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ACC History

1972
12/09/1972

ACC Founded

newspaper clipping

On Saturday, December 9, 1972, Austin voters said “Yes” to a new community college. Whether Austin needed or could afford a community college had been debated for years. Three times, in 1963, 1965, and 1968, voters had scuttled plans for a tax-supported college. But this time the results were different,..Read More

1973
09/17/1973

ACC Opens Its Doors to more than 1,700 Eager Students

Voter approval was only the first, and perhaps the easiest, step in creating Austin Community College. There had to be teachers and students and places for them to come together. ACC leased the former L. C. Anderson High School building from the Austin Independent School District, naming it Ridgeview for..Read More

1974
05/15/1974

First Graduating Class

newspaper clipping

Members of Austin Community College’s first graduating class receive their degrees, certificates, and diplomas.

09/01/1974

Brackenridge School of Nursing Moves to ACC

In April of 1974, William King Brown, administrator of the city-owned Brackenridge Hospital, recommended that the hospital transfer its highly regarded nursing school to Austin Community College. Cost was the main reason. Brown estimated that operating expenses, including food and dormitory services, would exceed $500,000. Having ACC take over the..Read More

1975
08/01/1975

Rio Grande Campus

Rio Grande Campus

In 1975, ACC opened its second full-time campus in the former Austin High School building at 1212 Rio Grande Street and renamed it the Rio Grande Campus. The histories of Austin Community College and Austin High School first intersected in 1972 with the founding of ACC under the auspices of..Read More

1976
06/01/1976
1977
02/21/1977

A New Logo for ACC

A New Logo for ACC

The new logo was the creation of Austin Community College commercial art student Beverly Kennon, a transfer from the University of Houston. Kennon was also a full-time social worker in Austin. In February, she won a contest conceived by Student Government Association president Phil Grimley and organized by Commercial Art..Read More

03/17/1977

A New President for ACC: Dr. Cecil Groves

Dr. Cecil Groves

Cecil Groves became Austin Community College’s third president, following founding president Thomas M. Hatfield and president ad interim Marvin Shwiff. Groves came to ACC from Delgado Community College in New Orleans, a school comparable in size to ACC and where he had been vice-president for campus operations and academic affairs..Read More

1978
01/28/1978

ACC Faculty Member Earns City Council’s Acclaim

ACC Faculty Member Earns City Council’s Acclaim

Austin Community College won city-wide recognition when the City Council selected ACC government instructor Rosemary Gillett-Karam to serve on the Council’s Charter Revision Committee.

02/14/1978

ACC Enrollment Reaches 13,000

ACC Enrollment Reaches 13,000

Not even five years old, ACC approached an enrollment of 13,000 students in the spring of 1978. Approximately half (62 percent) of those students were enrolled in college-credit courses like English, biology, and government. Twenty-three percent of ACC.s students took non-credit courses.           Speak-easy, February 14,..Read More

03/19/1978

The Beginning of Distance Learning at ACC

George Wilkerson teaching in office on phone

First Instructional Television Course Approved Using video as an instructional tool at ACC began almost from the time that the College opened its doors over five years previously. Chemistry instructor James Archer and Physics instructor John Cise used video tapes to illustrate key principles in their respective disciplines. Similarly, Charles..Read More

09/26/1978

Roger Dickerson: Another Distinguished Guest Visits ACC

Roger Dickerson: Another Distinguished Guest Visits ACC

Acclaimed musical composer and teacher Roger Dickerson spent two days on Austin Community College campuses visiting with students, faculty, and staff informally to entertain and inform members of the college community about his hybrid African-American blues and jazz tunes from Orleans and classical, mostly European concert music. These elements of..Read More

12/01/1978

ACC Accredited

ACC Accredited

In December of 1978, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS), the regional accrediting agency, extended full accreditation to Austin Community College. Now all courses taken by ACC’s more than 12,000 students would be recognized by all other institutions belonging to the Southern Association. Full accreditation also gave the..Read More

