Florida Senate - 2010                             (NP)    SR 906
       
       
       
       By Senator Peaden
       
       
       
       
       2-00706-10                                             2010906__
    1                          Senate Resolution                        
    2         A resolution recognizing the students, faculty, staff,
    3         and alumni of Pensacola Junior College as they
    4         celebrate its 60th Anniversary as an institution of
    5         higher learning in Florida.
    6  
    7         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College is the oldest public 2
    8  year college in Florida, having served the residents of Escambia
    9  and Santa Rosa Counties in Northwest Florida for more than 60
   10  years, and
   11         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College opened its doors on
   12  September 8, 1948, in an old boarding house on the corner of
   13  Palafox and Cervantes Streets in downtown Pensacola, and
   14         WHEREAS, enrollment has grown from 136 students in 1948 to
   15  nearly 34,000 students in the 2009-2010 academic year, and
   16         WHEREAS, today Pensacola Junior College has full-service
   17  campuses in Milton, Pensacola, and Warrington, as well as a
   18  Downtown Center, and is in the process of opening a new center
   19  in southern Santa Rosa County, and
   20         WHEREAS, nearly 40 percent of graduating seniors from local
   21  Escambia and Santa Rosa high schools begin college studies at
   22  Pensacola Junior College, and
   23         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College is widely recognized as
   24  one of the premiere 2-year colleges in the United States,
   25  offering more than 100 majors and areas of concentration and
   26  using the latest high-technology resources in the Mary Ekdahl
   27  Smart Center for Patient Simulation Training & Research on the
   28  Warrington campus, and
   29         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College is home to the Anna Lamar
   30  Switzer Center for Visual Arts and the Ashmore Center for the
   31  Performing Arts, which serve as cultural centers for the local
   32  community, supports a Public Broadcasting Station, WSRE, which
   33  provides area residents with quality programming, and provides
   34  an abundance of other educational programs and services, and
   35         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College is accredited by the
   36  Southern Association of Colleges and Schools’ Commission on
   37  Colleges, is part of Florida’s nationally recognized Florida
   38  College System, and offers Associate of Arts, Associate of
   39  Science, and Associate of Applied Science degrees and
   40  certificate programs, including those offered through its
   41  Distance Learning Program, Adult Basic Education, and Continuing
   42  Education Departments, the Dual Enrollment Program, and the
   43  Adult High School, and
   44         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College is led by an outstanding
   45  local Board of Trustees, chaired by John O’Connor, with Ed Moore
   46  serving as vice chair, and has welcomed its sixth president,
   47  Edward Meadows, and
   48         WHEREAS, Pensacola Junior College has graduated nearly
   49  100,000 students in the past 60 years and more than 1 million
   50  students have attended PJC over the course of the last 6
   51  decades, NOW, THEREFORE,
   52  
   53  Be It Resolved by the Senate of the State of Florida:
   54  
   55         That the students, faculty, staff, and alumni of Pensacola
   56  Junior College are recognized and commended as they celebrate
   57  the 60th anniversary of the college as an institution of higher
   58  learning in Florida.