Jefferson State Community College - History

History

Jefferson State Junior College was established on May 3, 1963, by an act of the State Legislature. The first students enrolled at Jeff State in September 1965. The Alabama State Board of Education officially changed the name of the school to Jefferson State Community College on February 23, 1989.

The original campus is located on 274 acres (1.11 km2) in Center Point, Alabama. The thirteen buildings that make up the campus are named for community benefactors (H.Y. and Ruby Carson, John B. Bethune, Harvey DeRamus, and Eugene Fitzgerald), elected officials (James B. Allen, George C. Wallace, Lurleen B. Wallace, and Harold C. Martin), and former Jeff State presidents (Leroy Brown and George L. Layton).

The college opened an extension center in Shelby County, Alabama in January 1993. In June 1996, the center was designated a branch campus by the Alabama Commission on Higher Education. The Shelby Campus in Hoover, Alabama has three multi-purpose buildings on 60 acres (240,000 m2).

In 2003, the Alabama State Board of Education revised the college's service area to include the western part of St. Clair County, Alabama. Classes began meeting at the St. Clair Center in Moody, Alabama in Fall 2003. On April 22, 2004, the board approved another insturctional site for St. Clair County in Pell City, Alabama, and classes started meeting there in Fall 2004. With 50 acres (200,000 m2) deeded to the school by the St. Clair Economic Development Council, Jeff State constructed a new center in Pell City. The college offered classes in that three-story facility in Fall 2006.

In 2007, the Board again revised the college's service area to include Chilton County, Alabama and approved construction for a multipurpose instructional facility in Clanton, Alabama. The new center was completed and classes began in Fall 2008.

Jeff State has had three presidents: Dr. Leroy Brown (1964-1971), Dr. George L. Layton (1971-1979), and Dr. Judy M. Merritt (1979-present).

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