Amarillo College
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Amarillo College (AC) is a
public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...
community college A community college is a type of undergraduate higher education institution, generally leading to an associate degree, certificate, or diploma. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an open enr ...
in
Amarillo, Texas Amarillo ( ; Spanish language, Spanish for "yellow") is a city in the U.S. state of Texas and the county seat of Potter County, Texas, Potter County, though most of the southern half of the city extends into Randall County, Texas, Randall County ...
. It enrolls over 9,100 students and was established in 1929 as Amarillo Junior College. Amarillo College has a total of six campuses as of August 2023. As defined by the
Texas Legislature The Texas State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Texas. It is a bicameral body composed of a 31-member Senate and a 150-member House of Representatives. The state legislature meets at the Capitol in Austin. It is a p ...
, the official service area of AC includes all of Carson, Castro, Deaf Smith,
Moore Moore may refer to: Language * Mooré language, spoken in West Africa People * Moore (surname) ** List of people with surname Moore * Moore Crosthwaite (1907–1989), a British diplomat and ambassador * Moore Disney (1765–1846), a senior ...
,
Oldham Oldham is a town in Greater Manchester, England. It lies amongst the Pennines on elevated ground between the rivers River Irk, Irk and River Medlock, Medlock, southeast of Rochdale, and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative cent ...
, Parmer,
Potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: Places United States *Potter, originally a section on the Alaska Railroad, currently a neighborhood of Anchorage, Alaska, US *Potter, Arkansas *Potter, Nebraska *Potters, New Jerse ...
, 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, Amarillo College (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 with a total of 86 students in its first class. The college moved to its main campus on Washington Street in 1937 in what is now known as Ordway Hall. Throughout the first half of the 1940s Amarillo College's Defense School and other classes trained for wartime building efforts. In 1942 the president of the college, Dr. Mead, was commissioned to the Army and forced to take a leave of absence to help in the war. In 1951, Amarillo College became one of the first three publicly supported Texas college to have racially integrated undergraduate classes, and in 1953 AC had its first African American graduate. The other colleges to admit African Americans at the time were
Texas Southmost College Texas Southmost College (TSC) is a public junior college located in Brownsville, Texas, United States. History Early history Texas Southmost College was established in 1926 under the name of The Junior College of the Lower Rio Grande Valley, ...
in Brownsville and Howard County Junior College in Big Spring. Amarillo College was the host of a men's basketball team from the 1960s through several years in the 1980s. In 1970, the team was ranked 9th in the nation in pre-season rankings and spent much 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. The college 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 school's fencing team was initiated into the Amarillo College Fencing Association. The program ended with the death of Coach Chuck Slaughter in 2016. The school founded an intercollegiate esports team in 2019, which continues to compete against schools around the country. In 2022, Amarillo College re-entered intercollegiate sports with a planned schedule of men's baseball, women's softball, and men's and women's cross country. As part of the revived sports program, the school mascot got a makeover, a new costume, and was renamed Ace the Badger. Amarillo College reached a record enrollment number of over 10,000 students in 2004. Prior to winning the Aspen Prize in 2023, Amarillo College was a Top 5 finalist for the
Aspen Institute The Aspen Institute is an international nonprofit organization founded in 1949 as the Aspen Institute for Humanistic Studies. It is headquartered in Washington, D.C., but also has a campus in Aspen, Colorado, its original home. Its stated miss ...
's Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence in 2021 and ultimately was named a 2021 Rising Star. The Aspen Prize is awarded every two years.


Campuses


Washington Street Campus

The college's main and original campus is located on Washington Street near downtown Amarillo. As of 2005, the campus expands to nearly with 17 buildings. It owns radio and television stations, KACV-FM and KACV-TV; both respectively serve as a
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') may be a tertiary educational institution (sometimes awarding degrees), part of a collegiate university, an institution offering vocational education, a further education institution, or a secondary sc ...
/ variety radio station and a
PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...
member
public television Public broadcasting (or public service broadcasting) is radio, television, and other electronic media outlets whose primary mission is public service with a commitment to avoiding political and commercial influence. Public broadcasters receive f ...
station and broadcast from the Gilvin Broadcast Center. The Amarillo Museum of Art (AMoA), originally named the Amarillo Art Center, and the National History Museum is also located in this campus. The AMoA opened in 1972 and was renamed in the late 1990s. The Washington Street campus formerly had a cafeteria but it stopped service after a reduction in the school's budget. It was later replaced by a branch of Palace Coffee in 2018, which in turn was taken over by the school and merged with the student bookstore in a renovated College Union Building in 2020. Food trucks have also occasionally been invited to campus to provide more options for student meals.


