with Tears In Heaven and Unplugged.
LA riots after Rodney King verdict.
1993
A statewide bond referendum provides $6.3 million more in construction funds, allowing the addition of two more buildings on campus and a new aviation building at the Goldsboro-Wayne County Municipal Airport, which were in use by the winter of 1996.
Internet expands with World Wide Web.
1994
Channel Tunnel opens between Britain and France.
Lorena Bobbit takes brutal revenge.
Nelson Mandela elected president of South Africa.
O.J. Simpson is arrested for double murder.
Bill Clinton is president.
1995
Yitzhak Rabin is assassinated.
Oklahoma City bombing occurs.
Seinfeld tops the television charts.
Seal wins Song Of The Year, Best Song, and Male Vocalist Of The Year for Kiss From A Rose.
1996
Mad Cow disease hits Britain.
Two Royal divorces.
Unabomber is arrested.
John Gray's Men Are From Mars, Women Are From Venus tops the Nonfiction charts.
1997
Hale-Bopp comet is visible.
Pathfinder sends back images of Mars
Princess Diana dies in car crash.
Tiger Woods wins the Masters.
Titanic wins Best Picture and Best Director.
1998
US President Bill Clinton is impeached.
Viagra goes on the market.
Titanic is most popular movie ever.
1999
Fear of Y2K bug.
JFK, Jr. dies in plane accident.
Killing spree occurs at Columbine High School.
2000 - As enrollment and program offerings continue to grow, so has the campus. In the fall of 2000, overwhelmingly approved a statewide Higher Education Bond that provided nearly $13 million for construction, renovation and repair for WCC.
Oprah Winfrey debuts O magazine.
Venus Williams wins at Wimbledon.
2001
George W. Bush is president.
Terrorist attach New York City and Washington, D.C.
Dow Jones Industrials Average suffers its largest one-day drop in history.
iPod is first introduced by Apple.
Gladiator takes five Oscars.
2002
Pennsylvania miners rescued after spending 77 hours in a dark, flooded mine shaft.
Snipers prey on DC suburbs, killing ten adn wounding others.
Serena Williams defeats Venus Williams for the Wimbledon championship.
O Brother Where Art Thou soundtrack wins five Grammy awards.
2003
War against Iraq is launched by US and Great Britian.
Space Shuttle Columbia explodes, killing 7 astronauts.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the sixth installment in the widly popular series, hits the shelves and rockets up the best-seller lists.
Johnny Depp gets Oscar nomination for Pirates of the Caribbean.
2004
Yasir Arafat dies in Paris.
Enormous tsunami devastates Asia, 200,000 killed.
Four Hurricanes - Bonnie, Charley, Ivan and Jeanne hit Florida and southeast throughout summer season.
2005 - The Plonk Memorial Clock joined the Spillway fountain as a landmark in the college’s courtyard in 2005. The 16-foot “street clock,” a memorial to Madeline Warren Plonk and Hal Kiser Plonk, was a gift from the residents of Goldsboro and the Plonk family.
Saddam Hussein goes on trial for the killing of 143 people.
Hurricane Katrina wreaks catastrophic damage on the Gulf coast.
UNC wins NCAA Basketball Championship.
Lance Armstrong wins Tour de France for the seventh consecutive time.
2006
With the opening of the Walnut Building in 2006, the WCC Continuing Education and Workforce Preparedness department moved into the new facility.
Coretta Scott King, wife of the late Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., died of cancer at 78.
Pluto demoted to a mere dwarf planet and another dwarf planet named Eris joins our solar system.
Saddam Hussein is found guilty of killing 143 people and is hung.
Ed Bradley of CBS News and 60 Minutes dies at age 65.
2007
The last of the buildings built with the 2000 bond money will open for classes in spring 2007. The Spruce Building will house the business and information technology programs in a state-of-the-art facility.
