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SAN ANTONIO COLLEGE. San Antonio College, San Antonio, was formally opened on September 21, 1925, as University Junior College with an enrollment of 200 students. It is the oldest public two-year college in Texas. Classes were first conducted in the old Main High School building after dismissal of high school classes for the day. Under the administration of the University of Texas and in the absence of an appropriation to support the junior college, fees were charged on a quarterly basis. The purpose of the college was to provide services and facilities in addition to those offered by the church-related colleges in San Antonio. The state attorney general ruled in December 1925 that operation of a junior college by the University of Texas violated the state constitution; thus, supervision of the college, known as San Antonio Junior College, passed to the San Antonio board of education for the second year of operation. Although tuition covered the cost of instruction, the city chapter of the American Association of University Women underwrote other financial needs for the 1926-27 academic year. In 1926 the college was assigned part of the building on Alamo Street formerly occupied by the German-English School and later by Thomas Nelson Page Junior High School. The college then offered a full-time and evening curriculum. In 1930 the indefinite status of the college was ended when it was made part of the San Antonio School System for a five-year probationary period. Public support for the college insured its continued existence. James Otis Loftinqv became president in 1941 and until his death in 1955 was largely responsible for the college's growth. St. Philip's Junior College, an African-American institution, was transferred from the operation of the Episcopal diocese to the San Antonio Independent School District in 1942 as a branch of San Antonio Junior College. In 1945 a proposal for a San Antonio Union Junior College District for metropolitan San Antonio was approved by a substantial voting majority. In August 1946 San Antonio Junior College and St. Philip's Junior College passed from control of the board of trustees. San Antonio College was adopted as the official name in 1948. In 1950 enrollment was 500. All buildings on the thirty-seven-acre San Pedro Avenue campus were constructed after 1950 and include library, administration, classroom, and science buildings (1950), a health building (1951), a student center, a maintenance building, and an annex containing classrooms and a computer center (1954), a fine arts center (1956), the president's home (1958), a chemistry-geology building (1961), Dewey Annex containing departmental offices (1963), Nail Technical Center (1966), Moody Learning Center (1968), Fletcher Administration Center (1972), Nursing Education Building (1972), Koehler Cultural Center (1973), Campus Police Building (1973), Bennett Estate (1974), Child Development Center (1974), Day Care Center (1974), Motor Pool Building (1978), and Maintenance Building (1979). The Baptist, Church of Christ, and Methodist student centers were also constructed during these years.
The college, fully accredited, operated both day
and evening divisions as well as a summer school program. Courses
of instruction were categorized as those leading to degrees from
senior institutions, technical and vocational, terminal vocation,
and community service. The college participated in the Texas Educational
Microwave Project, a televised program of instruction, through
a Ford Foundation grant. In 1964 the enrollment was 9,100, and
the faculty numbered 175. Student enrollment reached over 22,000
in 1973; the library had 91,000 volumes that year. In 1967 the
San Antonio Independent School District transferred responsibility
for the adult continuing education program to the school. In 1974
Paul R. Culwell was dean of the college, and Jerome F. Weynand
was president of the college district. San Antonio College is
approved and accredited by the Board of Nurse Examiners for the
State of Texas, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools,
the Association of Texas Colleges and Universities,qv the Texas Educational Theater Association, the Texas Association
of Music Schools,qv the National League for Nursing, the American Board of Funeral
Service Education, the American Association of Community and Junior
Colleges, the Southern Association of Junior Colleges, the Commission
of Dental Accreditation of the American Dental Association, the
Committee on Allied Health Education, and the Texas Public Community
and Junior College Association.qv In 1978 the San Antonio Union Junior College District changed
its name to San Antonio Community College District, and in 1982
it became the Alamo Community College District. The school has
offerings in liberal arts and science education, occupational
and technical education, extended service or evening courses,
developmental education, and continuing education. In 1991 the
school had 22,000 credit and 15,000 continuing-education students,
making it the largest single-campus community college in Texas.
Max Castillo was president.
The Handbook of Texas Online is a project of the Texas State Historical Association (http://www.tshaonline.org).
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