From its humble beginnings in 1933 with 41 students in a building adjacent to Palm Beach High School, Palm Beach Community College has grown to four locations and over 49,000 students. Over time, PBCC’s mission has become more comprehensive in order to serve the educational needs of Palm Beach County residents. PBCC now offers the bachelor of applied science, associate in arts, associate in science and associate in applied science degrees, professional certificates, workforce development and lifelong learning. The College began offering its first baccalaureate degree in the Fall of 2009.
1933 - Palm Beach Junior College opened at Palm Beach High School (the historical building downtown) in the depths of the Great Depression, the first public junior college in Florida. County school superintendent Joe Youngblood and Howell Watkins, principal of Palm Beach High School, who became the College’s first dean, were instrumental in opening the college to high school graduates who desired additional training because so few jobs were available.
1936 – The first PBJC graduates were Charlotte Cross, Virginia Cunningham and Frank Kamiyo.
1936-1958 - John I. Leonard, county Superintendent of Public Instruction, became PBJC’s first president. He was affectionately known in the community as “Mr. Junior College.”
1948 – PBJC moved to Morrison Field, a deactivated Army-Air Force base, which is now the Palm Beach International Airport.
1951 – PBJC relocated to Lake Park Town Hall. The facilities were so cramped, the college had to lay off faculty and staff and cut enrollment to 200 students. Newspapers referred to PBJC as “the little orphan college.”
1955 – The County Commission gave the college 114 acres in Lake Worth, and the state legislature passed a bill funding over a million dollars for buildings. The college reopened there in the fall of 1956.
1958 – Roosevelt Junior College for African American students was established under President Britton Sayles.
1958 – 1978 - Dr. Harold Manor was PBJC president.
1965 – During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Roosevelt Junior College merged with PBJC, a mostly white college.
1968 – PBJC, which had been legally governed by the Palm Beach County school district, came under the legal custodianship of a Board of Trustees.
1978 – 1997 - Dr. Edward Eissey was PBJC president.
1978 – PBJC in Belle Glade opened.
1980 – PBJC in Palm Beach Gardens opened.
1983 – PBJC in Boca Raton opened.
1988 – The Board of Trustees approved a name change to Palm Beach Community College to more accurately reflect the broad scope of College programs and services.
1997 – Dr. Dennis P. Gallon became PBCC’s fourth president.
1999 – PBCC assumes responsibility for more than 40 post secondary adult vocational programs in a transition from the Palm Beach County School District.
2008 – State Board of Education gives approval for PBCC to offer its first baccalaureate degree, a Bachelor of Applied Science in Supervision and Management
|
