Collin College

Collin College is a public community college district in Texas. Founded in 1985, the district has grown as the county has grown from around 5,000 students in 1986 to more than 58,800 credit and noncredit students.[3]

Not to be confused with Collins College (disambiguation).

Collin College
Former names
Collin County Community College (1985–2007)
Motto"We have a passion for: Learning, Service and Involvement, Creativity and Innovation, Academic Excellence, Dignity and Respect, and Integrity"
TypePublic community college district
Established1985
PresidentNeil Matkin
Academic staff
1,565 full-time and 1,343 part-time (2023)[1]
Students58,801 (2023)[2]
Location
Collin County
,
Texas
,
United States
Sporting affiliations
NJCAA – NTJCAC
MascotCougar
Websitewww.collin.edu

Formerly known as the Collin County Community College District, CCCCD, or CCCC, the college rebranded itself "Collin College" in March 2007. The district headquarters is in the Collin Higher Education Center in McKinney.

As defined by the Texas Legislature, the official service area of Collin College includes all of Collin County and Rockwall County and the portions of Denton County within the cities of Frisco and The Colony and the portions included within the Celina and Prosper school districts.[4]

Campuses
A photo of Plano Campus, also known Spring Creek Campus
Plano Campus

The McKinney Campus (also known as Central Park Campus) opened in 1985.[5] The campus features include a multistory parking garage, library, classrooms, offices, and a student development center. The campus library totals 73,500 square feet (6,830 m2). In January 2016, Collin College added a 125,000-square-foot state-of-the-art Health Sciences Center.[6]

The Plano Campus (also known as Spring Creek Campus) opened in fall of 1988.[7] By number of students, this campus is the largest and hosts the college district's fine arts and athletics[8] programs. The campus features a 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) art gallery,[9][10] theatre center,[11] gymnasium (Cougar Hall), and tennis facilities. In January 2013, the college opened an 88,000-square-foot library building with majestic architecture inspired by Thomas Jefferson's design for the University of Virginia.[7]

The Frisco Campus (also known as Preston Ridge Campus) opened in July 1995. In 2014, thanks to a $2 million gift for scholarships by Roger and Jody Lawler of Frisco,[12] the campus renamed their 70,000-square-foot (6,500 m2) building from "D Building" to "Lawler Hall" in honor of the donation. Collin College's business and high-tech programs are centered at Frisco Campus. The culinary arts program[13] moved there in 2009.

The district administration is located in the Collin Higher Education Center (CHEC) in McKinney. The CHEC hosts – among other things – a number of bachelor's, master's and doctoral programs from five North Texas universities: Texas A&M University-Commerce, Texas Woman's University, the University of Texas at Dallas, Texas Tech University, and the University of North Texas. Offerings vary per university. The center is located at the intersection of the Central Expressway (U.S. Route 75) and Texas State Highway 121.[14]

The Public Safety Training Center (PSTC) in McKinney provides reality-based training for law enforcement and firefighter cadets and active first responders. Training elements include law enforcement and firefighter training areas with simulated retail spaces, office buildings, and living areas for reality-based scenario training, three firearms ranges, specialized gas-fired burn structures, a confined-space rescue simulator, and other training obstacles. The facility, which was built in partnership with the cities of McKinney and Allen, opened in September 2018.[15]

The Technical Campus, located in Allen, opened in the fall of 2020.[16]

The Wylie Campus also opened in the fall of 2020.[17] Designed to support 7,500 students at capacity, the campus's opening allowed for the expansion of the college's veterinary medicine program. The campus was built in cooperation with the city of Wylie, which donated about 44 acres across the street from the city's municipal complex toward the project.

Farmersville Campus opened in March 2021. The first building, a roughly 52,000-square-foot facility, is designed to accommodate 1,250 learners.[18]

Celina Campus opened in the fall of 2021. The first phase of the campus is 96,000 square feet and support up to 2,500 students.[19]

Collin College also educates students at an education center in Rockwall.[20] The following is a list of the college district's current and planned campuses.

