AN INTRODUCTION TO PROFESSIONAL BUSINESS COLLEGE

Professional Business College (PBC) has been at its current location since the fall of 1990, when it moved from Rockland County to New York City.  The move in effect created a new institution, located in Chinatown and serving mostly Chinese and other minority and immigrant populations.

The multi-cultural population in the New York metropolitan area has increased dramatically in recent years.  Many of these individuals now work in menial jobs because they lack the skills and education necessary to obtain employment in business.  The faculty and staff at PBC are dedicated to remedying this situation by providing the necessary language and other skills necessary to this population if they are to become part of the business community.

Most students who come to PBC are concerned and apprehensive about not being able to succeed in an academic environment.  Many of them are educationally, socially, and economically disadvantaged.  Also, some of our students, for whom English is a second language, face formidable language problems.  Due to these circumstances, PBC has created an atmosphere of genuine caring and friendliness combined with professionalism that enables our students to succeed in spite of these problems.  They are able to establish close personal and professional relationships with faculty and staff and to avail themselves of the many supports available at PBC, including small classes, individual attention, tutoring, advising, counseling and workshops.  Counseling and/or advising is provided to students for academic, financial, and/or personal problems.  PBC also offers free career counseling and placement assistance to all its graduates.

FACILITIES AND RESOURCES 

Professional Business College is located on the corner of Canal Street and Bowery across from the Manhattan Bridge in New York City.  This location is easily accessible by public transportation; many subways and bus lines provide direct service to the area.  The building in which the school is housed has been remodeled.  It is a clean, freshly painted, well-lit air-conditioned facility complete with security staff and full-time maintenance personnel on the premises at all times.  Restroom facilities are available on each floor and include a fully-equipped bathroom for the handicapped located on the fourth floor. 

The school occupies half of the third floor in addition to the second, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors of the building.  The facilities include 5 computer laboratories with a total of 105 computers and 5 network printers.  The equipment is similar to what students will encounter in the workplace, and every student is assured of having his or her own computer in each class.
           
The Library/Resources Center is on the second floor and houses an extensive collection of materials including: recorded information, printed materials, sound recordings, audio-visual materials and materials used with computers.  The collection supports the courses taught at PBC and includes reference materials.  There are 14 computers, 4 study corals containing computers loaded with interactive software and a small video room for student use.  In addition to the library’s Internet resources, i.e., full web access, the library has three electronic resources of academic and business information.  The three database collections available are EBSCOhost, Encyclopedia Britannica Online, and Hoovers.  All three provide our students with a wealth of information for research papers and projects.  In addition, the Library is a member of METRO, a New York City / Westchester consortium of academic, public and special libraries.  This allows students to make use of any participating libraries in New York City and Westchester.