Clark State Community College began in 1962 as the Springfield and Clark County Technical Education Program in an effort to meet the post-secondary, technical education needs of Springfield and the surrounding area. In 1966 the name was changed to Clark County Technical Institute (CCTI) and was chartered by the Ohio Board of Regents as Ohio's first technical college. In 1972, ten years after its birth, CCTI had grown to 1,000 students and officially became Clark Technical College. New programs in agriculture, business, engineering technologies, health, public services and general studies were developed in response to the community's changing educational and economic needs. In the 1970s the College reexamined its mission and determined that programs which can be transferred to four-year colleges should be included as a secondary focus. In order to accomplish this, many new courses in the humanities and the social sciences were added to the curriculum. By 1985 Clark Technical College had developed one of the broadest general education programs of any technical college in the state.