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Northwest Florida State College history
Northwest Florida State College company history timeline
In the college’s first year of operation, in 1964, then Okaloosa-Walton Junior College set about to choose a school mascot.
The PJC Foundation was incorporated on November 1, 1965, with Crawford Rainwater as the first president.
The Triple G Club was founded in 1968.
WSRE began broadcasting in color in 1971.
Women were welcomed to varsity sports in 1974, and Joy DeSensi was hired to coach the Lady Pirates basketball team.
A new campus in Warrington opened for classes on August 22, 1977.
Doug Worley, Dean of Personnel Affairs, was selected as director of the Milton Center in 1980 and named provost later that year.
From its beginning in 1981, the softball team had played all home games at the Milton Center.
A pristine eighty-acre site along Highway 90 was purchased for the new Milton Center in 1982.
The Academy of Teaching Excellence was established in 1986 by Charles Atwell, Executive Vice President to recognize outstanding faculty who have exhibited sustained excellence in teaching.
Mark Whiten, a PSC student-athlete, who was a fifth-round pick for the Toronto Blue Jay in the 1986 Major League Baseball Draft.
PJC honored its first president by naming the extensively renovated Building 8 as the Henry L. Ashmore Fine Arts Center in May 1990.
The $7 million, 43,000 square-foot Kugelman Center for Telecommunications opened in 1994 to house WSRE-TV, the area’s first digital television station.
In 1995, President Hartsell and the District Board of Trustees began to acquire land adjacent to the Pensacola Campus for expansion and growth of the College.
Continued growth prompted the move to a permanent, four-story facility on West Garden Street in 1996.
In 1997, President Hartsell and the District Board of Trustees announced plans for an eighty-foot bell tower on the Pensacola Campus as part of PJC’s fiftieth anniversary celebration.
His inauguration coincided with PJC’s fiftieth anniversary in September 1998.
In December 1998, the PJC Foundation launched the College’s first capital campaign.
He has served as the College’s athletic director since 1999.
The first Anna Lamar Switzer Endowed Teaching Chair was awarded to photography professor Warren Thompson in 2000.
On July 3, 2001, WSRE became the second public broadcaster in Florida to air a digital signal.
The 2002 Pirates baseball team enjoyed renovated facilities and placed third in the State Baseball Tournament, setting a team record of 39 wins.
In 2002, a grand opening was held for the Anna Lamar Switzer Center for Visual Arts and the Charles A. Atwell Health Sciences Complex was dedicated.
President Atwell announced plans to retire in 2002.
In 2003, Gael Frazer became the College’s first Associate Vice President for Institutional Diversity.
Category Three Hurricane Ivan devastated the Pensacola area in September 2004, leaving more than $10 million in damage to the College’s campuses and centers.
In March 2005, the 16,257 square-foot Jean and Paul Amos Performance Studio was dedicated with several Public Broadcasting celebrities attending the weekend event at WSRE.
Beginning August 2005, PJC’s academic calendar changed to three full semesters — fall, spring, and summer — with each offering four sessions with a variety of starting and ending dates.
The year 2005 saw the creation of the Office of National Fellowships, which had immediate success in increasing the numbers of undergraduates who received nationally and internationally prominent scholarships and fellowships.
David Sutton served as NAS Center director from its inception through 2005.
The 2006 FCCAA Hall of Fame inducted Ken McAferty, the College’s Brain Bowl coach for twenty-three years, and Vicki Carson, women’s basketball coach for twenty-five years.
In 2006, phlebotomy faculty member Wilma Duncans-Burnett was awarded the Mary Ekdahl Smart Endowed Teaching Chair.
All College Day was launched February 2, 2007, with all faculty and staff participating in professional development workshops.
The Hobbs Center, created through a $1 million gift in October 2007, benefits Adult High School and Secondary Education students as well as students enrolled in college-credit classes in order to become teachers.
The Corsair student newspaper won the national Pacemaker Award for the first time for its online version, eCorsair, in 2007.
NASA astronaut and PJC alumnus Alan Poindexter took a specially minted, gold PJC medallion with him on a 5.3 million mile Atlantis space shuttle mission in February 2008.
Milton Center sponsored its twentieth Forestry Conclave and Lumberjack Festival in February 2008.
In June 2008, Governor Charlie Crist signed a bill that allowed several community colleges, including OWC, to offer four-year degrees and be considered part of Florida's upper education under the newly formed Florida College Pilot Project, making OWC one of the state colleges in Florida.
In April 2009, the Milton Center entry road was renamed Worley Boulevard in honor of Douglas Worley, the Center’s first provost.
President Wetherell announced his retirement on June 17, 2009.
