Broward College

Broward College

Seal of Broward College
Former names
 Junior College of Broward County (1959-1968)
Broward Junior College
Broward Community College
Type Public College
Established 1959
Endowment $75.7 million[1]
President J. David Armstrong, Jr.
Administrative staff
 >2,000
Students 67,000
Location Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA
Campus Urban
Colors Blue and White          
Athletics 6 major sports teams
Nickname Seahawks
Website www.broward.edu

Broward College, previously known as the "Junior College of Broward County" and "Broward Community College," is a state college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1959 as part of a move to broaden Florida's two-year community college system. In 2008 it adopted its current name, reflecting that it is one of the schools designated a "state college", meaning it can offer four-year bachelor's degrees. In 2012, Broward College was named one of the top 10 percent of community colleges in the nation by the Washington D.C.-based Aspen Institute.[2]

History

The institution was founded in 1959 as the Junior College of Broward County (JCBC). It opened its doors the following year under the leadership of President Joe B. Rushing, with a faculty of 28 serving a class of 701 students. Until the college’s first permanent buildings were completed in 1963, students attended classes in the former Naval Air Station Junior High buildings on the western edge of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport.

After helping JCBC through its formative years and onto firm footing, Rushing in 1965 announced he was returning to his home state of Texas to become founding president of Tarrant County Community College in Fort Worth. He was followed by Dr. Myron Blee, and then in 1968, A. Hugh Adams, superintendent of public education in Charlotte County, Florida, was appointed president and served in that role until 1986.

Changes began almost immediately. A month after his arrival, the college changed its name to Broward Junior College. Two months after Dr. Adams’ arrival, the Florida Legislature removed junior colleges from oversight by county school boards, and transformed their advisory boards into district boards of trustees.

Adams’ interests lay in expanding access to the college for citizens living throughout the county. In his 19 years as president, South and North campuses were created, as was the Downtown Center and the Tigertail Lake Center.

Succeeding Adams was Dr. Will Holcombe, a protégée of Dr. James L. Wattenbarger, the architect of Florida’s community college system and executive vice-president at Brevard Community College. Dr. Holcombe had served in a variety of administrative capacities at Broward before joining Brevard’s administrative team.

During his 17 years as president, Holcombe worked to expand infrastructure and to create community partnerships to better serve the needs of the community and its workforce.

Dr. Larry Calderon succeeded Holcombe upon his retirement in 2004. Dr. Calderon, an expert in strategic planning, was serving as president of Ventura College when he was appointed Broward's fifth president, and its first of Hispanic heritage. When Dr. Calderon left the college in 2006, Holcombe returned to serve as interim president through the appointment of J. David Armstrong, Jr., in July 2007. President Armstrong came to the college from his position as Chancellor of the Florida College System.

Many documents describing this history have been digitized by the Broward College Archives and Special Collections department on Central Campus and are available online at the Internet Archives.

Campuses and education centers

Broward College has three campuses, which are connected to additional partnership centers, or branches, throughout Broward County:

Broward College also has four International Centers located outside the United States, each of them offering standard, face-to-face Broward College courses identical to those taught in Florida, all the way up to complete associate degree programs:[3]

Broward College also offers Study Abroad programs in Spain, Germany, Italy, England, India, and Vietnam, allowing students to complete coursework for college credit at institutions throughout the world, gaining valuable cultural experiences as well as academic achievement.[4]

Organization and administration

The college is part of the Florida College System. Its president is J. David Armstrong, Jr. As of 2007 the endowment was $75.7 million.

Academic profile

The college has over 2000 staff and serves over 67,000 students annually.[5]

University/College Library

On Broward College’s A Hugh Adams’ Central Campus is a four-story University/College library (U/CL) that serves as a joint-use facility for students, faculty, and staff of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and Broward College (BC). The facility includes a reference desk, café, open stacks, archives/special collections, study rooms, learning resource labs (Academic Success Center), interlibrary loan, and a check-out desk. Patrons can visit the library seven days a week. To borrow materials from the U/CL BC and FAU students need to have a school identification card. BC students can obtain one at Student Life on Central Campus. FAU students may obtain an OWL identification card in room 201 of the Student Union building. Books may be checked-out at the check-out desk.

For research assistance, students may visit the reference desk located in the lobby of the U/CL. If materials are not available within the library, interlibrary loan requests may be made either online or by visiting the reference desk. FAU students who would like to make interlibrary loan requests through FAU's website must pick-up materials at the SE Wimberly Library on the Boca Raton campus.

Students seeking course reserve materials can find them at the check-out desk. In order to determine whether there are materials available, students can conduct a “Course Reserve Search” on the U/CL website at http://ucl.broward.edu/.

Students who would like to utilize library copiers, printers, and scanners need to preload money in increments of $1 or $5 onto their respective school’s identification card at an automated load station. While BC students may print from the majority of computers in the library, FAU students are restricted to printing from the computes in room 103. Printing charges are 10 cents per page, but scanners may be used at no charge.[6]

Student life

Athletics

The college athletic teams, which are nicknamed the Seahawks, compete in the Southern Conference of the Florida State College Activities Association, a body of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 8.

Notable alumni and attendees

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Broward College alumni.

[5]

Broward College has produced more than 100,000 alumni over the years. The most notable alumni of Broward College include former Ft. Lauderdale mayor Jim Naugle; the Emmy-nominated screenwriter and novelist Rita Mae Brown; the Emmy award-winning reporter Johnathan Walton; the former Governor of Maryland Parris Glendening; the rock musician Marilyn Manson; Major League Baseball players Mat Latos, Mike Fiers, and Tom Magrann, the actress Nancy Valen, and the humorist Daniel Dickey. Broward College has had 10 recipients of the prestigious Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship since the scholarship was first awarded in 2004. Students from Broward College and Miami Dade College lead all colleges in the state and all community colleges in the nation with the number of community colleges awarded JKC Undergraduate Transfer Scholarships.

References

  1. ↑ 2007 endowment
  2. ↑ http://articles.sun-sentinel.com/2012-09-14/news/fl-editorial-bcc-dl-20120914_1_broward-college-state-colleges-florida-colleges
  3. ↑ http://www.broward.edu/international/Pages/International-Centers---Affiliates.aspx
  4. ↑ http://www.broward.edu/international/studyabroad/Pages/default.aspx
  5. 1 2 "History of BC". Broward College. 2013. Retrieved 8 April 2013.
  6. ↑ BC/FAU University/College. (2014, August). Student guide to UCL and ASC at Davie Central Campus. Retrieved from http://ucl.broward.edu/StudentGuide2014.pdf.

External links


Coordinates: 26°04′49″N 80°14′04″W / 26.08031°N 80.23441°W / 26.08031; -80.23441

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