Northwest Vista College

Northwest Vista College
Established	June 20, 1995
Type	Community College
Chancellor	Bruce H. Leslie, Ph.D.
President	Jacqueline Claunch, Ph.D.
Students	14,584 (Spring 2010 Semester)
Location	San Antonio, Texas, USA
Campus	Urban, 137 acres (0.6 km²)
Colors	Green and Purple
Mascot	Wildcat
Website	Northwest Vista College Home Page

Northwest Vista College is a public community college within the Alamo Community College District in San Antonio, Texas. It is one of the top community colleges in the United States. Northwest Vista College offers open admission.

History

Previous NVC Logo

The college was established after a land donation by the World Savings and Loan Association in 1994. The campus was established on June 20, 1995. Northwest Vista College officially opened in the fall of 1995 as one of the newest additions to the Alamo Community College District. Classes were offered at the Northside Independent School District and at partner corporation sites. Enrollment that first semester was 12 students. At the time, the Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology program, designed by the college and several corporate sponsors, was the lead program during the college's early years. (The program is no longer offered.) With over 800 students enrolled in classes being held at various businesses and schools in Westover Hills and the surrounding area during its early stages, the college started to expand.

The groundbreaking for the construction of the 137-acre (0.55 km²) Northwest Vista College campus was held in November 1996. On July 3, 1997, the Alamo Community College Board awarded the $19,300,000 contract for the new Northwest Vista College Campus in Westover Hills. Construction began later that month on Phase One of the college's campus development plan, which included construction of four buildings.

Northwest Vista College moved to its current location in northwest San Antonio on October 17, 1998 with Mountain Laurel Hall and celebrated its Grand Opening in October 1999 with the completion of Manzanillo Hall and Huisache Hall. Northwest Vista College boasted an impressive enrollment of 2,500 students during their first full year of operation.

View Overlooking Manzanillo Hall

The college achieved Candidacy status for accreditation in June 1999 and in August of that year, began a rigorous self-study. At the completion of the self-study, a 12-member accreditation team visited the college in October 2000 for four days—reviewing documentation and interviewing faculty, staff, students, district personnel, community members and trustees of the Alamo Community College District. The committee made ten recommendations, to which the college had to submit a written response to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) by mid-April. This report was reviewed by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, which granted Northwest Vista College initial accreditation shortly afterwards.

At its meeting on June 21, 2001, SACS granted initial accreditation to Northwest Vista College. The accreditation is retroactive to January 1, 2001.

In November 2005, Bexar County voters approved a $450 million bond proposal to meet the needs of the Alamo Community College District's growing student enrollment. Northwest Vista College was allocated $106 million to address and support the extraordinary growth in the northwest area of San Antonio. The district’s newly revised master plan includes construction of seven new buildings and parking to accommodate over 14,000 students by 2010.

Two buildings were added in the fall of 2008. These were Juniper Hall and Redbud Learning Center. The buildings were accompanied by the newly built campus lake known as "Lago Vista." In the spring of 2009 two additional buildings were added to the lineup across the lake. The two new buildings, Live Oak Hall and Cypress Campus Center, were home to additional classrooms and a cafeteria.

In March 2009, the Alamo Community College District changed its name to specifically the "Alamo Colleges." This was done to enhance marketability. Due to the district name change as well as a new equality specific campaign, the logos of all the colleges in the district were changed. Northwest Vista College's logo was changed to the new district logo with a purple Alamo.

Currently, there are over 10,000 students taking courses at Northwest Vista College in a traditional daytime classroom setting as well as evening, Internet, hybrid and weekend courses.

NVC plans to open an additional building in the fall of 2009 which will house the campus fine arts disciplines.

Academics

Students attending Northwest Vista can pursue a wide range of subjects. As a community college, NVC offers programs in Associate of Arts (AA), Associate of Science (AS), Associate of Applied Science (AAS), Certificates of Completion, and Marketable Skills Awards.

