Navarro College

Navarro College
Motto	Succeeding Together
Established	1946
Type	Public College
Students	10,000+
Location	Corsicana, Texas, United States
Campus	Corsicana, Mexia, Midlothian, Waxahachie
Mascot	Bulldogs
Website	http://www.navarrocollege.edu/

Navarro College is a two-year public institution consisting of a main campus located in Corsicana, with branches in Mexia, Midlothian, and Waxahachie, Texas. The college currently features annual student enrollment of more than nine thousand students.

Navarro College is home to the Cook Education Center, which houses the largest planetarium in Texas, with a 60-foot-diameter (18 m) dome and seating for more than two hundred,^[1] and the Pearce Collections Museum, home to many American Civil War artifacts as well as a western art collection.^[2]

The Corsicana campus has strong ties with Texas A & M – Commerce which has branches at the Navarro College main campus in Corsicana and the Midlothian campus.^[3]

As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Navarro College includes all of Ellis, Freestone, Leon, Limestone, and Navarro counties.^[4]

History

In spring 1946, a group of local citizens met to form a steering committee for the purpose of establishing a junior college in Navarro County. In a general election held July 16, 1946, voters approved the creation of Navarro Junior College and authorized a county tax to help finance the institution. In that same election, voters chose a seven-member board of trustees to govern the college. The first students began classes in September 1946. Most of the 238 members of that first student body were returning veterans from World War II taking advantage of assistance available under the newly enacted GI Bill of Rights. The first campus of Navarro College was the site of the Air Activities of Texas, a World War II primary flight school located six miles (10 km) south of Corsicana.

In 1951, the campus was moved to its present location, a 47-acre (190,000 m²) tract west of downtown Corsicana on Texas State Highway 31. The campus has expanded to 103 acres (0.42 km²) with 23 buildings.

In 1974, the college broadened its philosophy and purpose to encompass the comprehensive community-based educational concept, adding occupational education programs and implementing new education concepts including individualized and self-paced instruction and the use of audio-tutorial instructional media. In keeping with the new educational role, the word "junior" was dropped from the institution's name, and the official name Navarro College was adopted by the Board of Trustees. In an attempt to address the growing needs of its service area, which consists of Navarro, Ellis, Freestone, Limestone, and Leon counties, the college began offering courses in various locations in those areas in the early 1970s and eventually established two permanent centers, Navarro College South at Mexia and the Ellis County Center at Waxahachie. In January 2006, a new campus in Midlothian opened to better serve students in that area.^[5]

Accreditation

Navarro is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. The accreditation was given in 1954 and reaffirmed in 1964, 1974, 1985, 1995 and again in 2006.^[6]

Global High

Waxahachie Global High is partered with Navarro College, and set up in a way that students at global can take classes at navarro. Thus they can graduate high school with either there associate degree of transferable credits to a 4 year university along with there high school diploma.

Gallery

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  Navarro College sign off Texas State Highway 31

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  Cook Center -- Arts, Sciences, Technology -- at Navarro College houses the largest planetarium in Texas.

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  |Navarro College bell tower

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  Richard M. Sanchez Library

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  Albritton Administration Building

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  Navarro College theater

Notable alumni

• Keo Coleman, NFL player
• Byron Cook, state representative from Navarro County
• Bill O'Neal, historian

References

1. ^ "Cook Center Planetarium"
2. ^ "The Pearce Museum"
3. ^ "Navarro Partnership" Texas A&M University–Commerce
4. ^ Texas Education Code, Section 130.189, "Navarro College District Service Area".
5. ^ "Navarro College History" Navarro College Website
6. ^ "Accredited, Candidate, and Applicant Institution List" Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, Page 24

External links

• Navarro College
• [1]