Blinn College

Infobox_University
name = Blinn College


image_size = 250px
caption = Main Building on Blinn Campus, Brenham
motto = Proven.
tagline = Success depends on your next step
established = 1883
type = Community college
president = Daniel Holt
city = Brenham
state = Texas
country = USA
students = 15,000
nickname = Buccaneers
colors = Blue and white
website = [http://www.blinn.edu/ www.blinn.edu]

Blinn College is a four-year academic institution ,that offers a wide range of two-year programs, based in Brenham, Texas with campuses in Brenham, Bryan, Schulenburg, and Sealy. While the Brenham campus is Blinn's main campus, more than 70% of students attend the Bryan campus. [ [http://www.blinn.edu/Institutionalresearch/Factbook/IRE_2006_Factbook(rev.).pdf Microsoft Word - IRE_2006_Factbook.doc ] ]

As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Blinn College is the following: [Texas Education Code, Section 130.168, "Blinn Junior College District Service Area".]
*all of Brazos, Burleson, Grimes, Madison, and Washington Counties,
*the Franklin, Hearne, and Mumford school districts located within Robertson County,
*all of Austin County excluding the portion within the Brazos Independent School District (NOTE: At the time the district was included it was known as the Wallis-Orchard ISD),
*the Gause and Milano school districts located within Milam County,
*the portion of the Richards Independent School District located within Walker and Montgomery Counties,
*the portion of the Bryan Independent School District located within Robertson County,
*all of Fayette County excluding the portion within the Smithville Independent School District,
*all of Lee County excluding the portion within the Elgin Independent School District, and
*the portion of the Lexington Independent School District located within Bastrop, Milam, and Williamson Counties.

Blinn boasts the highest transfer rate in the State of Texas sending students to leading institutions such as Texas A&M University. Blinn transfers more students to Texas A&M University than does any other two-year college. Blinn also has the highest percentage of students who go on to earn their bachelor's degrees. And Blinn technical students score among the best in the state on board and licensure exams.

Blinn offers unique co-enrollment and automatic transfer programs with Texas A&M and Sam Houston State University. The TEAM (Transfer Enrollment at Texas A&M) offers students the best of both worlds because they take 3-5 hours at A&M and the remaining hours at Blinn each semester with a guarantee of transfer after two years and a 3.0 GPA. Blinn and Texas A&M also have major-specific automatic transfer plans for students with as few as 24 hours at Blinn. Blinn also has a co-enrollment program with Sam Houston State.

The home campus in Brenham offers nationally-recognized athletic programs. The Blinn Buccaneers play football, basketball, baseball, softball and volleyball. The football program won NJCAA championships in 1995, 1996, and 2006. The volleyball team consistently makes the national tournament. Blinn also has award-winning cheerleading and dance teams.

History

The school was founded in 1883 by the Southern German Conference of the Methodist denomination under the name of Mission Institute. In 1889, the name was changed to Blinn Memorial College in honor of the Reverend Christian Blinn of New York, who had donated a considerable sum of money to make the school possible. Blinn College was made coeducational in 1888. In 1927, the Board of Trustees, under leadership of President Philip Deschner, organized a junior college. In 1930, Blinn merged with Southwestern University (Georgetown, TX). In 1934, a new charter was procured by the citizens of Brenham, and a private nonsectarian junior college, under the name of Blinn College, was organized with nine regents as the board of control. In February 1937, all connection with Southwestern University and the Methodist denominations were severed. An election held in Washington County on June 8, 1937, for the purposes of creating a public junior college district and for levying a small tax, was successful. Blinn thus became the first county-owned junior college district in Texas. The college continues to operate as one of the largest of 50 public community college districts in the State of Texas.

The Bryan campus was established in 1970 and by the mid-1990s was located on three campuses in Bryan and College Station. In 1997, the Villa Maria Road campus opened consolidating the programs that were located in the Townshire Shopping Center in Bryan and the Woodstone Center in College Station. The third Brazos County site, located in the former Bryan post office, continues to house the dental hygiene, radiologic technology, and workforce education programs. The original three buildings on the Bryan campuses were expanded to six, and in 2002, the former Schulman Theater was purchased and converted to classroom space, known as the College Park Campus (CPC).

The Schulenburg campus opened in 1997 and Sealy in 2005.

Blinn College offers academic transfer courses and these technical programs: Associate Degree and Vocational Nursing, Surgical Technology, EMS, Physical Therapy Assisting, Dental Hygiene, Radiologic Technology, Fire Science, Criminal Justice, Early Childhood Development, Legal Assisting, Real Estate, Computer Information Technology, Information Management, and Business(General Business, Accounting, Business Administration and Management, Hospitality Management, Small Business Management).

Blinn also offers noncredit, nontransferrable workforce education programs.

Notable Alumni

*Chris Andersen, currently of the New Orleans Hornets, attended this college before entering the NBA.
*Bill Boehne went here before being drafted by the Montreal Expos in the third round.
*Pat Henry coached at Blinn College from 1983-1987.
*Henry Thomas who starred in E.T. attended the former Blinn College College Station Campus in the 1990s.
*Leon Toubin member of Blinn College board of trustees.
*Rosa Levin Toubin Jewish Texan historian, civic leader, philanthropist and former student.

External links

* [http://www.blinn.edu/ Blinn College]
* [http://www.blinn.edu/Buccaneer/athletics/index.htm Blinn College Buccaneer Athletics]

References