1979
01/15/1979

Instructional Television (ITV)

Instructional Television (ITV)

Austin Community College offered its first courses by instructional television (ITV) during the spring semester of 1979. One hundred twenty-nine students enrolled in one introduction to United States government course, and during the fall, 1981, semester, 473 students took five ITV courses. The leader in developing ITV courses for ACC..Read More

1980
01/01/1980
04/18/1980

Texas College and University Coordinating Board Approves New ACC District

In December of 1977, the Board of Trustees asked the ACC administration to prepare a master plan for ACC under the direction of C. C. Colvert, an esteemed professor of education at the University of Texas. A year later, surveys showed that 89 percent of Travis County residents knew about..Read More

06/01/1980

A New County-wide College

On Friday April 18, 1980, hopeful ACC administrators and interested Austin/Central Texas civic leaders attended a public meeting of the Advisory Committee for Community/Junior Colleges and Continuing Education of the Coordinating Board of the Texas College and University System. The purpose of the meeting was to determine whether ACC was..Read More

08/01/1980

ACC Takes on Brackenridge Hospital’s School of Nursing

With the start of the 1980 fall semester, Austin Community College became the primary provider of nurses’ training in Austin. Following the recommendation of a blue-ribbon panel, Brackenridge Hospital discontinued its School of Nursing, which had been supplying the Austin area with most of its nurses since 1915. ACC absorbed..Read More

1981
04/04/1981

Voters Say “No” to Taxing Authority.

Voters Say “No” to Taxing Authority.

Taxpayers had established ACC with the understanding that there would be no accompanying taxes. But few anticipated the explosive growth that followed. Registration in the fall of 1980 approached 19,000 students, 700 percent more than in 1973. ACC served 40 percent as many students as the University of Texas at..Read More

1982
03/01/1982

First ACC Board

First ACC Board

AISD divests itself from ACC, appointing nine members of a new ACC Board of Trustees.

07/29/1982

National Direct Student Loan Program

National Direct Student Loan Program

A high default rate led Secretary of Education Terrel Bell to announce the elimination of federal government loans to Austin Community College students. More than 800 schools nationally also will lose federal loan funding. ACC’s default rate was announced to be 30 percent, down 10 percent from the previous year...Read More

1983
07/11/1983

ACC at Age Ten

ACC at Age Ten

At it’s regular meeting, convened on July 11, 1983, the Austin Community College Board Of Trustees voted not to renew President Cecil Groves’ contract. The tally was 5 to 4 against renewal, with the four minority trustees voting against renewal. Some of the heat came from a debate over whether..Read More

11/28/1983

Cecil Groves’ Presidency Comes to an End and the BOT Appoints Brent Knight Interim Head

Cecil Groves’ Presidency Comes to an End and the BOT Appoints Brent Knight Interim Head

Cecil Groves’ presidency of Austin Community College ended at the stroke of midnight on November 28. 1983, the day after Thanksgiving. Frustration and tension among board members had continued to mount as the school struggled to find sufficient funding after the gut-wrenching defeat in the tax-and-bond election ending in a..Read More

1985
01/01/1985

ACC District Annexes Leander ISD

ACC District Annexes Leander ISD

In a move to meet the educational and training needs of residents and businesses in Austin’s northwest growth corridor along Highway 183, where Travis and Williamson Counties meet, ACC supporters residing within the Leander Independent School District voted in favor of annexation by the Austin Community College District. In a trade-off,..Read More

06/04/1985

A Big Financial Crunch

A Big Financial Crunch

Austin Community College trustees voted to boost student tuition by $2 per semester credit hour for in-state students (from $13 to $15 per semester hour), making ACC student tuition the highest in Texas. Out-of-state student tuition jumped from $40 to $45 per semester hour, and international student tuition rose from..Read More