In fall 2009, photography faculty member Mark Francis was awarded the Anna Lamar Switzer Endowed Teaching Chair.
Eric J. Barron took office as Florida State's 14th president in February 2010.
The College broke ground in July 2010 for its $9.4 million South Santa Rosa Center which would become the first College building to be constructed as a certified Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) building.
WSRE, PBS for the Gulf Coast, won a Bronze Telly Award and a People’s Telly Award in 2010 for its original documentary, “Gulf Islands National Seashore: The Treasure of the Gulf Coast,” narrated by renowned documentarian Ken Burns.
In January 2011, inaugural classes began for Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSN) and Bachelor of Applied Science (BAS) in Administration and Supervision degree programs.
In June 2011, the Florida Heritage Site Historical Marker was unveiled honoring the original site of the College at the corner of Palafox and Cervantes streets in downtown Pensacola.
The Lady Pirates basketball players made history in March 2012 as the College’s first athletic team to win back-to-back FCSAA State Championships.
In July 2012, PSC hosted its first annual Florida Master Teacher Seminar.
In April 2013, PSC hosted the largest-ever Florida SkillsUSA State Conference, drawing more than 6,500 participants.
In January 2015, PSC and the University of West Florida entered a partnership to admit select students from PSC’s Bachelor of Applied Science degree program into UWF’s Master of Business Administration or Master of Science in Administration, Health Care Administration Track.
In June 2015, the Molly McGuire Culinary Arts Dining Room was dedicated in memory of Molly McGuire, a beloved restaurateur known for her unmatched hospitality.
The scholarship donation is a continuation of the credit union’s support of PSC. In November 2016, Pen Air gifted PSC with a $100,000 contribution to establish the Pen Air Federal Credit Union Endowed Scholarship.
In 2016, dental hygiene faculty member Donna Mathias was awarded the Margaret Moore Nickelsen Endowed Teaching Chair.
In February 2017, Visual Arts students won 52 of 94 ADDY Awards in the regional college and university competition, including 19 gold, 30 silver, and three Judges’ Choice awards.
In April 2018, six Pensacola State College visual arts students earned three gold and five silver awards at the 57th Annual 4th District American Advertising Awards Gala in Orlando.
Demolished in January 2019, the Mary Ellison Baars Building was 60 years old and the College’s oldest structure.
In May 2019, eight Pensacola State alumni were recognized at the College’s 2019 Distinguished Alumni Awards.
In September 2019, the College started a Commercial Vehicle Driver Career Certificate Program.
In September 2019, Sandy Sansing Universal Scholars were announced.
In January 2020, United States News and World Report’s “Best Online Bachelor’s Programs 2020 Edition” ranked the College’s online BSN program as third among Florida College System institutions.
In September 2020, the College received a second $5,000 donation from Veterans National Homecare for first-generation-in-college scholarships.
In October 2020, more than $90,000 was raised at PSC’s 12th annual Day of Clays held at the Santa Rosa Shooting Center in Pace.
In midyear 2020, Pensacola State College’s SkillsUSA chapter was named a 2020 Gold Medal Chapter of Distinction.
The Change Makers program was created in 2020 by Jo-Ann and Michael Price, who had hosted the College’s annual Holiday Experience.
On May 7, 2021, the 15th Annual Big Break Golf Classic raised more than $27,500 to support the College’s greatest needs.
In Summer 2021, Pensacola State College was chosen a Best for Vets School by Military Times.
In Fall 2021, WSRE’s documentary, “Hank Locklin: Country Music’s Timeless Tenor,’’ was nominated for a 2021 Suncoast Regional Emmy in the “Documentary Cultural” category.
United States News and World Report also ranked the College 32nd in the 2022 Best Online Bachelor’s Program for Veterans category.
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| Company name | Founded date | Revenue | Employee size | Job openings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Daytona State College | 1957 | $53.3M | 1,304 | 8 |
| Gulf Coast State College | 1957 | $12.0M | 200 | - |
| Indian River State College | 1960 | $10.6M | 1,456 | 138 |
| Lorain County Community College | 1963 | $40.3M | 1,327 | 94 |
| John Tyler Community College | 1967 | $6.7M | 644 | - |
| Niagara County Community College | 1962 | $2.9M | 500 | 79 |
| Palm Beach State College | 1933 | $58.3M | 2,393 | 78 |
| Gateway Community College | 1989 | $106.8M | 573 | - |
| Raritan Valley Community College | 1966 | $8.0M | 500 | 61 |
| Harcum College | 1915 | $50.0M | 479 | - |
Northwest Florida State College history FAQs
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Northwest Florida State College may also be known as or be related to NORTHWEST FLORIDA STATE COLLEGE, North West Florida State College and Northwest Florida State College.