This article needs additional citations for verification .(April 2013) |
Former names |
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Type | Public community college |
Established | 1924 |
President | Brent Wallace |
Location | , , U.S. 33°37′08″N97°09′58″W / 33.6188°N 97.1660°W |
Campus | Rural, 110 acres (45 ha) main campus |
Colors | Blue and white |
Sporting affiliations | NJCAA – NTJCAC |
Mascot | Lions |
Website | www |
North Central Texas College (NCTC) is a public community college in Gainesville, Texas. It serves Cooke County, Denton County, and Montague County, Texas.
As with many of the early community colleges, NCTC began as an extension of the local school district. In NCTC's case, a branch of the Gainesville Independent School District known as Gainesville Junior College was proposed by Superintendent Randolph Lee Clark, who previously started a junior college that later became Midwestern State University. The Gainesville college was established May 20, 1924, and held its first classes in the fall of that year. [2]
For the first 22 years of the school's existence, it shared the same building with Gainesville High School, also sharing teachers and administrators (not until 1957 were separate teachers hired for the college). In 1946 a building located next to the high school was purchased and the college had its own building.
However, by the mid-1950s the college grew to the point that sharing space with the high school was no longer practical. Local citizens passed a bond issue to build separate facilities for the college. However, discussions took place as to whether a separate entity, apart from the Gainesville ISD, should be created (including assessment of a property tax to support it). With the support of citizens such as W.T. Bonner (who donated the first 5 acres (20,000 m2) of the current campus and later sold 45 acres (180,000 m2) more to the college), Cooke County voters approved the creation of the new district, and Gainesville Junior College became Cooke County Junior College (the Junior was later dropped in the 1970s). In 1994, the institution's name was changed to North Central Texas College to reflect its increasing instructional offerings in two Denton County cities—Lewisville and Denton.
During this time, NCTC operated under a "gentlemen's agreement" with the other junior colleges, and thus no separate schools were formed in neighboring Denton and Montague Counties.
In 1992, president Ronnie Glasscock led the school to two major accomplishments. First, the "gentlemen's agreement" was codified into state law (however, neither Denton nor Montague are included in NCTC's tax base). Second, Glasscock lobbied for a name change, realizing that Cooke County College would handicap the college's effort to be a true regionally focused college. He was successful, and on June 1, 1994, the Regents voted to change the college's name to its current designation.
In January 2000, NCTC opened a branch campus in Bowie (to serve Montague County). The citizens of Bowie voted a 1/2 cent sales tax increase to build the 16,000-square-foot (1,500 m2), $2.196 million facility. NCTC also opened the Corinth campus (to serve Denton County) at the same time.
A historical marker outside the Administration Building claims that NCTC is the oldest continuously operating public community college in Texas, having been approved for operations in May 1924. This is based on the fact that several junior colleges which predate NCTC in terms of its opening either ceased operations (temporarily or permanently), were not founded as public institutions, or later became four-year colleges.
The original location, the Cooke County Campus, is in Gainesville and is the main campus. NCTC maintains full-service campuses in Corinth and Bowie, with branch campuses in Denton, Flower Mound, and Graham.
The current chancellor of NCTC is Dr. Brent Wallace. Dr. Wallace previously served as the vice-president of Instruction.
As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of NCTC consists of the following: [3]
The college athletics teams are nicknamed the Lions. The lions compete in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference of the NJCAA. North Texas Central College offers athletic scholarships in baseball, softball, volleyball, and women's tennis. [4]
On September 26, 2014, four members of the North Central Texas College Lions women's softball team died, and 15 others suffered injuries, when the bus in which they were passengers was struck by a tractor-trailer near Davis, Oklahoma. [5] The four players who died were Brooke Deckard, Jaiden Pelton, Meagan Richardson, and Katelynn Woodlee. [6] Three of the players died at the scene; the fourth at a hospital.
According to Oklahoma Highway Patrol Capt. Ronnie Hampton, the tractor-trailer crossed the median into the southbound lane on Highway 35, and both the bus driver, who is also the coach, and the driver of the tractor-trailer underwent toxicology tests, and the incident was treated as a homicide. [7]
Wise County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. As of the 2020 census, its population was 68,632. Its county seat is Decatur. Wise County is part of the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metropolitan statistical area. Its Wise Eyes crime-watch program, eventually adopted by mostly rural counties in several states, was started in 1993 by then-Sheriff Phil Ryan.
Montague County is a county located in the U.S. state of Texas, established in 1857. As of the 2020 census, its population was 19,965. The county seat is Montague. The county was created in 1857 and organized the next year. It is named for Daniel Montague, a surveyor and soldier in the Mexican–American War.
Cooke County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. At the 2020 census, its population was 41,668. The county seat is Gainesville. The county was founded in 1848 and organized the next year. It is named for William Gordon Cooke, a soldier during the Texas Revolution. It is a part of the Texoma region.
Henrietta is a city in and the county seat of Clay County, Texas, United States. It is part of the Wichita Falls metropolitan statistical area. The population was 3,141 at the 2010 census, a decline of 123 from the 2000 tabulation of 3,264.
Gainesville is a city in and the county seat of Cooke County, Texas, United States. Its population was 16,002 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Texoma region and is an important Agri-business center.
Denton is a city in and the county seat of Denton County, Texas, United States. With a population of 139,869 as of 2020, it is the 27th-most populous city in Texas, the 197th-most populous city in the United States, and the 12th-most populous city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.
Decatur is the county seat of Wise County, Texas, United States. Its population was 6,538 in 2020.
The Texas Tech University System is a state university system in Texas consisting of five universities in the state of Texas, of which three are general-academic universities, Texas Tech University, Angelo State University and Midwestern State University, and two health-related institutions, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center El Paso. Headquartered in Lubbock, Texas, the Texas Tech University System is a $2.5 billion enterprise focused on advancing higher education, health care, research and outreach with approximately 21,000 employees, more than 63,000 students, nearly 370,000 alumni and an endowment valued at $1.7 billion. In its short history, the TTU System has grown tremendously and is nationally acclaimed, operating at 24 academic locations statewide and internationally.
Area code 940 is a telephone area code in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of Texas in the Wichita Falls and Denton areas. It was created on July 7, 1997, in a split from area code 817.
Slidell Independent School District is a public school district based in the community of Slidell, Texas (USA). Located in Wise County, a portion of the district extends into Denton, Cooke, and Montague counties. The small community of Greenwood also lies within the district.
Texas has over 1,000 public school districts—all but one of the school districts in Texas are independent, separate from any form of municipal or county government. School districts may cross city and county boundaries. Independent school districts have the power to tax their residents and to assert eminent domain over privately owned property. The Texas Education Agency (TEA) oversees these districts, providing supplemental funding, but its jurisdiction is limited mostly to intervening in poorly performing districts.
Medical City Denton, or Denton Regional, is a hospital operated by Hospital Corporation of America and is located at 3535 South Interstate 35, southeast of downtown Denton, Texas. It houses 208 beds, and employs more than 850 employees and 300 physicians. Denton Regional serves patients from Denton, Wise, Cooke and Montague Counties.
El Paso Community College (EPCC) is a community college district headquartered in El Paso, Texas, United States. EPCC operates five campuses in the Greater El Paso area, as well as courses offered at nearby Fort Bliss.
Weatherford College is a public community college in Weatherford, Texas, with branch campuses in nearby Wise County, and Granbury.