Tyler Junior College

<p>Tyler Junior College (TJC) is a public community college in Tyler, Texas. It is one of the largest community colleges in Texas, with an enrollment of more than 12,500 credit students each year with an additional 20,000 continuing education enrollments annually. Its TJC West location includes continuing education and workforce training programs and TJC North in Lindale, Texas offers general education classes, nursing programs, and the veterinary technician associate of applied science. The college also operates locations in Jacksonville and Rusk. TJC offers Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science and Associate of Arts, two baccalaureate degrees, and certificate programs.</p>

<p>The college operated as part of the Tyler public school system from its inception in 1926 until 1945, when voters supported the creation of an independent Tyler Junior College District. The junior college district now includes the Tyler, Chapel Hill, Grand Saline, Lindale, Van, and Winona school districts.</p>

<p>The independently operated Tyler Museum of Art is located on the school's main campus. The Center for Earth and Space Science Education has a planetarium and exhibit hall offering public shows in its 40-foot (12 m)-diameter domed theater every day except Mondays, and sponsors a monthly astronomy lecture series. Additionally, Wagstaff Gymnasium is home to the TJC Apache volleyball and basketball teams.</p>

<p>Co-ed residence halls include Louise H. & Joseph Z. Ornelas Residential Complex, Crossroads, and Bateman Hall. Vaughn Hall houses women and Holley Hall is for men. Claridge Hall is co-ed for athletes. Sledge Hall houses members of female athletic teams, and Hudnall Hall houses members of the football team.</p>

<p>On Sept. 17, 1926, TJC officially opened its doors in Tyler High School, with 93 students and nine faculty members. TJC gave residents of the Tyler area access to quality higher education, offering limited courses in traditional liberal arts and pragmatic courses in public school music and home economics.</p>

<p>Early on, the school established student activities, clubs and traditions that have become hallmarks of TJC spirit and pride. In its first year, the school formed the drama club, Las Mascaras, the oldest continuous student organization, and approved campus activities, including football, men's and women's basketball and an outdoor recreation club.</p>

<p>In 1927, the College published its first campus newsletter, the Apache Pow Wow, and in 1930 chartered the Alpha Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, one of the oldest national honor society chapters in the nation.</p>

<p>In the 1930s, as the country struggled through the Great Depression, TJC enrolled only 200 students. However, the prosperity of the 1940s signaled major changes. In 1945, Tyler voters overwhelmingly approved a measure to create a junior college district and issued $500,000 in bonds for the College to have a campus of its own. The expansion included additional full-time faculty members and would lead to new facilities including the iconic building on Fifth Street, eventually known as Jenkins Hall.</p>

<p>Since its rebirth in the 1940s, TJC has continued to expand. The Tyler Junior College District is now composed of six independent school districts, including Chapel Hill, Grand Saline, Lindale, Tyler, Van and Winona.</p>

<p>Today, after 90 years, Tyler Junior College offers more courses in any single major division than were offered in the entire curriculum in 1926. Just as the courses have diversified, so has the TJC student body. The College now has an enrollment of approximately 11,000 students each fall semester and provides continuing education to some 8,000 individuals each year.</p>