West Campus

The West Campus is a 42-acre lot located near Amarillo's hospital district that officially opened its doors in 1967 in response to growing demand for allied health and occupational technology programs. Starting off with only four campus buildings, the campus later expanded to eight buildings after a successful bond election in 1994. The campus houses fifteen allied health programs, including associate degrees in Registered Nursing,
Dental Hygiene Oral hygiene is the practice of keeping one's oral cavity clean and free of disease and other problems (e.g. bad breath) by regular brushing of the teeth (dental hygiene) and adopting good hygiene habits. It is important that oral hygiene be carr ...
, Emergency Medical Services Professions (Paramedics and Emergency Medical Technologists) and many others. The West Campus also houses the Panhandle Regional Law Enforcement Academy, an academy accredited by TCLEOSE.


Amarillo College Downtown Campus

This campus is located in the heart of 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 also used for workforce training for business industries, and is now home to the Innovation Outpost.


East 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 courses in automotive and industrial fields. The campus is also 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 A school district is a special-purpose district that operates local public Primary school, primary or Secondary school, secondary schools or both in various countries. It is not to be confused with an attendance zone, which is within a school dis ...
takes its name), currently managed by the college.


Campuses outside of Amarillo

In 2000, Amarillo College started operating a campus outside Amarillo in
Dumas, Texas Dumas ( ) is a city in and the county seat of Moore County, Texas, United States. The population was 14,501 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. Located approximately 40 miles north of Amarillo, Texas, Amarillo, the city is named for i ...
. The college opened a sixth campus in
Hereford Hereford ( ) is a cathedral city and the county town of the ceremonial county of Herefordshire, England. It is on the banks of the River Wye and lies east of the border with Wales, north-west of Gloucester and south-west of Worcester. With ...
, the seat of Deaf Smith County, on August 29, 2005. KPAN AM&FM
radio Radio is the technology of communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 3  hertz (Hz) and 300  gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a transmitter connec ...
broadcaster Clint Formby raised $89,000 in
scholarship A scholarship is a form of Student financial aid, financial aid awarded to students for further education. Generally, scholarships are awarded based on a set of criteria such as academic merit, Multiculturalism, diversity and inclusion, athleti ...
s for student attending the Hereford campus.


Demographics

A 2017 survey determined that 11% of Amarillo College students were homeless in the period 2016-2017, and a total of 54% of the student body had difficulty obtaining food within one month of taking the survey. As a result of the high numbers of low income students, the school has made antipoverty initiatives. In 2010, the graduation rate was 9%, and focus groups and surveys concluded that poverty-related factors were the causes. The findings kickstarted the school's antipoverty programs. These efforts resulted in significant improvement over the next decade, with rates rising to 31% for the 2021 graduation class


Notable alumni

* Jinh Yu Frey, professional
mixed martial artist Mixed martial arts (MMA) is a full-contact fighting sport based on striking and grappling; incorporating techniques from various combat sports from around the world. In the early 20th century, various inter-stylistic contests took place t ...
* Susan Gibson, songwriter and vocalist * R. Duane Ireland, professor and former interim dean of Mays Business School at
Texas A&M University Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, TA&M, or TAMU) is a public university, public, Land-grant university, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas, United States. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of ...
* Andrew Kennedy, professional basketball player * Larry Kenon, professional basketball player *
G. William Miller George William Miller (March 9, 1925 – March 17, 2006) was an American businessman and investment banker who served as the 65th United States secretary of the treasury from 1979 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democrat ...
, former
United States Secretary of the Treasury The United States secretary of the treasury is the head of the United States Department of the Treasury, and is the chief financial officer of the federal government of the United States. The secretary of the treasury serves as the principal a ...
and Chair of the
Federal Reserve Bank A Federal Reserve Bank is a regional bank of the Federal Reserve System, the central banking system of the United States. There are twelve in total, one for each of the twelve Federal Reserve Districts that were created by the Federal Reserve A ...
* John C. Morgan,
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient * Mary Lou Robinson, US federal judge * Ben Sargent, editorial cartoonist


See also

* Amarillo Museum of Art


References


External links


Official website
* {{authority control Education in Amarillo, Texas Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Community colleges in Texas Education in Moore County, Texas Education in Deaf Smith County, Texas Universities and colleges established in 1929 1929 establishments in Texas Two-year colleges in the United States