Enrolled students also have the option to take courses that are transferable to many institutions for higher education. The college has several articulation agreements with the nearby universities such as the University of Texas at San Antonio, Texas State University, and the University of the Incarnate Word. These 2+2 articulation agreements serve to facilitate the admission and academic transfer of students from participating Community Colleges like NVC to a participating 4 year college or university within the state of Texas. As students progress successfully toward the completion of the Associate degree, this agreement will ensure a seamless transition of the student's coursework and aids the student by increasing the number of transferable hours.

The current catalog of Northwest Vista College consists of a 46-hour core curriculum mandated by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB). The THECB requires that all public colleges and universities in Texas instill at least 42 hours of core curriculum studies into a student's degree plan. By completing NVC's core curriculum, students are allowed to transfer to any public institution in Texas without the worry of loss of credit in the transfer process. As long as the core curriculum is completed, the satisfying courses will transfer as a block and the student will not be required to take any more courses at the transfer institution unless the THECB has approved a larger core curriculum at that institution.

Bridge from Juniper Hall to Huisache Hall

Campus Life

Students at NVC can participate in many clubs and organizations while on campus. Usually, every semester there is a specific event known as "Club Rush" in which the many clubs and organizations on campus try to promote their activities while recruiting new members. New clubs and organizations are frequently added every semester as students come up with new ideas for these. The Wildcat Activities Center, currently located in the Cypress Campus Center, agrees to support the organization provided a sufficient amount of members join.

Currently, there are only two distinct honor societies at the college. These are the renowned Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society and the National Society of Leadership and Success (Sigma Alpha Pi). A third honor society, the English Honor Society known as Sigma Kappa Delta is planning on starting a chapter soon at NVC. Also, the College Ambassadors program provides an extensive leadership position at NVC.

The college sponsors several sports teams such as basketball and tennis which compete with other colleges in the surrounding area. Some athletic teams are part of the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) in the Southwest Junior College Conference (SJCC).

The college also sponsors many events on campus and the local community during the academic school year. Some events include an annual job fair, usually referred to as "Career Expo," as well as the annual Fiesta events on campus, and the "End of Semester Bash."

Juniper Hall/Redbud Learning Center Connection

Accreditation

Northwest Vista College is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (1866 Southern Lane, Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097; Telephone number [phone]) to award degrees in Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, Associate of Applied Science, and Certificates of Completion. Northwest Vista College is also approved and accredited by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board and the American Society of Health-System Pharmacists.

Mission, Vision, and Values

The mission of the college is "Creating Opportunities for Success."

The vision of the college specifically states: "To become responsible members of our world community, we create exemplary models for: Learning to Be... Learning to Work... Learning to Serve... Learning to Lead... Together."

Throughout the campus are posters and signs displaying 9 words which Northwest Vista deems are its values. These words are: Learning, Community, Caring, Synergy, Diversity, Creativity, Openness, Integrity, and Joy. Integrity

Campus Buildings

Northwest Vista currently has several buildings standing. Over the years NVC has added more and more buildings for additional classrooms and student service centers. The buildings are as follows:

Mountain Laurel Hall

Mountain Laurel Hall (MLH) was the first building constructed on campus. It was originally known as just the "Academic Building" before its name change. Mountain Laurel Hall was home to the original classrooms as well as the original computer labs, math tutoring lab, and English writing lab. Most of the labs were moved to the new buildings more recently. The building still houses its original classrooms. It also includes a patio outdoors and is currently being renovated on its second floor.

Manzanillo Hall

Outside Manzanillo Hall

Manzanillo Hall (MZH) was the building of the president's office, business office, and library on its second floor. Manzanillo Hall was home to many of the student services such as advising, and the career and transfer center. All of these services have moved to the new Cypress Campus Center with the exception of the library, which is now in the Redbud Learning Center. Manzanillo Hall is now being renovated to include offices of sorts.