08/11/1985

A New College Seal

A New College Seal

Austin Community College trustees approved a new school seal. President Dan Angel explained that the seal should be more than an interesting design on official documents and advertising. A seal is part of a “brand” that reflects institutional identity and values. The new ACC seal featured the date the College..Read More

1986
03/15/1986

Taxing Authority Approved

Taxing Authority Approved

In a stunning turnaround from the tax-election defeat five years before, voters granted taxing authority to Austin Community College.  The margin of victory, 54.2 percent for and 45.8 percent against, didn’t exactly resemble a landslide, but it was big! ACC was the only public community college in Texas that did..Read More

1987
06/08/1987

A New North Austin Campus

A New North Austin Campus

Austin Community College acquires a 35-acre tract for a new north Austin Campus. The property, purchased from a joint venture partnership that had recently declared bankruptcy and located along Metric Boulevard in far north Austin, cost the College approximately $2 per foot. College officials figured on 70,000 square feet of..Read More

11/10/1987

Dedication of Northridge Campus Site

Dedication of Northridge Campus Site

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees, ACC President Dan Angel, and faculty and staff launched a project to build the new, state-of-the-art campus.  It was named Northridge. Substantial growth in student enrollment had pushed the College’s facilities to capacity, creating the need for more campuses, and winning tax support..Read More

12/11/1987

Open House celebrates renovation of ACC’s Rio Grande Campus

Open House celebrates renovation of ACC’s Rio Grande Campus

An open house brought together members of the Austin Community College family as well as friends from many backgrounds to celebrate not only the conclusion of a $2 million renovation of the Rio Grande campus, located at 1212 Rio Grande Street, but also the fifteenth anniversary of the 1972 election..Read More

1988
01/29/1988

Campaign to Establish Williamson County Community College Quashed

Campaign to Establish Williamson County Community College Quashed

An effort led by Williamson County civic leaders to create a Williamson County community college failed to win the necessary support of the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board to establish a new school in the greater Austin metro area. Civic pride and the educational/training needs of a rapidly growing Williamson County powered..Read More

02/08/1988

Cypress Creek Campus

Cypress Creek Campus

Austin Community College agreed to purchase 20 acres of land within the Leander Independent School District on which to build a new teaching center. The site was located on Cypress Creek Road, just south of Hwy 183 and within the Cedar Park city limits and also the Leander ISD. The move fulfilled a..Read More

08/06/1988

Riverside: ACC’s Third Campus

Riverside: ACC’s Third Campus

In August of 1983, Austin Community College trustees reached a tentative agreement with the Austin Country Club to purchase 193 acres of property along Riverside Drive and Grove Boulevard on which the country club operated a beautiful 18-hole golf course played by such Austin golf legends as Harvey Penick, Ben..Read More

08/29/1988

Growing Toward the Southwest

Growing Toward the Southwest

To better serve the growing southwest quadrant of the Austin Community College district, ACC opened the doors to its newest facility: a teaching center in rented buildings situated in the Barton Ridge Plaza Shopping Center. Specifically, ACC agreed to a lease arrangement negotiated by Jim Brader, ACC’s Vice President for..Read More

1989
08/31/1989

ACC Closes Ridgeview Campus

ACC Closes Ridgeview Campus

On August 31, 1989, ACC officially closed Ridgeview, the former L. C. Anderson High School and the school’s first full-time campus. In 1986, the ACC Board of Trustees had voted to pull out of the facility, which ACC had been leasing from the Austin Independent School District, because of structural..Read More

1990
06/26/1990

Rio Grande Campus on the Chopping Block?

Rio Grande Campus on the Chopping Block?

