Amarillo College

Amarillo College

Entrance to Amarillo College, Washington Street campus
Motto	Collegium Excellens
Motto in English	Of surpassing the College of
Type	Community College
Established	1929 (1929)
Academic affiliation	Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
President	Dr. Paul Matney
Students	11,675
Location	Amarillo , Texas , United States
Campus	Urban, 31 acres (.13 km²), Washington Street campus
Colours	Blue and White
Mascot	Badger
Website	www.actx.edu

Amarillo College (AC) is a two-year community college in Amarillo, Texas with over 10,000 students that was established in 1929 as Amarillo Junior College. Amarillo College has a total of six campuses as of October 2005.

As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of AC includes all of Carson, Castro, Deaf Smith, Moore, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, and Swisher Counties.

History

Prior to 1929, Amarillo was the largest Texas city without a public college. George Ordway and James Guleke helped to introduce a house bill that would establish junior college districts in the Amarillo area. On July 16, 1929, AC became the first Texas junior college district to be organized independent of a school district. The first classes were held later that year in September. The college moved to its main campus on Washington Street in 1937.

In 1951, AC became one of the first three publicly supported Texas college to admit blacks to undergraduate classes. The others were Texas Southmost College in Brownsville and Howard County Junior College in Big Spring. (The AC Story: Journal of a College, Joe F. Taylor, 1979)

Amarillo College was the host of a men's basketball team from the1960s through several years in the 1970s. In 1970 the team was ranked 9th in the nation in pre-season rankings and spent a good part of the season in the top ten among junior colleges in the nation. The conference included New Mexico JC, Odessa College, Frank Phillips College, New Mexico Military Institute, Howard County College, South Plains College and Clarendon College.

Amarillo also had a men's and women's tennis team as well as a men's golf team in the 1960s and 1970s. In 1971 the AC golf team finished sixth in conference action.

In 1999 the Amarillo College's Fencing Team was initiated and the Amarillo College Fencing Association. Both clubs are sanctioned by the United States Fencing Association. Juleah Nusz, an Amarillo College fencer, is a national United States Fencing Association Champion, and under the guidance of Coach Chuck Slaughter.

Campuses

Washington Street Campus

The clock tower at the Amarillo College's Washington Street campus.

The college's main and original campus is located near downtown Amarillo. As of 2005, the campus expands to nearly 31 acres (130,000 m²) with 17 buildings. It has its own radio and television studios which is home to the Texas Panhandle region's PBS member station, KACV-TV. The Amarillo Art Center is also located in this campus, opened in 1972, is a building complex with an art museum and concert hall.

West Campus

The West Campus was opened in 1966 in response to growing demand for allied health and occupational technology programs. The campus houses fifteen allied health programs that includes Associate Degree Registered Nursing, Dentist Aide, Dental Hygiene, Emergency Medical Services Professions (Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technologists), Licensed Vocational Nursing, Medical Data Specialist, Medical Laboratory Technology, Nuclear Medicine Technology, Occupational Therapy Assistant, Physical Therapy Assisting, Pharmacy Technology, Radiography, Radiation Therapy, Respiratory Care and Surgical Technology. The West Campus also houses the Panhandle Regional Law Enforcement Academy, an academy accredited by TCLEOSE. The campus is located near Amarillo's hospital district.

Amarillo College Downtown Campus

The campus is located in downtown Amarillo. In 1977, Amarillo College leased two gyms from the Amarillo Senior Citizens Association (ASCA), formerly of Amarillo High School and Elizabeth Nixson Junior High School. In 1996, the old Amarillo High School gymnasium was transformed into Business & Industry Center which houses an auditorium, an exhibit hall and classrooms for seminars, short courses, and computer training. The facility is used to workforce training for business and industry.

East Campus

The Amarillo Museum of Art at the Washington Street Campus.

In 1995, the Texas state legislature created Amarillo Technical Center after transferring Texas State Technical College's Amarillo facility to Amarillo College. In 2002, the campus was renamed Amarillo College East Campus.

The campus offers technology courses in Auto Collision, Automotive, Aviation Maintenance, Diesel Mechanics, Electronics, Fire Protection, Industrial Maintenance, Instrument and Control, and Safety and Environmental.

The campus is sparsely developed, consisting of old buildings from the TSTC days (which itself were donated when Amarillo Air Force Base closed) and a residential community called Highland Park Village (consisting of old military housing duplexes, from which the nearby school district takes its name), currently managed by the college.

Campuses outside Amarillo

In 2000 Amarillo College started operating a campus outside Amarillo in Dumas, Texas. The college opened a sixth campus in Hereford, the seat of Deaf Smith County, on August 29, 2005. KPAN AM&FM radio broadcaster Clint Formby raised $89,000 in scholarships for student attending the Hereford campus.

Notable alumni

• John C. Morgan, Medal of Honor recipient
• Ben Sargent, editorial cartoonist
• G. William Miller, Former United States Secretary of the Treasury and Chair of the Federal Reserve Bank.
• Larry Kenon, Former NBA player
• Susan Gibson, Songwriter and Vocalist, wrote "Wide Open Spaces"

See also

• Amarillo Museum of Art

References

• Amarillo College from the Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed on October 8, 2005.

External links

• Official website