St. Petersburg College history

There were 48 members of the first graduating class in 1929.

After one semester, SPJC moved its operations to a former high school facility overlooking Mirror Lake, where it remained until January 1942.

SPJC became a public college in 1948.

He retired from the college in 1950 and was replaced by SPJC's Dean of Men, Michael Bennett.

A companion junior college for black students, Gibbs Junior College, opened its doors in 1957.

After a 1959 study clearly illustrated the demand for a higher-education facility in northern Pinellas county, SPJC began planning the development of a second campus located in Clearwater, Florida.

In 1962, the college acquired 72.8 acres (295,000 m) of land in the vicinity of Drew Street and County Road 32 (Old Coachman Road), land which previously contained an orange grove and a waste disposal site.

Construction began on February 25, 1964.

By 1970, SPJC classes also were offered at an SPJC Center in Tarpon Springs.

Doctor Carl M. Kuttler, Jr., SPJC's longest serving president, accepted the position upon Doctor Bennett's retirement in April 1976.

A St Petersburg native, Doctor Williams began her tenure with the college in 1986, rising through the ranks in a variety of academic and administrative roles.

In 1998, the American Association of Community College Trustees named Dr Kuttler the most outstanding community college president in the nation.

The new center expands on the educational opportunities previously housed in the original 10,000-square-foot facility that opened in 2003 just blocks from the new center.

Upon Doctor Kuttler's retirement in December 2009, Doctor Thomas Furlong, former senior vice president for Baccalaureate Programs and the University Partnership Center, was appointed by the Board of Trustees to serve as interim president during a nationwide presidential search.

Since his arrival in 2010, Doctor Law's focus was on student achievement, faculty enhancements and workforce education and training.

In 2012, the college started The College Experience, an initiative aimed at preparing students to succeed in their courses and finish what they start.

In 2015, SPC opened the new 49,000-square-foot, state-of-the-art campus located in the heart of St Petersburg's historic Midtown neighborhood.

The only association of today's (2016) Gibbs Campus of SPC with the former Gibbs Junior College is nominal; it is not located where the college was.