Huisache Hall

Huisache Hall (HH) was the former site of the cafeteria as well as the bookstore. Classrooms and small gyms occupied the second floor. It also included the Wildcat Activities Center as well as the student lounges, banquet room, and campus clinic (all of which were moved to the new Cypress Campus Center). It was originally known as the "College Commons" since it was a place of gathering for many of the events happening at NVC. The building was completely closed after the addition of the new buildings and now is being completely renovated to be the future site of the kinesiology department, which includes large gyms complete with basketball courts and a track.

Pecan Hall

Pecan Hall (PH) is home to many of the colleges community based programs. While it is a site for several classrooms which include several dance classes, the building mainly serves as the college's workforce education, and community enrichment center.

Texas Persimmon Physical Plant

The Texas Persimmon Physical Plant (TPER) is the site for the on-campus police station. While the plant has several other functions, usually it serves as the site where students would go to pay parking fines and such.

Boardwalk

The Boardwalk (BDWK) is home to many of the campus's additional classrooms. Formerly known as the "G Buildings," the boardwalk is located just behind Huisache Hall. The boardwalk includes several patio areas within it and mainly serves as additional classrooms.

Juniper Hall

Juniper Hall (JH) is a new building which officially opened for classes in August 2008. The building houses the math tutoring lab as well as the English writing lab. The building is home to many academic disciplines and has many classrooms. Additionally, on the first floor is the campus computer labs (previously housed in MLH).

Redbud Learning Center

Redbud Learning Center (RLC) is a new building which officially opened alongside Juniper Hall. The building houses the campus library as well as additional tutoring services on the second floor. The campus coffee shop, known as the "Cyber Cafe" which brews Starbucks coffee, is adjacent to the library.

Live Oak Hall

Across Lago Vista is Live Oak Hall (LOH). Live Oak Hall officially opened in January 2009 for use of the newly built classrooms. It houses several academic disciplines with a Science tutoring center as well as many new science labs on its third floor. The astronomy deck built on its roof is used for various astronomy courses to view the sky - it's amazing.

Cypress Campus Center

Opening alongside Live Oak Hall was the Cypress Campus Center (CCC). Cypress Campus Center is home to the newly built cafeteria, Wildcat Activities Center (which is the main office for student organizations), and the bookstore. It also houses the new student advising center, business office, campus clinic, and career and transfer (CaTS) center.

Palmetto Fine and Performing Arts Center

Scheduled to open in the fall of 2009 is the Palmetto Fine and Performing Arts Center (PFAC). The building will house the new student theatre as well as all of the fine arts department equipment and facilities.

Student Newspaper

NVC's journalism department hosts the Vista Voice, which is the school newspaper. From time to time, the members of the school newspaper host the "Vista Voice Cafe" to attract and promote the newsletter.

The Mascot

NVC's mascot, the wildcat, became the mascot after President Jacqueline Claunch had come up with the idea in the 2000-2001 year. During that time, a mountain lion had been roaming the woods behind the campus only to give birth to her young. The graduation that year in May had been remembered for having signs posted up which stated "Beware of the wildcat!" It was after this that NVC's mascot, the wildcat, was born.

Dual Credit

NVC has partnered with Northside Independent School District to provide college courses to eligible high school juniors and seniors. These courses known as "Dual Credit" will provide students with high school credit along with college hours that are transferable to four-year colleges and universities. These courses include, but are not limited to: Pre-Calculus, Calculus, English, U.S. History, and Government.

Notable Faculty and Staff

• Mario Salas, Civil Rights Leader, Author, Politician, and Government Professor
• Mellissa Marlowe, Artist and Drama Instructor
• Natalia Trevino, Poet and Assistant English Professor
• Karla Ellis, Secretary of TAHPERD and Kinesiology Instructor

External links

• Official Site of Northwest Vista College
• Official Site of the Alamo Colleges
• The Vista Voice
• Official NVC MySpace Page
• Official NVC Facebook Page
• Official NVC Twitter