Looking Back on NCCC – SUNY Niagara Today

By: Sidney Ziemendorf 

According to the school’s website, “SUNY Niagara was founded on November 8^th, 1962, and  took its name from the County of Niagara, its local sponsor. There were no buildings, staff,  courses, or students. All of that would come in a remarkably short time, prompting the American  Association of Junior Colleges to call SUNY Niagara ‘a miracle of accomplishment.’” 

The college’s campus was originally located in Niagara Falls at 430 Buffalo Avenue, which  formerly served as the office of the Nabisco Shredded Wheat plant. After opening its doors and  welcoming SUNY Niagara’s first 343 students in 1963, the college earned the nickname  “Nabisco Tech.” As the college grew, it was decided that SUNY Niagara needed a new home.  After some debate, the Wendt property at the intersection of Route 31 (Saunders Settlement  Road) and Route 429 (Townline Road) was selected as the site of SUNY Niagara’s permanent  eight-building campus in June 1966. 

The Niagara Falls Culinary Institute (NFCI) opened in the former Rainbow Factory Outlet in  2012. It was built to revitalize downtown Niagara Falls and became a premier culinary  destination on the East Coast. Now, NFCI features a student-run fine dining restaurant named  Savor, along with an on-campus Culinary Theatre that serves both as a classroom and as a venue  for visiting celebrity chefs.

Looking back to 1965, the college used to publish traditional yearbooks showcasing students,  clubs, such as the Ski Club, Student Nursing Association, Black Student Union, and Music Club,  and sports teams. There was even a Dental Assisting program. The yearbooks included poetry,  motivational quotes, and the typical layout of student headshots with names. You can find the  yearbooks online through the school’s website, covering the years 1965 to 1979. 

SUNY Niagara also has a rich history in athletics, particularly in wrestling and baseball. There  were once teams for track, cheerleading, lacrosse, and bowling as well. In the early years, the  college teams were known as the Niagara Frontiersmen, later becoming the Trailblazers in 1984.  Bob McKeown, a former athlete and coach of basketball and softball at the college, was named  Athletic Director in 2010 and now in 2025. He was part of the committee that developed the  school’s current team name, the Thunderwolves. “The Thunder represents the thunder of the  Falls, and the Wolves represent the fact that wolves used to roam Cambria on a regular basis  years ago,” said McKeown. 

Another fun fact is that the walls in each hallway once had ashtrays built into the brick, though  they’ve since been filled in. At the time, the ashtrays were filled in by art projects that resembled  snow globes. The “Den” in G Building used to be packed with arcade games, and the Dining  Commons even hosted weddings and banquets, complete with a disco ball. Perhaps the most  interesting feature of the past was that there was a pool in athletics, where classes, meets, and  open swimming sessions once took place. 

Today, SUNY Niagara has over 5,500 students enrolled in more than 70 degree and certificate  programs. With small class sizes that offer personalized learning experiences and strong transfer  pathways that make it easy to continue your education, the college has come a long way since it  opened its doors in 1963.