Historical Statement
College History
The Alvin Community College District was approved by the qualified voters of the Alvin Independent School District on November 2, 1948. From its inception until the 1971-72 academic year, the College was administered by officials of the Alvin Independent School District. The 1971-72 academic year marked the beginning of a new era in the history of Alvin Community College. A separate administration, tax district, and college board were established to assume the management, control, and operation of a newly created Alvin Junior College District.
Initially, when the College and public schools were in the same system, the College was part of Alvin High School. The first classes began on September 12, 1949, in facilities which grouped grades 11 through 14 in one building and which placed Alvin under a system known as the 6-4-4 plan. One of the more important changes in the program of Alvin Community College was the building of a separate physical plant for academic work at the college level and dropping of the 6-4-4 plan in favor of a 6-3-3-2 arrangement. The college program was strengthened by additional facilities, by an enlarged faculty, and by successfully meeting the standards of the Southern Association of Colleges and Secondary Schools (1959). Alvin Community College moved to its present campus in the summer session of 1963.
By a vote of both the original district and voters of adjoining territories, the college district was enlarged to nearly twice its geographical size in 1974. Then, in the spring of 1975, an $8 million bond issue was approved, providing funds for the facilities necessary to meet an expanding enrollment. In 1998 the College expanded into its service area with the establishment of the Pearland Center in the former C.J. Harris Elementary School in Pearland. The Pearland Center was closed in 2013 and the campus was sold in 2016.
In 2005, a $19.9 million dollar bond issue was approved, providing funds for a new science/health science building to meet the needs of expanding health programs, to provide relief for overcrowded classrooms, and to update technology and simulation labs.
In 2016, the college was named a Hispanic Serving Institution by the U.S. Department of Education. The college also received a $3.8 million grant to expand its offerings in Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields.
That same year, the college was one of 67 in the United States to be named part of the Second Chance Pell program, which offers scholarship assistance for incarcerated students.
The enrollment of Alvin Community College has grown from 134 students in 1949 to almost 6,000, posting its highest enrollment ever in 2017. During this period of growth, Alvin Community College has had seven presidents. The seventh president joined the college in 2021 and is embracing the challenge of strategically moving the college forward.
- Mr. A.G. Welch 1949-1954
- Dr. A.B. Templeton 1954-1964
- Mr. D.P. O’Quinn 1964-1971
- Dr. T.V. Jenkins 1971-1976
- Dr. A. Rodney Allbright 1976 -2014
- Dr. Christal M. Albrecht 2014 to 2021
- Dr. Robert J. Exley, current