Collin College is a community college district which serves Collin and Rockwall counties, located north and northeast of Dallas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown: from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 53,000 credit and continuing education students annually.
As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Collin College includes all of Collin and Rockwall counties, and those portions of Denton County within the cities of Frisco and The Colony, and those portions of the county included within the Celina and Prosper school districts.
Formerly known as the Collin County Community College District, CCCCD, or CCCC, the college re-branded itself "Collin College" in March 2007. The college changed its domain name to collin.edu in January 2010. The district headquarters is located in the Collin Higher Education Center (CHEC) in McKinney.
Campuses
The Central Park Campus in McKinney opened in 1985 with comprehensive renovations completed in the fall of 2009. New features include a multi-story parking garage, library, classrooms, offices, student development center and clock tower. The new library building totals 73,500 square feet (6,830Â m2). In January 2016, Collin College added a 125,000-square-foot state of the art Health Sciences Center.
The Spring Creek campus in Plano opened in fall of 1988. By number of students, this campus is the largest, providing general classes and housing the college system's honors, fine arts, and athletics programs. The campus features a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) art gallery, theatre center, gymnasium (Cougar Hall), and tennis facilities (Brinker Center Court). In January 2013, the college opened an 88,0000 square-foot library building with majestic architecture inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s design for the University of Virginia.
The Preston Ridge Campus in Frisco opened in July 1995. In 2014, thanks to a $2 million gift for scholarships by Roger and Jody Lawler of Frisco, the campus renamed their 70,000-square-foot (6,500Â m2) building from "D Building" to "Lawler Hall" in honor of the donation. Collin College's business and high-tech programs are centered at Preston Ridge, and the culinary arts program moved there in 2009.
Collin College also has campuses of smaller capacity in Allen, located in Allen High School, in Plano, for continuing education, and one in Rockwall.
The district headquarters is located in the Collin Higher Education Center (CHEC) in McKinney, which opened in January 2010. It is located at the intersection of the Central Expressway (U.S. Route 75) and Texas State Highway 121.
- Allen Center
- Central Park Campus (McKinney)
- Courtyard Center (Plano)
- Rockwall Center
- Preston Ridge Campus (Frisco)
- Spring Creek Campus (Plano)
- Farmersville (future campus site)
- Celina (future campus site)
- Melissa (future campus site)
- Wylie (future campus site)
Collin Higher Education Center
In January 2010, Collin College opened the doors of its Higher Education Center, located at the intersection of Central Expressway and State Hwy. 121 in McKinney.
The Higher Education Center hosts â€" among other things â€" a number of bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral programs from five North Texas universities: Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman’s University, The University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Tech University and the University of North Texas.
Offerings vary per university. Programs range from communications, teaching, management, Spanish, psychology, child development, counseling, nursing, criminal justice, business administration and accounting.
The center also hosts the administrative office of the college.
Athletics
Collin College's athletic program offers scholarships in Men and Women's basketball and tennis. The teams are known as the Cougars and Lady Cougars. They compete in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference in the NJCAA Region 5.
The competition gym and tennis facilities are located on the Spring Creek Campus in Plano.
Crisis intervention training
Collin College provides training for law enforcement officers in North Texas, especially in the Collin County and Dallas area. The training is certified by the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement, and is a 40-hour class based on the Memphis training model. The training is in the classroom, with reality-based conflict resolution, with presentation by the mentally ill and professional mental health providers.
Notable faculty
- Dr. Amina El-Ashmawy â€" Recognized in 2015 as a U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Professor Ceilidh Charleson-Jennings â€" Recognized in 2013 as the Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Dr. Greg Sherman â€" Recognized in 2012 as the Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Dr. Tracey McKenzie â€" Recognized as a 2009 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Dr. Rosemary Karr â€" Recognized as a 2007 U.S. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Jennifer O'Loughlin-Brooks â€" Recognized in 2006 as the Texas Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
- Dr. Levi Bryant - Continental philosopher, influential figure of the Speculative Realism and Object-Oriented Ontology movements
References
External links
- Official website
