Capitol College
Encyclopedia
Capitol College is a private, non-profit, and non-sectarian college located just south of Laurel
, Maryland
, in unincorporated Prince George's County
. It was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, changed its name to the Capitol Institute of Technology in 1964, and assumed its current name in 1987. Capitol specializes in undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, computer science, information technology, and business.
veteran and radio operator. Five years later, in 1932, a residence division was opened, allowing students to reside at the school and study in laboratories
. This facility remained at the corner of 16th Street NW
and Park Road in Washington, D.C.
for 30 years. In 1946, following World War II
, the Institute was accredited by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development
(ECPD).
In 1964, the Institute changed its name to the Capitol Institute of Technology to reflect its expansion during the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, in 1966, the District of Columbia licensed the Institute to award Bachelor of Science
degree
s in engineering technology. Anticipating the need for more space, the Institute decided to move to a leased facility in Kensington
, Maryland in 1969, which opened in January 1970. Six years later, in 1976, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) awarded full accreditation
to the Institute.
After receiving regional accreditation
, the Institute started to receive Federal and State grant
s for the purchase and construction of a new Laurel, Maryland campus, which was completed in September 1983. Over the next few years, new degree programs were introduced, the cooperative education
program was expanded, new construction was well underway, and The Decade of Growth Campaign exceeds its $3.5 million goal. In 1986, Telecommunications Hall and the 340-seat Avrum Gudelsky Memorial Auditorium were completed. A year later, The Board of Trustees approved an extensive five-point plan.
This plan involved changing the school's name to the current one, developing new curricula in electrical engineering
and telecommunication
s, creating student housing on campus, and moving from an quarter system
to a semester system. In January 1989, six apartment-style residence hall
s were completed, named after various inventors: Bell
, De Forest
, Edison
, Franklin
, Morse
, and Steinmetz
. In August 1990, the Graduate School was created to offer the College's first Master's degree
s in systems management
.
Over the following seven years, the College expanded its graduate degree offerings, partnered with NASA
to offer preparatory summer courses in engineering
for minority
students, developed a Distance Learning Center, and opened the renovated Puente Library, also housing the McGowan Center for Innovative Teaching. In 1997, the College offered its first courses over the Internet
. Since then, new undergraduate and graduate programs were introduced, the Space Operations Institute was established and expanded, the McGowan Academic Center was constructed, and online enrollment has increased.
Laurel, Maryland
Laurel is a city in northern Prince George's County, Anne Arundel County, and Howard County, Maryland, United States, located midway between Washington, D.C. and Baltimore. Incorporated in 1870, the city maintains a historic district including its Main Street...
, Maryland
Maryland
Maryland is a U.S. state located in the Mid Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Virginia, West Virginia, and the District of Columbia to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and Delaware to its east...
, in unincorporated Prince George's County
Prince George's County, Maryland
Prince George's County is a county located in the U.S. state of Maryland, immediately north, east, and south of Washington, DC. As of 2010, it has a population of 863,420 and is the wealthiest African-American majority county in the nation....
. It was founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, changed its name to the Capitol Institute of Technology in 1964, and assumed its current name in 1987. Capitol specializes in undergraduate and graduate programs in engineering, computer science, information technology, and business.
History
Capitol College was originally founded in 1927 as the Capitol Radio Engineering Institute, a correspondence school, by Eugene H. Rietzke, a U.S. NavyUnited States Navy
The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
veteran and radio operator. Five years later, in 1932, a residence division was opened, allowing students to reside at the school and study in laboratories
Laboratory
A laboratory is a facility that provides controlled conditions in which scientific research, experiments, and measurement may be performed. The title of laboratory is also used for certain other facilities where the processes or equipment used are similar to those in scientific laboratories...
. This facility remained at the corner of 16th Street NW
16th Street Northwest (Washington, D.C.)
