PCC History- Timeline

PCC Timeline: A History Of Providing Better Futures
1970s 1980s 1990s 2000s
1962	• The Polk County School Board passes a resolution to make the establishment of a junior college a top priority.
1963	• A Junior College Advisory Board is created and begins searching for a president and the school board begins negotiating with the City of Bartow to use portions of the old Bartow Air Base as a site for the new college.
1964	• Dr. Fred Lenfestey, formerly Vice President of Pensacola Junior College, starts as College President. He hires 34 faculty and seven staff members. • A series of curriculum advisory committees composed of members of the business community are established. As these evolved over the years, PCC graduates were added to the advisory committees. • Expecting some 600 students, Polk Junior College conducts its first registration and 1,107 students enroll in the College’s first classes. è • PJC becomes the first school in Polk County to be integrated.
1965	• Winter Haven’s City Golf Course is chosen as the site of PJC’s permanent campus. • Bright and Straughn of Lakeland is chosen as the architect for the college. • Students choose orange and green as the school’s colors and the Viking as its symbol.
1968	• The Winter Haven campus opens (in Jan.) after PJC moved from Bartow during Christmas Break. The campus, on a 100-acre site on the shores of Lake Elbert, consists of permanent buildings: Learning Resources (WLR), Science (WSC) and Multi-Services (WMS), a small shower/locker room and six portable buildings.
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1970s	• The athletic program, which started as intramurals, begins to operate as intercollegiate sports during the 1970’s- fielding teams in basketball, baseball, tennis and volleyball.
1971	• The Health Center (WHC) is opened- connected to an expanded shower/locker room. • PJC name is changed (in July) to Polk Community College to more accurately reflect the purposes and philosophy of the college.
73 & 74	• The Men’s Basketball team wins Conference Championship titles.
1976	• The PCC Foundation is incorporated. As its first meeting the following year, the Foundation reports $1 million in its treasury. • The Administration (WAD) opens- changing the college’s front entrance.
1978	• The Fine Arts Complex (WFA) opens. • PCC acquires a 130-acre citrus grove, adjacent to Traviss Technical Center, as site of a campus that will serve the growing population in the Lakeland and Bartow area.
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1982	• Dr. Maryly VanLeer Peck is named president of Polk Community College - the first woman to be named president of a community college in Florida. • The first CLAST test is administered at PCC. • PCC implements its writing across the curriculum program to comply with the state’s new Gordon Rule aimed at improving literacy.
1986	Thelma Raley donates an historical home along Lake Elbert to the PCC Foundation. The college names the building Raley Hall and it the site for numerous college social activities. To fund the renovation of the building, the Foundation creates a craft festival called Fallfest.
1987	• Offices and classrooms on the second floor of the Learning Resources building (WLR) are rearranged to create a large computer and learning lab known as the Teaching/ Learning/Computing Center.
1988	• PCC, in conjunction with the University of South Florida, opens the first building on the Lakeland campus. It is named the Curtis Peterson Academic Center (LAC). See: Lakeland Campus Timeline. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference and State Champions.
1989	• Term 2 enrollment at the new Lakeland campus surpasses expectations with 1,486 PCC students on the Lakeland campus and 444 students taking classes on both campuses. USF has an enrollment of 487 students.
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1990s	• New health programs Health Information Management, Physical Therapist Assistant and Occupational Therapy Assistant are started to serve the growing needs of the community.
1990	• The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference and State Champions.
1991	• The Learning Center (LLC) - a second academic building is opened on the Lakeland campus. This facility provides office space for 25 full-time faculty, a new library, classrooms and Teaching/Learning/Computing Center. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference Champions.
1992	• The Men’s Baseball team is crowned Conference and State Champions.
1993	• A Foreign Language Acquisition Center is created on the second floor of WLR as the result of grants from the National Endowment for the Humanities and funding from the PCC Foundation, Inc. It features round tables to encourage student conversation and make heavy use of multimedia. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference and State Champions.
