History of Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College | SKYCTC

Our History

Excellence in Education Since 1939


Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College (SKYCTC) was established in 1939 under the joint sponsorship of the National Youth Administration (NYA) and Western Kentucky State Teachers College. The original name of the College was the Western Trade School and it operated as a NYA training facility. The school was used to train industrial workers and Armed Service personnel for the duration of World War II. At the end of the war, the federal government released the facility to the State Department of Education/Bureau of Vocational Education and Western KY State Teachers College to be operated as an area trade school.

In 1962 through the passage of a bill in the Kentucky General Assembly, the school became independent of Western Kentucky University (WKU) and was renamed the Western Area Vocational School. In 1968, the school moved to its current main campus location and changed its name again to the Bowling Green Area Vocational School. Additional buildings were constructed in 1973 and in 1982 bringing total available training space to approximately 177,000 square feet. It also represents a total complex cost of approximately $6,100,000 in buildings, and over $3,500,000 in equipment and supplies. The name of the school then changed to the Bowling Green Regional Technology Center in 1996.

With the passage of the Post-Secondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 (House Bill 1) the Bowling Green Regional Technology School became a part of the Kentucky Community and Technical College System. As a result the name was changed to the Bowling Green Technical College.

Since that time the College has become an Comprehensive Community and Technical College offering the Associate in Science and Associate in Arts Degrees and has added campuses at the Transpark and in Franklin Kentucky. In 2012 the name of the college was changed to Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College.