HCC Vision Statement

Hutchinson Community College/Area Vocational School will be the premier, two-year educational institution in Kansas, delivering accessible opportunities for learning, growth and improved quality of life.

HCC VALUE's


  • Focus – HCC’s mission and vision strives to meet the expectations of students and stakeholders; we regularly gather their perspectives to continuously improve our ability to meet their needs.
  • Involvement – HCC strives for broad-based participation, drawing upon the expertise of persons closest to the situations.
  • Leadership – The leadership at HCC supports a quality-driven culture and models those values and behaviors so that all stakeholders understand and value the institution’s mission and direction.
  • Learning – HCC is dedicated to developing everyone’s potential talents and rigorously evaluating achievements to systematically strengthen our institution.
  • People – HCC supports the systematic development of all individuals.
  • Collaboration – HCC encourages active collaboration among and within departments and between the institution and other institutions and organizations.
  • Agility – HCC values flexibility to respond quickly to opportunities and challenges and the ability to allocate necessary resources, fiscal, human and physical, to meet those opportunities and challenges.
  • Foresight – HCC is future-focused, examining trends to better predict how conditions will change and anticipating how those changes may affect our students, other stakeholders, and our mission.
  • Information – HCC seeks and uses data and objective information to assess our current capacities and set appropriate targets and to measure our performance realistically.
  • Integrity – HCC recognizes and seeks to fulfill our public obligation to demonstrate responsible institutional citizenship by treating people and organizations with equity, dignity, and respect.

Fort Hays State University opened its doors in 1902 as the western branch of the Kansas Normal School on the grounds of the abandoned Fort Hays military post southwest of Hays. The first building of the current campus, now Picken Hall, was completed in 1904, and the University moved to its present location. The University served the early settlers' needs for educational facilities in the new region.

Today, FHSU has nearly 5000 students on campus and another 5000 enrolled in classes through the Virtual College. We continue to fulfill the mission of our earliest years by delivering opportunities for higher education to the 66 counties of western Kansas through certificate, associate, undergraduate and graduate degree programs.

FHSU is fully accredited by the North Central Association of the Higher Learning Commission. Many programs have acquired special accreditation through professional organizations in their disciplines.