16th Street Northwest is a prominent north-south thoroughfare in the northwest quadrant of Washington, D.C.Part of Pierre L'Enfant's design for the city, 16th Street begins just north of the White House across Lafayette Park at H Street and continues due north in a straight line passing K Street,...
and Park Road in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
for 30 years. In 1946, following World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Institute was accredited by the Engineers' Council for Professional Development
American Engineers' Council for Professional Development
The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development or simply the Engineers' Council for Professional Development , established in June 1932, was an engineering professional body dedicated to the education, accreditation, regulation and professional development of the engineering...
(ECPD).
In 1964, the Institute changed its name to the Capitol Institute of Technology to reflect its expansion during the 1950s. Shortly thereafter, in 1966, the District of Columbia licensed the Institute to award Bachelor of Science
Bachelor of Science
A Bachelor of Science is an undergraduate academic degree awarded for completed courses that generally last three to five years .-Australia:In Australia, the BSc is a 3 year degree, offered from 1st year on...
degree
Bachelor's degree
A bachelor's degree is usually an academic degree awarded for an undergraduate course or major that generally lasts for three or four years, but can range anywhere from two to six years depending on the region of the world...
s in engineering technology. Anticipating the need for more space, the Institute decided to move to a leased facility in Kensington
Kensington, Maryland
Kensington is a town in Montgomery County, Maryland, United States. The population was 1,873 at the 2000 census. Greater Kensington encompasses the entire 20895 zip code and its population is an order of magnitude larger than that of the town at its center....
, Maryland in 1969, which opened in January 1970. Six years later, in 1976, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE) awarded full accreditation
Accreditation
Accreditation is a process in which certification of competency, authority, or credibility is presented.Organizations that issue credentials or certify third parties against official standards are themselves formally accredited by accreditation bodies ; hence they are sometimes known as "accredited...
to the Institute.
After receiving regional accreditation
Regional accreditation
Regional accreditation is a term used in the United States to refer to educational accreditation conducted by any of several accreditation bodies established to serve six defined geographic areas of the country for accreditation of schools, colleges, and universities...
, the Institute started to receive Federal and State grant
Grant (money)
Grants are funds disbursed by one party , often a Government Department, Corporation, Foundation or Trust, to a recipient, often a nonprofit entity, educational institution, business or an individual. In order to receive a grant, some form of "Grant Writing" often referred to as either a proposal...
s for the purchase and construction of a new Laurel, Maryland campus, which was completed in September 1983. Over the next few years, new degree programs were introduced, the cooperative education
Cooperative education
Cooperative education is a structured method of combining classroom-based education with practical work experience. A cooperative education experience, commonly known as a "co-op", provides academic credit for structured job experience...
program was expanded, new construction was well underway, and The Decade of Growth Campaign exceeds its $3.5 million goal. In 1986, Telecommunications Hall and the 340-seat Avrum Gudelsky Memorial Auditorium were completed. A year later, The Board of Trustees approved an extensive five-point plan.
This plan involved changing the school's name to the current one, developing new curricula in electrical engineering
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is a field of engineering that generally deals with the study and application of electricity, electronics and electromagnetism. The field first became an identifiable occupation in the late nineteenth century after commercialization of the electric telegraph and electrical...
and telecommunication
Telecommunication
Telecommunication is the transmission of information over significant distances to communicate. In earlier times, telecommunications involved the use of visual signals, such as beacons, smoke signals, semaphore telegraphs, signal flags, and optical heliographs, or audio messages via coded...
s, creating student housing on campus, and moving from an quarter system
Academic quarter (year division)
An academic quarter refers to the division of an academic year into four parts, found in a minority of universities in the United States and in some European and Asian countries.-Background and trends:...
to a semester system. In January 1989, six apartment-style residence hall
Dormitory
A dormitory, often shortened to dorm, in the United States is a residence hall consisting of sleeping quarters or entire buildings primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people, often boarding school, college or university students...
s were completed, named after various inventors: Bell
Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell was an eminent scientist, inventor, engineer and innovator who is credited with inventing the first practical telephone....
