Postsecondary Education Comm history

Support for women has also been an important issue for the Council since 1920, when ACE established the Committee on the Training of Women for Public Service.

The first public two-year college in Alabama, a state-operated trade school, opened in 1925.

In 1935, ACE established the American Youth Commission, which aimed to support unemployed young people during the Great Depression.

In addition, ACE founded the Program on Non-collegiate Sponsored Instruction in 1940 to assist campuses in granting credit for what service members and veterans had learned while in the service.

In 1942, ACE helped to develop the GED® program, which has opened doors to better jobs and college programs for more than 20 million people.

In 1950, the State Superintendent of Public Instruction authorized a study of the need for a system of tax-supported community colleges.

In its early years, the American Council of Education (ACE) was headquartered adjacent to the White House at 744 Jackson Place NW. ACE moved to Massachusetts Avenue in 1951 and served as a landlord to nine other higher education associations within its building.

In 1953, ACE worked with the National Association for Women in Education to create the Commission on the Education of Women, examining the role and levels of participation of women in higher education.

In 1957, the General Assembly adopted the first Community College Act and provided funding for community colleges.

There were then 20 industrial education centers, six community colleges (three of which became four year schools in 1963), and five extension units.

Soon thereafter, in 1964, ACE established the Office of Urban Affairs, later known as the Office of Minorities in Higher Education.

In response to ACE’s proposal for funding the NCHE concept, in December 1967 the W.K. Kellogg Foundation appropriated $2.5 million to assist ACE in planning and constructing a building in Dupont Circle to house the National Center for Higher Education.

By the beginning of 1970, the NCHE buildings—One and Eleven Dupont Circle—were fully leased to a total of 36 education association tenants and four commercial tenants.

Twenty years later, in 1973, the Council established the Office of Women in Higher Education.

In 1974-75, growth reached the 33 percent mark.

In the early years of the system, the State Board of Education Chair was Dallas Herring; David Bruton succeeded him in 1977.

The number of colleges has not increased since Brunswick Community College became the 58th in 1978.

In 1982, the Alabama Legislature created the Department of Postsecondary Education, separating it from the State Department of Education, and creating the position of Chancellor.

In 1991, the North Carolina Center for Applied Textile Technology became subject to the management of the North Carolina State Board of Community Colleges.

In July 2005, Gaston College, part of the North Carolina Community College System, absorbed the textile center.

In 2006, Marion Military Institute (MMI), a private military two-year college, became a part of the Alabama Community College System.