INSTITUTIONAL EFFECTIVENESS
The Best Place to Start
HISTORY OF THE EL PASO COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT
Established in 1969, the El Paso County Community
College District serves the Texas counties of El Paso and
Hudspeth through its mission of providing educational
opportunities and support services that prepare individuals to
improve their personal quality of life and to contribute to their
economically and culturally diverse community. The College’s
strategic goals are to provide quality education, provide quality
student services, demonstrate continuous improvement,
strengthen institutional resources, increase technological
capability, enhance the image of the College, provide personal
enrichment, and promote economic development initiatives. El
Paso Community College’s five campuses and central
administrative center are located in El Paso County. The
College is supported by State appropriations, local property
taxes and student tuition and is governed by a seven-member
Board of Trustees elected from single-member districts. The
curriculum includes traditional credit transfer programs,
workforce programs, English as a Second Language, and
continuing education.
El Paso Community College (EPCC) began as a
county junior college district in June 1969, when citizens of El
Paso County voted to create the District and elected a sevenmember Board of Trustees. When the citizens of El Paso
County voted to form a junior college district, they also
narrowly defeated a proposal to tax themselves to support the
Community College and build facilities. In 1971, the Board of
Trustees and many citizens of El Paso requested state financial
assistance to begin a two-year college while using facilities
available to the community. The 62nd Texas Legislature
appropriated funds, and El Paso Community College opened.
Since neither local financial support nor long range
financial stability was secure, the Board of Trustees called an
election in September 1974 to levy taxes for the junior college
district. A majority of all voters passed the bond issues;
however, the law at the time allowed only the votes of property
owners to count in bond elections, and the property owners
narrowly defeated both proposals. A suit was filed in federal
court challenging the constitutionality of the Texas
Constitution and Election Code. The Supreme Court ruling,
based on a similar case in Fort Worth, required the Board of
Trustees to declare the September 1974 election won, and local
taxes were levied for the first time during the 1975-1976
academic year.
EPCC was classified as a correspondent with the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools (SACS) from its
opening until 1973. In June 1973, the SACS Executive
Committee authorized a change to “candidate for accreditation”
which was confirmed by the Commission in December 1973.
The College received initial accreditation in December 1978,
following the completion of an institutional Self-Study and a
site visit by a SACS committee.
In 1971, when the College enrolled 901 students,
classes were held in the late afternoon and evening at various
locations throughout the city. During the summer of 1972,
EPCC leased facilities from the United States Army in the
Logan Heights area of Fort Bliss. EPCC offered its first
continuing education courses in 1972, and 150 students
enrolled in the courses. The EPCC credit enrollment reached
5,041 students by Fall 1973. During the 1973-1974 academic
year, EPCC Board of Trustees purchased 19 modular buildings
that added 14,000 square feet of classroom space to the Logan
Heights Campus.
In 1974, EPCC purchased a complex of buildings
from the El Paso Independent School District through a grant
written in conjunction with Project Hope, because its research
demonstrated that the El Paso area satisfied the profile they
were targeting – a region where Third World conditions existed
due to the insufficient number of qualified health care
providers.
This complex, once remodeled, was named the Rio
Grande Campus. It has since housed the Health Occupations
Programs, as well as support courses in arts and sciences.
Project Hope provided assistance to the College in the form of
funds, personnel, equipment, and audio-visual support from
July 1974 until July 1977 to develop 12 programs in the fields
of medicine and dentistry.
Rio Grande Campus
The first of two new campuses, the Valle Verde
Campus in southeast El Paso, was completed in time for
classes in Fall 1978, and EPCC returned the Logan Heights
facility to the Army.
Valle Verde Campus
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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Transmountain Campus
The Transmountain Campus in northeast El Paso,
the College’s second new campus, opened in Fall 1979.
In 1976, the College embarked on the development of
a Master Plan to provide for the orderly growth and direction of
the College and to define its role within the community. Since
the development of this Master Plan, the College has moved
quickly into expanding and strengthening its educational
programs. From 1977 to 1979, EPCC expanded the vocationaltechnical curriculum from 27 programs to 91 programs. In
Spring 1980, the College also received approval to offer 11
new associate degree programs in the arts and sciences.
The Distance Education Network administers distance
education at EPCC. Distance education began at EPCC with
instructional television courses in 1979. EPCC has expanded
its distance education offerings through videoconferencing and
on-line courses. In addition, EPCC offers high school students
collegiate educational opportunities through the dual credit
program where students earn high school and college credit for
courses taken at their high schools.
