Tyler Junior College

Tyler Junior College, Tyler, was originally established in 1926 as part of the Tyler public school system and operated under that plan until September 1946. Voters established a new independent Tyler Junior College District, separating it from the public school system, in November 1945 and authorized a tax levy for support of the college and a bond issue for building a new college plant on its own campus. Architect Shirley Simons designed the original campus building plan, using a colonial design. The TJC District now includes Tyler, New Chapel Hill, Grand Saline, Lindale, Van, and Winona school districts. Each district voted to become part of the college district for junior college purposes. The college operates under statutory authority by its board of trustees, composed of ten members elected for six-year terms. Enrollment dropped to 156 in 1931 and remained low throughout the decade. Curriculum expansion began in the 1950s, and the school developed technical/vocational training programs in the 1960s. In 1989 TJC was ranked the largest single-campus junior college in the state; it had seventy-three acres and twenty-eight buildings. The Edgar Vaughn Library and Learning Resources Center houses 77,000 volumes. From 1983 to 1989 community financial support channeled from the Tyler Junior College Foundation was $3 million. Tyler Junior College is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. It offers two years of transferable college credit courses, two-year technical programs for occupational competency, two-year programs in paramedical and other health professions, and vocational education/retraining and continuing education/community services. The college is also known for its drill team, the Apache Belles. In 1993 the facility had eight residence halls and a planetarium. In its history the college has had only four presidents, G. O. Clough 1926–27; J. M. Hodges 1927–46; Harry E. Jenkins 1946–81; and Raymond M. Hawkins, who assumed control in 1981. Enrollment in 1989 was 8,000. Tyler Junior College had 200 faculty members and 8,600 students for the 1992–93 regular term, plus 3,000 for the 1992 summer session and 10,000 in continuing education.