Broward College
Broward College is a public college in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. It was established in 1959 as part of a move to broaden Florida's two-year colleges. In 2008 it adopted its current name, reflecting that it is one of the schools designated a "state college", meaning it can offer four-year bachelor's degrees. History. The institution was founded in 1959 as the Junior College of Broward County (JCBC). It opened its doors the following year under the leadership of President Joe B. Rushing, with a faculty of 28  serving a class of 701 students. Until the college's first permanent buildings were completed in 1963, students attended classes in the former Naval Air Station Junior High buildings on the western edge of the Fort Lauderdale-Hollywood International Airport. After helping JCBC through its formative years and onto firm footing, Rushing in 1965 announced he was returning to his home state of Texas to become founding president of Tarrant County Community College in Fort Worth. He was followed by Dr. Myron Blee, and then in 1968, A. Hugh Adams, superintendent of public education in Charlotte County, Florida, was appointed  president and served in that role until 1986. Changes began almost immediately. A month after his arrival, the college changed its name to Broward Junior College. Two months after Dr. Adams’ arrival, the Florida Legislature removed junior colleges from oversight by county school boards, and transformed their advisory boards into district boards of trustees. In 1970, the college was renamed again to Broward Community College. Adams’ interests lay in expanding access to the college for citizens living throughout the county. In his 19 years as president, South and North campuses were created, as was the Downtown Center and the Tigertail  Lake Center. Succeeding Adams was Dr. Will Holcombe, a protégée of Dr. James L. Wattenbarger, the architect of Florida's community college system and executive vice-president at Brevard Community College. Dr. Holcombe had served in a variety of administrative capacities at Broward before joining Brevard’s administrative team. Dr. Larry Calderon succeeded Holcombe upon his retirement in 2004. Dr. Calderon, an expert in strategic planning, was serving as president of Ventura College when he was appointed Broward's fifth president, and its first of Hispanic heritage. When Dr. Calderon left the college in 2006, Holcombe returned to serve as  interim president through the appointment of J. David Armstrong, Jr., in July 2007. President Armstrong came to the college from his position as Chancellor of the Florida College System. In December 2017, Armstrong announced that he would transition from the role of president. Following a nationwide search Gregory Adam Haile, Esq. who served as General Counsel for the college was named president in May 2018. He officially assumed duties on July 1, 2018. Campuses and education centers. Broward College has three campuses, which are connected to additional partnership centers, or branches, throughout Broward County: Broward College also has four International  Centers located outside the United States, each of them offering standard, face-to-face Broward College courses identical to those taught in Florida, all the way up to complete associate degree programs: Broward College also offers Study Abroad programs in Spain, Germany, Italy, England, India, and Vietnam, allowing students to complete coursework for college credit at institutions throughout the world. Organization and administration. The college is part of the Florida College System. Its president is Gregory Adam Haile. the endowment was $75.7 million. Academics. The college has close to 5,000 part-time and full-time faculty and staff and  serves over 63,000 students annually. Broward College Libraries. On Broward College's A Hugh Adams’ Central Campus is a four-story University/College library (U/CL) that serves as a joint-use facility for students, faculty, and staff of Florida Atlantic University (FAU) and Broward College (BC). The facility includes a reference desk, café, open stacks, archives/special collections, study rooms, learning resource labs (Academic Success Center), interlibrary loan, and a check-out desk. Sports. Broward College, also known as the Seahawks, has 6 varsity sports. The sports are Men's and Women's Basketball, Men's and Women's  Soccer Baseball, Softball, Women's Tennis and Women's Volleyball. All sports compete in the NJCAA and Region 8. On May 28, it was announced that Broward would be ending all athletics programs. Student life. Athletics. The college athletic teams, which are nicknamed the Seahawks, compete in the Southern Conference of the Florida State College Activities Association, a body of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 8.