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Vermont Representative Justin Smith Morrill spearheaded the Morrill Land-Grant Colleges Act that established federal funding for public education at the tertiary level. This meant that many people who previously had no access to higher education were now able to continue into postsecondary studies.
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The second Morrill Act withheld federal funds from public colleges that blocked student admission based on race. This Act provided for the admission of minority students to land grant colleges.
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President of the University of Chicago, William Rainey Harper encouraged the separation of universities into a junior division and senior division (based on the German university or pure-form university model).
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In 1901, J. Stanley Brown, the principal of Joilet High School in Illinois introduced college level courses into the high school curriculum, establishing the first public Junior College in the United States.
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The American Association of Junior Colleges (AAJC) -- now known as the American Association of Community Colleges -- was founded in 1920. The AACC serves as the national professional development organization for community colleges across America.
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1920 also saw the founding of the Phoenix Junior College (now Phoenix College) by the Phoenix Union High School District.
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John Paul, for whom the John Paul Theatre at Phoenix College is named, taught drama at PC from 1948 to 1990. Over 100 productions were staged during his tenure at the college. This year marks the 100th anniversary of his birth. There is a scholarship awarded in his name for a theatre student at PC.
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After the Arizona state legislature provided for the establishment of junior college districts in 1960, Maricopa County Junior College District was established in 1962. The District established satellite campuses in Mesa and Glendale that would each become independent campuses in 1965.
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Following the trend in higher education, this shift in language separated the public institutions, now known as community colleges, from the private two year institutions that sometimes retain the junior college denomination.
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My predecessor, Dr. Geoff Eroe, began teaching at Phoenix College at the age of 24 and celebrated his retirement last year after 40 years. These are tremendous shoes to fill, but I am doing my best to produce quality theatre and provide a strong education for artists and audiences of the theatre of tomorrow