EPCC completed the expansion and renovation of the
Rio Grande Campus in 1980. Improvements, which included
a new five-story wing and improved accessibility for the
handicapped, were possible through a $1.75 million grant from
the Economic Development Administration, with $1 million in
matching funds from the College.
In 1981, the College began preparing for its second
self-study and reaffirmation of accreditation by SACS. This
self-study was combined with the revision of the College’s
Master Plan. In Spring 1983, the SACS Reaffirmation Team
visited EPCC. The SACS Visiting Team recommended the
continuation of EPCC’s accreditation. EPCC Board of
Trustees approved the Master Plan Update during the 19841985 school year.
The College became increasingly involved in major
community initiatives by establishing the Literacy Center and
the ALPHA Center to provide basic adult education and
training for employment. In 1987, EPCC, in conjunction with
the city of El Paso, opened the Literacy Center near the Rio
Grande Campus. This program was designed to work with
the community at large in teaching literacy skills to area
residents who were functionally illiterate. The ALPHA Center
also opened in 1989 in the southern part of central El Paso; it
provided basic adult education and training in skills needed to
gain and retain employment. The ALPHA Center is currently
called the Career Training Center.
Because of the continued growth in enrollment, in
1989 the College purchased 31 modular classrooms and
established the “Modular Village” at the Valle Verde Campus.
In 1990, EPCC opened a new Student Services Center and the
Advanced Technology Center on the Valle Verde Campus. In
1991, EPCC became a founding member of the El Paso
Coalition for the Homeless, a confederation of agencies that
served the homeless. The Opportunity Center houses this
program. In Spring 1992, the Lakeside Language Center
opened in southern El Paso. This center offered classes in
English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL), foreign
languages, and GED.
EPCC completed the SACS required Self-Study
Report and hosted the Site Visit Team in 1993. The College
District received notice of reaffirmation of accreditation from
SACS after completion of the intensive two-year Self-Study
process.
Northwest Campus
Construction of the new Northwest Campus was
completed in the county’s Upper Valley in January 1994. An
Economic Development Administration grant partially funded
the facility. The Northwest Campus provides complete student
services, Academic Computer Services, and a Library, as well
as occupational training programs, academic support services,
and basic academic skills programs.
In December 1994, the EPCC Board of Trustees
adopted a five-year financial plan for remodeling, expansion,
and construction of College District facilities through the sale
of revenue bonds financed through student tuition and fees.
New classroom space was added to Transmountain
in 1996 and Valle Verde in 1997. Rio Grande received
additional parking and other renovation in 1996. In 1997, the
noncredit Lakeside Language Program moved to the modular
buildings on the Valle Verde Campus. The program was
renamed the Americana Language Program.
Mission del Paso Campus
The Mission del Paso Campus, serving the eastside
in the Lower Valley area of the county, opened in the spring of
1998. The Mission del Paso Campus provides complete
student services and academic support. In addition, some
Health Occupations courses moved from the Rio Grande
Campus to the Mission del Paso Campus in 2001.
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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Recognizing the importance of the NAFTA agreement
and its regional impact, the College created the Institute for
Economic and Workforce Development in 1995 to organize
and intensify its service efforts in training the emerging
workforce and providing education and expertise to area
business and industry.
EPCC initiated planning in 1996 to establish the
EPCC Foundation. The foundation involves community
members. The nonprofit foundation has held fundraisers to
provide educational opportunities for EPCC students.
The Mission del Paso Campus expanded in 1999 to
add the Professional Truck Driving facility and in 2000 to add
the Law Enforcement facility. A 400-space parking garage
opened at the Rio Grande Campus in 2002. The Health and
Science Building, built to modernize and expand classroom and
laboratory space for specialized programs at the Rio Grande
Campus, opened in 2003, with expanded facilities constructed
in 2005. A multiple-purpose exhibition and meeting center for
College and community activities, the “Little Temple,” opened
in 2005 after renovation of an existing, historical structure.
Additional classrooms, labs, and Library facilities were
constructed in 2003 at the Northwest Campus.
Many administrative offices and services moved
during the 2001-2002 academic year from an aging building in
central El Paso to a purchased and remodeled former toy
manufacturing plant. This new Administrative Services
Center is located three miles north of the Valle Verde
Campus. It was determined that further remodeling would
allow additional administrative offices and services to move
into the Center.
centralization, the building was remodeled and expanded to
include a modern foyer and conference rooms.
