Odessa College

Odessa College, in Odessa, grew out of an educational effort of 1938. On September 1 of that year the Ector County Independent School District board of trustees called a bond election for a junior college. On August 29, 1946, Odessa Junior College District was established. The superintendent of the Ector County Public Schools, Murry H. Fly, also served as president of Odessa College. The first year the college was open, classes were conducted in Odessa High School after school; enrollment was 184. Voters passed a $200,000 bond issue on May 15, 1948, for the construction of a permanent building for Odessa College. The structure was completed on a five-acre plot in the summer of 1949. This building was known as the Science Building and was later renamed Baskin Hall. In the same summer Odessa College District was separated from the school district, received its own board of trustees, and chose Fly as president of the college.

The Globe of the Great Southwest, an authentic replica of the English Shakespearean theater, was built on the OC campus in 1958. The campus had grown to fifteen buildings on a thirty-five-acre plot by 1960. In 1969 Odessa College and Midland College merged into the Permian Junior College System, but in 1972 the system was dissolved. Between the fall and spring semesters of the 1970–71 school year, Odessa College began its Mid-Winter Session, a ten-day minisemester during which students can take three-hour courses. The short semester was the first of its kind conducted by a Texas college. Odessa College athletic teams hold thirty-nine national titles. The programs include teams in women's basketball, track, rodeo, and tennis. Men's teams compete in baseball, basketball, golf, rodeo, tennis, track, and other sports.