, De Forest
Lee De Forest
Lee De Forest was an American inventor with over 180 patents to his credit. De Forest invented the Audion, a vacuum tube that takes relatively weak electrical signals and amplifies them. De Forest is one of the fathers of the "electronic age", as the Audion helped to usher in the widespread use...
, Edison
Thomas Edison
Thomas Alva Edison was an American inventor and businessman. He developed many devices that greatly influenced life around the world, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and a long-lasting, practical electric light bulb. In addition, he created the world’s first industrial...
, Franklin
Benjamin Franklin
Dr. Benjamin Franklin was one of the Founding Fathers of the United States. A noted polymath, Franklin was a leading author, printer, political theorist, politician, postmaster, scientist, musician, inventor, satirist, civic activist, statesman, and diplomat...
, Morse
Samuel F. B. Morse
Samuel Finley Breese Morse was an American contributor to the invention of a single-wire telegraph system based on European telegraphs, co-inventor of the Morse code, and an accomplished painter.-Birth and education:...
, and Steinmetz
Charles Proteus Steinmetz
Charles Proteus Steinmetz was a German-American mathematician and electrical engineer. He fostered the development of alternating current that made possible the expansion of the electric power industry in the United States, formulating mathematical theories for engineers...
. In August 1990, the Graduate School was created to offer the College's first Master's degree
Master's degree
A master's is an academic degree granted to individuals who have undergone study demonstrating a mastery or high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice...
s in systems management
Systems management
Systems management refers to enterprise-wide administration of distributed systems including computer systems. Systems management is strongly influenced by network management initiatives in telecommunications....
.
Over the following seven years, the College expanded its graduate degree offerings, partnered with NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
to offer preparatory summer courses in engineering
Engineering
Engineering is the discipline, art, skill and profession of acquiring and applying scientific, mathematical, economic, social, and practical knowledge, in order to design and build structures, machines, devices, systems, materials and processes that safely realize improvements to the lives of...
for minority
Minority group
A minority is a sociological group within a demographic. The demographic could be based on many factors from ethnicity, gender, wealth, power, etc. The term extends to numerous situations, and civilizations within history, despite the misnomer of minorities associated with a numerical statistic...
students, developed a Distance Learning Center, and opened the renovated Puente Library, also housing the McGowan Center for Innovative Teaching. In 1997, the College offered its first courses over the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
. Since then, new undergraduate and graduate programs were introduced, the Space Operations Institute was established and expanded, the McGowan Academic Center was constructed, and online enrollment has increased.
Undergraduate certificates
- Computer and Network Security
- Financial Management
- Object-Oriented Programming
- Operations Management
- Personnel Management
- Programming and Data Management
- Software Engineering
- Space Missions and Operations Specialist
- Web Programming
- Website Development
Associate's degrees
- AAS in Computer Engineering Technology
- AAS in Electronics Engineering Technology
- AAS in Telecommunications Engineering Technology
Bachelor's degrees
- BS in Astronautical Engineering
- BS in Business Administration
- BS in Computer Engineering
- BS in Computer Engineering Technology
- BS in Computer Science
- BS in Electrical Engineering
- BS in Electronics Engineering Technology
- BS in Information Assurance
- BS in Management of Information Technology
- BS in Software and Internet Applications
- BS in Software Engineering
- BS in Telecommunications Engineering Technology
Graduate certificates
- Client-Server and Wireless Devices
- Component Technologies and Online Collaboration
- Global Telecommunications Systems
- Information Assurance Administration
- Information Technology
- Network Protection
- Security Management
Master's degrees
- MS in Astronautical Engineering
- Master of Business Administration (MBA)
- MS in Computer Science
- MS in Electrical Engineering
- MS in Information Assurance
- MS in Information and Telecommunications Systems Management
- MS in Internet Engineering