In 1965 the Kansas State Board of Education established this institution under authority granted by Kansas Statutes Annotated 72-4412, and named it the Manhattan Area Vocational -Technical School. Educational programs were initially offered on the campus of Manhattan High School. MATC's current campus, located at 3136 Dickens Avenue in Manhattan, Kansas, was occupied in 1967. Through the years, the increasing influence of advancing technology in business and industry, health and emergency services, and government has made strong technical skills a requirement in most professions. This evolution has made it popular to refer to vocational-technical training as, simply, technical education. In that spirit, the school was renamed in 1992 as Manhattan Area Technical Center. Legislation passed in 1994, Kansas Senate Bill 586, amended K.S.A. 72-4412 and provided the opportunity for technical schools to apply for conversion to technical colleges. In 1996, Governor Bill Graves signed into law Kansas House Bill 2606, which amended K.S.A. 72-4412, and designated the school as Manhattan Area Technical College. During its 2003 session, the Kansas Legislature passed Senate Bill 7, enabling technical colleges to move to autonomous governance, independent of the public school system. On March 17, 2004, the Kansas Board of Regents approved MATC's governance plan. On July 1, the long process of gaining autonomous governance came to fruition.

Organization

Manhattan Area Technical College is a public technical college governed by an appointed Board of Directors under a governance plan approved by the Kansas Board of Regents on March 17, 2004. The President of the College reports to the Board of Directors and supervises all College operations and instruction. In addition, MATC is advised by more than 120 volunteer program advisory board members and general advisory members representing a cross section of business and industry.

Accreditation

Manhattan Area Technical College meets the standards prescribed by, and is accredited through the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools, 30 North LaSalle Street, Suite 2400, Chicago, IL, 60602-2504; (312) 263-0456; http://www.ncahigherlearningcommission.org It is approved with the Kansas Board of Regents, 1000 SW Jackson, Ste. 520, Topeka, KS 66612-1321, and the U.S. Department of Education, 400 Maryland Avenue, SW Washington, DC 20202-0498. Other program-specific accrediting/approving/certifying agencies are the National League for Nursing Accrediting Commission, 61 Broadway - 33rd Floor, New York, NY 10006; and the Kansas State Board of Nursing, Landon State Office Building, Suite 551S, 900 S.W. Jackson, Topeka, KS 66612.

Service Area

Since its establishment, Manhattan Area Technical College has served an area of Kansas that includes citizens and communities in ten counties. MATC has provided and continues to provide advanced education and technical preparation to individuals who hail from communities all over Kansas, other states, and other countries.