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.