History

In June of 1975, the State Board for Community Colleges approved a proposal for the creation of a community college to serve the postsecondary vocational and technical education needs of the residents of Wicomico and Worcester counties. The college was designated to operate as a “college without walls.” In November of 1975, the college’s board of trustees appointed Dr. Arnold H. Maner to serve as president of the college. Continuing education courses were offered in the fall of 1975, and the college opened its doors to credit program students in the fall of 1976. In 1989, state legislation was enacted to allow Somerset County residents to attend Wor-Wic at the in-county tuition rate.

After almost 20 years of leasing classroom and office space at various locations in its service area, the college purchased 173 acres of land on the southeast corner of Route 50 and Walston Switch Road in Salisbury. Construction was started in 1993, and the campus officially opened in the fall of 1994. In 1997, the college purchased 29 additional acres of land adjoining the campus to the south of the existing property, bringing the total college-owned acreage to more than 200. Henson Hall was built in 1999, providing a home on campus for Wor-Wic’s nursing and radiologic technology programs. In the summer of 2000, Maner retired, and Dr. Ray Hoy was named Wor-Wic’s second president.

Guerrieri Hall opened in the fall of 2001 to provide office and classroom space for the college’s criminal justice department and the Eastern Shore Criminal Justice Academy. A new Student Center (subsequently named Hazel Center) was opened in the summer of 2005, providing food service, assembly and additional activity and study space for Wor-Wic’s growing student body. The Jordan Center was added in the fall of 2006, providing child care facilities and additional classrooms for students in the human services department. In 2007, the Workforce Development Center (subsequently named Fulton-Owen Hall) opened, providing a new home for the college’s continuing education and workforce development division, the business department and the hotel-motel-restaurant management department.

In 2011, the college purchased 12 additional acres of land adjoining the campus. Also in 2011, emergency medical services, nursing and radiologic technology were moved out of Henson Hall into a new Allied Health Building (subsequently named Shockley Hall), which made room in Henson Hall for the expansion of science courses and allied health classes offered through the continuing education and workforce development division.

Throughout its history, Wor-Wic has worked to respond to community growth and educational needs. The Patricia and Alan Guerrieri Technology Center opened in the spring of 2023 to modernize and expand career education options, with welding, HVACR, metal fabrication and plumbing labs; a CDL simulation lab; and other hands-on instruction areas for electro-mechanical, construction, electrical and alternative energy programs; as well as a community makerspace open to the public. In the summer of 2023, Hoy retired, and Deborah Casey, Ph.D., was named Wor-Wic’s third president.