The thing about dynamic and innovative organizations like Austin Community College is that about the time they become comfortable places to work and play, circumstances change, creating a sense of loss and confusion. In 1998, psychologist Spencer Johnson wrote a popular allegory called Who moved My Cheese to help employees..Read More

10/07/1990

Rising to the Pinnacle

Rising to the Pinnacle

In October 1990, Austin Community College trustees voted to approve the purchase of the Pinnacle building, located on Highway 290 just west of the “Y” in Oak Hill.  The ten-story office building will serve the southwest quadrant of ACC’s service district. Built for $8 million, the Pinnacle cost ACC only..Read More

10/11/1990

Eastridge: ACC Returns to East Austin… Sort of

Eastridge: ACC Returns to East Austin… Sort of

In 1989, the Austin Community College Board of Trustees announced that the school would no longer utilize the building on Neal and Thompson streets that served as L. C. Anderson High School. Even more impactful, the Board resolved not to replace it, contending that the site was unsuitable for any..Read More

1991
02/16/1991

ACC’s Olympic Weightlifting Champion

Man lifting weights

Nineteen-year-old Austin Community College student Mark Henry won three United States junior Olympic weightlifting championships (1993, 1994, and 1997). Henry, from Silsbee, Texas, in his first-year ACC student set a new record in the “snatch,” which is one of two Olympic weightlifing events where the contestant stands above the barbell..Read More

02/21/1991

ACC and UT Course Transfer Agreement

ACC and UT Course Transfer Agreement

Austin Community College and the University of Texas’ College of Education completed a new arrangement, the “Transfer Articulation Agreement.” whereby ACC students who earn an associate’s degree could transfer credits for basic education requirements to the University of Texas’ College of Education freely, meaning that those students would lose no..Read More

03/04/1991

ACC Amnesty Classes for Immigrants

ACC Amnesty Classes for Immigrants

In accordance with a federal law enacted by Congress in 1986 and signed by President Ronald Reagan, Austin Community College and the Austin Hilton Hotel joined in a program offering free citizenship classes to immigrants who had been living and working in the United States illegally since 1982 in order..Read More

05/27/1991

Cypress Creek Campus: A Promise Fulfilled

Cypress Creek Campus: A Promise Fulfilled

During the 1986 tax-and-bond election, ACC representatives had promised voters in Leander that in return for their support the College would return the favor by build a new, full-service campus to serve their fast-growing area. For some time, northern Travis and southern Williamson counties ACC had been expanding its presence..Read More

1992
02/21/1992

ACC/Longhorn Weightlifters Shine

ACC/Longhorn Weightlifters Shine

Besides Mark Henry, other Olympic weightlifters with connections to Austin Community College competed and made names for themselves and their school. In late 1992, several ACC and UT- Austin students formed a weightlifters’ club called ACC/Longhorn. Team members worked out together in the weight room on the ACC Northridge campus...Read More

08/15/1992

ACC-Fredericksburg

ACC-Fredericksburg

Responding to a rising demand from growing numbers of Hill Country residents for post-secondary, college-credit courses, particularly for courses in the allied health sciences, Austin Community College began offering classes in Fredericksburg High school in the fall of 1992. Students included residents of Kerrville, Mason, Llano, and Junction as well..Read More

1993
05/10/1993

President Bill Segura

The Austin Community College Board of Trustees named Bill Segura the College’s sixth president, succeeding interim president Roland Smith who had filled in after Dan Angel departed to take the presidency of Stephen F. Austin State University. Segura, a 45-year-old El Paso native, came to ACC from Chemeketa Community College..Read More

06/04/1993

Greater Austin Telecommunications Network

Austin Community College, the Austin Independent School District, along with the University of Texas, the General Services Commission of the State of Texas, Travis County, and the Lower Colorado River Authority agreed to form the Greater Austin Area Telecommunications Network (GAATN)  to utilize high-speed fiber optic cables to transmit computer generated..Read More

09/01/1993

ACC at Age Twenty

With the approach of Austin Community College’s twentieth birthday in December of 1992, those who had helped make ACC a success took time to celebrate. To be sure, existential issues loomed. Many citizens, whom ACC was committed to serve, lacked the skills required to live comfortably and meeting the challenges..Read More

