ACC the "other" school in Laramie

James Malm knows that the Albany County Campus plays a vital role in the educational community in Laramie. As part of Laramie County Community College, ACC serves as an important link between high schools and the University of Wyoming.

Housed in a new facility that opened in 2006 on Laramie's east side, ACC serves hundreds of students each semester.

"We're a transfer college for UW," said Malm, associate vice president of ACC. "About 90 percent of our students have relationships with the university."

Those relationships include preparing students to transfer to UW, offering developmental courses that help students prepare for college-level classes, and having UW students take classes that can transfer back to the university.

Among other courses, ACC offers an engineering technology degree that can be completed at the campus, as well as developmental classes that are not available at UW.

Malm joined the LCCC team in 2014, and he has three major goals for 2015:

• exploring a campus expansion plan
• building relationships with the community
• completing an organizational analysis

The expansion would address the college's growing classroom needs while creating an educational hub.


"This will be an educational complex," Malm said. "Across the street, the city is building a state-of-the-art high school. This area is where you can go for your K-14 education. Then you can go across the street to UW."


For relationship-building, Malm serves on several community organizations and started a weekly speaker series that is open to the public. 
As for the organizational analysis, he has been reviewing the resources at ACC to ensure the college continues to offer the best services to its students.


So the next time someone talks about going to college in Laramie, keep in mind they may actually be talking about the hidden gem that is ACC.