PJC buys land for new Greenville campus

Published or Revised January 13, 2006

GREENVILLE - The Board of Regents of Paris Junior College and its President, Dr. Pamela Anglin, announced plans Friday to accommodate the growth the college is experiencing in Greenville and Hunt County. At a press conference held at the Civic Center in Greenville, Dr. Anglin announced that PJC Regents have approved the purchase of 172 acres of land located just west of Greenville High School on Monty Stratton Drive where a new campus will be built. SHW Group of Dallas has been selected for the development of a campus master plan and to design the first building to be constructed as phase one of the project. It will be a multipurpose facility that will serve up to 2,000 students, according to Dr. Anglin. "The Regents want to be prepared to meet the needs of the citizens of Greenville and Hunt County," Dr. Anglin said. "It is important that this be the community's college." This is a giant step in the progress of the Greenville community college facility that began in 1994 through a partnership between Paris Junior College and the Greenville Board of Development, according to Dr. Anglin. When the first campus opened in the Henson Building in 1994, 70 students enrolled to take 14 different classes. From that meager beginning, the student population reached 450 by 1997. Dr. Anglin told the crowd at the press conference that at that point Paris Junior College officials began searching for another building to house the Greenville Center. "Through the help of the leadership in Greenville and Hunt County, we were able to find and purchase the building we are now occupying at 9315 Jack Finney Blvd.," she said. Enrollment has continued to increase since the college moved to the new campus in 1998 with 505 students. "With this fall's enrollment of 1,065 students, we felt it was time to take another giant step in providing the best higher education opportunity possible for the people of Greenville and Hunt County," Dr. Anglin said. "Today, we offer nearly 200 different classes at the Greenville Center." Dr. Anglin said that the land acquisition announced Friday was made possible through the leadership of the PJC Board of Regents and the continued cooperation of leaders in Greenville. The location, she said, will be convenient for students and will be an outstanding building site for the campus. Dr. Anglin pointed out that PJC is an open-door community college offering access to higher education for many who would otherwise be left without the college experience. She added that students in Greenville could earn an Associate of Arts, Associate of Science and Associate of Applied Science degrees, as well as certificates of completion in vocational and technical programs. "Your acceptance of PJC and its Greenville Center as a strong, viable and affordable place to begin a college education or complete a technical program is encouraging and truly makes this the community's college," she told the audience.