In Fall 2008, the Transmountain and Northwest Early
College High Schools, on their respective campuses, opened and
allowed 125 high school students at each high school to earn high
school diplomas and Associate degrees simultaneously.
In Fall 2008, a new western entrance road to the
Mission del Paso Campus from East Lake Blvd. was completed.
The road allows students and staff to drive west to El Paso
without driving east to the next overpass in order to make a Uturn formerly required.
In Fall 2009, the College began to open math
emporiums to assess student knowledge in mathematics and
address their deficiencies in content knowledge. The math
emporiums are computer labs designed to allow students to
work at their own pace to complete the course they enroll in or
to complete more than one developmental math course in one
semester. This allows students to progress to college-level
math more quickly.
The Culinary Arts Program opened its new state-of-theart classrooms in the “B” Building of the Administrative
Services Center during the Spring 2010 semester. Near the
classrooms was added a restaurant, open to the public, which was
designed to showcase the culinary skills of the students.
Cotton Valley Early College High School opened in
the summer of 2010 in Fabens, Texas. The initial enrollment
was 68 students.
In 2011, the College bought from the University of
Texas at El Paso the Stanton Building, near the Rio Grande
Campus.
Stanton Building
Administrative Services Center - Building A
During the 2001-2002 academic year, plans were
developed concerning the addition at the Mission del Paso
Campus of classroom space, which opened in 2004.
In 2005, the Northwest library was named the Jenna Welch and
Laura Bush Library, honoring the commitment of the First
Lady and of her mother to the promotion of literacy.
KCOS-TV, El Paso’s PBS television station, and
EPCC’s TV facilities moved to the Administrative Services
Center in 2006.
In 2006, the Mission Early College High School, on the
Mission del Paso Campus, allowed 125 high school students to
earn high school diplomas and Associate degrees simultaneously.
A second Early College High School opened at the Valle Verde
Campus in August 2007, with 125 students.
In Spring 2008, the majority of the non-credit programs,
classrooms and administration offices were moved to Building B
of the Administrative Services Center. To accommodate this
The 8-story building was redesigned to support EPCC
student services and instruction. The College also acquired the
adjacent land that was once occupied by the demolished
hospital Hotel Dieu.
In 2011, the College also addressed environmental
concerns by acquiring several, small electrically powered
utility vehicles, designed to carry grounds maintenance
equipment and supplies.
In 2012, EPCC inaugurated its first student union, at
the Valle Verde Campus. Built in a hitherto unused tunnellike area under the “A” Building, the facility incorporated
meeting and game areas.
In 2012, the Department of the Army announced that
it had reached an agreement with the College to build a new
campus on property owned by Fort Bliss.
In the spring of 2012, as part of the SACS process of
re-affirming the College’s accreditation, SACS assigned an offsite committee to review documents submitted by the College
to assess whether the College was meeting SACS accreditation
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY
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EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
7/25/13
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requirements. The off-site assessment was followed by a visit
of an on-site committee in October 2012. Part of the
assessment addressed the College’s submission of a proposed
Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) entitled Learning about the
Community as a Community. SACS approved the QEP.
In the summer of 2013, SACS placed the College on
Warning status due to concerns about the number of full-time
faculty, academic programs and administrative support
services. The Enrollment Services Center opened at the Valle
Verde Campus to receive students seeking admission,
financial aid and registration. Also opened was the Valle
Verde Learning Emporium. EPCC created the Office of
Quality Enhancement Plan and Assessment to oversee the
implementation of the QEP project.
In Fall 2013, the College eliminated late registration,
as nation-wide research had shown that students registering late
were less likely to complete courses and earn degrees. In
Spring 2014, EPCC submitted its last accreditation report to
SACS, on the number of full-time faculty, academic programs
and administrative support. In Summer 2014, SACS re-
affirmed the College’s accreditation. The Aspen Institute, an
educational and policy studies organization based in
Washington, DC, named EPCC one of its 10 finalists for the
2015 Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence.
OFFICE OF THE VICE PRESIDENT OF RESEARCH AND ACCOUNTABILITY
Enrollment Services Center
Z:/HISTORY OF EPCC/HISTORYOFEPCC
EPCC does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, gender, age, disability, veteran status, sexual orientation, or gender identity.
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