1994	• Technological changes begin impacting the classroom as PCC begins its first Summer Technology Institutes to teach professors how to use the computer as a teaching tool.
1995	• The College opens its first multimedia classrooms. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference Champions.
1996	• PCC establishes a website at www.polk.cc.fl. The URL later changes to www.polk.edu. • The Women’s Softball team is crowned Conference Champions.
1998	• Dr. J. Larry Durrence becomes the third president of PCC. He was the Taxpayer Rights and Intergovernmental Relations Advocate with the Florida Department of Revenue and former Mayor of Lakeland. • Talent Search and Network Engineering programs begin. • The first of several Quick Response grants are funded. Over the coming years more grants help train over 2,000 employees.
1999	• The Rehabilitative Health (WRH) building opens on the Winter Haven campus. It houses the Physical Therapist Assistant & Occupational Therapy Assistant programs. • PCC offers its first online course available via the Internet.
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2001	• The Student Center (WST) is renovated and expanded- nearly doubling its size to 22,000 square feet. The $2.4 million remodeled building houses several meeting/banquet rooms, expanded food service and a new Bookstore. • Upward Bound and Trio Student Support programs are started to help at risk students. • TV/classroom studios open and interactive TV classes are offered on both campuses. • The Florida Legislature funds the initial planning and design of a third academic building on the Lakeland campus.
2002	• PCC’s Collegiate High School begins. Junior and senior high school students attend classes in both high school and college courses that lead to AS degrees. • Corporate College is created to provide technical, leadership and quality management to area business and industry. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference Champions. • New FASTRACK accelerated terms (8 week) are established in the fall and spring. • The four Learning Resources (WLR) auditoriums are renovated and equipped with high-tech computer projection equipment. The 15,000 square foot project cost $2 million.
2003	• The Florida State Education Board approves PCC’s proposal to establish a center in Northeast Polk County. • The Men’s Basketball team is crowned Conference Champions. • A Women’s Soccer program- the only one at a Florida community college- begins. The team soon wins local and regional titles.
2004	• Ground is broken on a third academic building on the Lakeland campus. The $28 million 125,000 square foot technology building will be the largest structure on both campuses. • The A.A. in the Afternoon program is started. It is designed to fit students’ busy lifestyle by providing them the flexibility of taking classes in the afternoon.
2005	• Corporate College begins the Small Business Training Consortium with a grant from Verizon. The program will help small businesses pay for training for their employees. • The $5 million renovated Administration (WAD) building reopens after being expanded from 45,000 to 50,055 square feet and fully enclosed and air conditioned. Numerous offices are relocated allowing a one-stop center arrangement on the first floor. • The state Board of Education approved PCC’s request to develop a Special Purpose Center in Lake Wales in the former City Hall. State Senator J. D. Alexander is committed to securing the monies to fund the renovation of the 15,000-square-foot building and help PCC secure the land for parking facilities. • Dr. J. Larry Durrence announces he will retire in January 2006 prompting a national search to find PCC's fourth president. More than 60 candidates submitted applications. That list was trimmed to eight finalists who came in for interviews with the District Board of Trustees. The DBOT unanimously selects Dr. Eileen Holden, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Technical Education at Broward Community College. She plans to start at PCC on Feb. 1, 2006.
2006	• Eileen Holden, Ed.D., became PCC's fourth president. • The college received $1.2 million in SUCCEED Florida grants. PCC applied for six grants and were funded for all six. The monies will be used to continue various programs and to start a new diagnostic medical sonography program and a new cardio vascular technology program. • Collegiate High School expanded to the Winter Haven campus when some 65 junior and senior high school students attended both high school and college classes. • Thanks to State Senator J.D. Alexander's efforts $3.6 million in Public Education Capital Outlay (PECO) funds were approved by the legislature targeted for the renovation of the Old Lake Wales City Hall. The Lake Wales City Commission approved an inter-local agreement in November turning over the old Lake Wales City Hall to PCC. The college plans to convert it into a modern academic center. It will take 18 months to renovate the building, which was severely damaged by the 2004 hurricanes.
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