North Central Texas College
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| North Central Texas College | |
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| Established: | 1923 |
| Type: | Community college |
| President: | Eddie Hadlock, Ed.D. |
| Staff: | N/A |
| Location: | Gainesville, Texas, USA |
| Campus: | Rural, 110 acres (main campus) |
| Endowment: | N/A |
| Colors: | Blue and white |
| Mascot: | Lion |
North Central Texas College (NCTC) is a community college serving Cooke County, Denton County, and Montague County, Texas. NCTC operates three campuses, the main campus in Gainesville and two branch campuses in Corinth and Bowie.
As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of NCTC is comprised of the following:[1]
- all of Cooke and Montague Counties, and
- all of Denton County excluding the cities of Frisco and The Colony, and those portions of the county included within the Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Celina, and Prosper school districts.
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[edit] History
As with many of the early community colleges, NCTC started out as an extension of the local school district, in NCTC's case a branch of the Gainesville Independent School District known as Gainesville Junior College, courtesy of the efforts of Randolph Lee Clark, who previously started a junior college that later became Midwestern State University. The college was formed May 20, 1924 and held its first classes in the fall of that year.
For the first 22 years of the school's existence it shared the same building with Gainesville High School, also sharing teachers and administrators (not until 1957 were separate teachers hired for the college). In 1946 a building located next to the high school was purchased and the college had its own building.
However, by the mid 1950s the college grew to the point where sharing space with the high school was no longer practical. Local citizens passed a bond issue to build separate facilities for the college. However, discussions took place as to whether a separate entity, apart from the Gainesville ISD, should be created (including assessment of a property tax to support it). With the support of citizens such as W.T. Bonner (who donated the first five acres of the current campus, and later sold 45 more acres to the college), the voters passed the creation of the new district, and the college changed its name to Cooke County Junior College (the Junior was later dropped in the 1970s). In 1994, the institution's name was changed to North Central Texas College.
During this time, NCTC operated under a "gentlemen's agreement" with the other junior colleges, and thus no separate schools were formed in neighboring Denton and Montague Counties.
In 1992, president Ronnie Glasscock led the school to two major accomplishments. First, the "gentlemen's agreement" was codified into state law (however, neither Denton nor Montague are included in NCTC's tax base). Second, Glasscock lobbied for a name change, realizing that Cooke County College would handicap the college's effort to be a true regionally focused college. He was successful, and on June 1, 1994, the Regents voted to change the college's name to its current designation.
In January 2000, NCTC opened a branch campus in Bowie (to serve Montague County). The citizens of Bowie voted a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to build the 16,000 square foot, $2.196 million facility. NCTC also opened the Corinth campus (to serve Denton County) at the same time.
Current president is Dr. Eddie Hadlock a 33 year veteran of the college. Dr. Hadlock had served as the Director of Counseling, Registrar and the Dean of Student Services.
[edit] Oldest Community College in Texas claim
NCTC claims to be the oldest continuously operating public community college in Texas, having been approved for operations in May 1924. (A historical marker outside the Administration Building supports its claim.) It stakes its claim based on the following:
- The first municipal junior college, El Paso Junior College, opened in 1920 but was later taken over by what is now the University of Texas at El Paso. (It has no relation to the current El Paso Community College.)
- The second junior college (also founded by Clark), Wichita Falls Junior College, later became Midwestern State University, a four-year institution.
- Carr-Burdette College in Sherman, Clifton College in Clifton, Gunter College in Gunter and Wesley College in Greenville ceased operations.
- Weatherford College in Weatherford dates its history back to 1869, and can claim the title of oldest junior college in Texas. However, it began as a Masonic institution and later became a Methodist school, operating as a four-year institution until 1921 when it reorganized as a two-year school. Even so, it was operated as a private school by various entities until 1949.
- Stephenville College started in 1893, and became a public college in 1898, but financial troubles led to its buyout by Texas A&M in 1917, and later it grew into today's Tarleton State University.
- South Park Junior College opened in 1923, but grew into today's Lamar University.
- Hill College opened in 1923, one year prior to NCTC, and still operates today. However, it did not operate during the 1950s.
[edit] References
- ^ Texas Education Code, Section 130.190, "North Central Texas College District Service Area".