1996
08/10/1996

Backers of ACC’s Annexation of Round Rock I. S. D. Rally Support Along a Bumpy Road

Situated on the city of Austin’s northern and western perimeters, Round Rock experienced identity issues. Liberal ideologies were rooted in Austin and, from time to time, clashed with Round Rock’s more conservative values. Led by Raymond Hartfield, a local attorney and member of the Round Rock school board, supporters of..Read More

1997
09/18/1997

1997: Streamlining ACC’s Response to Business and Industry

On February 1, 1994, Richard Fonte took the reigns as president of Austin Community College. The school continued  its amazing growth in virtually all areas: academic programs, job training for production positions in the high-tech industries that were moving into the Central-Texas region, and professional development which went largely unrecognized..Read More

1998
09/01/1998
10/16/1998

Becoming a Leader in Biotechnology

Austin Community College was named one of six community colleges located around the country that will share a $2.9 million grant from the National Science Foundation to develop biotechnology curricula. Analysts believe that “bio-tech” is fast becoming a critical part of the Central Texas economy. ACC’s share of the grant..Read More

1999
01/11/1999

Eastview: ACC Returns to East Austin…Seriously

Eastview: ACC Returns to East Austin…Seriously

Thirteen years after Austin Community College broke the hearts of East Austin residents by abandoning its Ridgeview campus, ACC celebrated the opening of the brand new Eastview Campus. An homage to Ridgeview, Eastview was erected on Webberville Road, at the base of the very same hill upon which Ridgeview had..Read More

2000
06/05/2000

Looking Back and Ahead

Preview of Coming Interviews

2003
09/01/2003

Coping with Financial Stringency

Throughout ACC’s early history, student enrollment had grown steadily and at times spectacularly, despite assertions by political opponents, made mostly during tax- and bond-election campaigns, that Austin did not really need a community college.  They created an urban myth that ACC students were actually rich University of Texas kids who..Read More

2006
05/18/2006

ACC Partners with Sematech in Nanoelectronics Technology

ACC Partners with Sematech in Nanoelectronics Technology

[Frame this better to include a statement regarding the success of the microchip training program.] In a major leap forward into the 21st century, Austin Community College and the Austin-based high-tech consortium Sematech announced a $4 million internship program to train engineers and technicians for 21st-century jobs in the field..Read More

2007
10/08/2007

A Shopping Mall: Not What ACC Used to Be

A Shopping Mall: Not What ACC Used to Be

In 2007, the story of Austin Community College turned sharply as a result of both necessity and opportunity. Since its inception, ACC’s financial situation had remained more-or-less tenuous–more so than most other public community colleges in the state. Voters approved the creation of the College but only with the caveat..Read More

2008
03/29/2008

ACC Celebrates 35 Years (2008)

ACC Celebrates 35 Years (2008)

On that chilly Saturday in December,1972, voters residing within the boundaries of the Austin Independent School District gave birth to Austin Community College as an appendage of the AISD. ACC could not tax property-owners to raise money to meet operating expenses. Expenses would be paid for by student tuition and..Read More

2014
11/28/2014

Veterinary Technician Training Program at ACC Elgin

Veterinary Technician Training Program at ACC Elgin

ACC’s Elgin campus offers the first veterinary technician  training program in the greater Austin area after a successful bond election in August. ACC’s president Richard Rhodes expressed appreciation for the voters who demonstrated their support for what the College has done to educate and train the citizens of the district..Read More

2016
09/11/2016

ACC Partners With Texas A&M

To boost the number of engineering graduates and come closer to meeting the demands for engineers in the state of Texas and the United States, Austin Community College’s president, Richard Rhodes, has initiated a partnership that would reduce the gap between junior and senior colleges in the perceptions of many..Read More

2022
01/05/2022

Going Green

More coming soon!