Courtyard Center campus
  • Celina Campus[21][22]
  • Collin College Technical Campus (Allen)[23]
  • Collin Higher Education Center (McKinney)[24]
  • Courtyard Center (Plano)[25]
  • Farmersville Campus [26]
  • Frisco Campus (Preston Ridge Campus)[27]
  • McKinney Campus (Central Park Campus)[28]
  • Public Safety Training Center (McKinney)[29]
  • Plano Campus (Spring Creek Campus)[30]
  • Rockwall Center[20]
  • Wylie[22][31]

2017 bond program and current master plan

The residents of Collin County approved a $600 million bond proposition in May 2017 to fund the college district's master plan. Master plan projects funded by the bond included the Technical Campus, the Wylie Campus, the Public Safety Training Center in McKinney, and safety upgrades to existing campuses. Outstanding projects funded by the bond include planned campuses in Celina and Farmersville, an information technology building at the Frisco Campus, welcome centers at the college's existing campuses, and other upgrades to improve student experiences throughout the district.[32]

Coronavirus deaths

The effects of this pandemic have been blown utterly out of proportion across our nation and reported with unfortunate sensationalism and few facts regardless of which news outlet one tunes into. It has become political in a pivotal election year and frankly, it has made our jobs all the more difficult.

— Neil Matkin, President of Collin College[33]

Collin College has been repeatedly criticized for its lack of transparency regarding COVID-19 on campus and risks of in-person classes. College president Matkin overruled faculty concerns about virus protections in June 2020, stating the campus would remain open. In August 2020, he downplayed the virus, stating the national case count is "clearly inflated".

During that Fall 2020 semester, a faculty member, a student and a staff member all died of COVID-19. Iris Meda, a recently retired nurse, had begun teaching nursing assistant classes in August 2020. According to her family, she came in contact with a sick student in October and died in mid-November.[34] The staff were informed of her death as an information item 22 paragraphs deep in an email titled "College Update & Happy Thanksgiving!"[33][35][36][37][38][39][40] A student died of COVID-19 in October 2020, and a food-service employee infection led to the closure of the cafeteria, though faculty only learned about the infections informally. The school's services went virtual after classes ended for the semester on December 14. Services resumed in-person, in January, after the normal holiday break.[33][41][35][36][37][38]

Later, in August 2021, dean of nursing Jane Leach also died from COVID-19.[42]

Free speech controversy

On February 17, 2021, the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) named Collin College to its 10th annual list of the "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2021" list.[43] FIRE cited Collin College president Neil Matkin's public condemnation of a tweet sent by history professor Lora Burnett from her personal account that was critical of then Vice President Mike Pence. FIRE also referenced the senior administration's overturning of recommended contract renewals of two faculty members, Audra Heaslip and Suzanne Jones. Both professors had publicly criticized Collin College's handling of COVID-19,[44] and they were members of the Collin College chapter of the Texas Faculty Association, a non-bargaining union disliked by college administration. Collin College declined to renew Lora Burnett's teaching contract for the following year and later settled a lawsuit over her non-renewal for $70,000 and attorney's fees.[45] Jones also sued the university in September 2021 and the litigation for her case is ongoing.[46]

In January 2022, shortly after settling the lawsuit by Professor Burnett, Collin College fired history professor Michael Phillips following his suggestion that students in his classes consider wearing masks.[47] Phillips had served for 13 years as a professor at the college.[48] Earlier in the academic year, Collin College had disciplined Professor Phillips for a Twitter post that revealed the college's gag rule banning even the suggestion that students wear masks. According to Professor Phillips, in 2017, President Matkin and other members of the administration admonished him and threatened his job following his campaign to press the city of Dallas to remove its Confederate monuments.[44] On March 8, 2022, Phillips, in conjunction with FIRE, sued the college.[49]

Several Collin College employees have claimed that the college requires many employees to sign nondisclosure agreements, an unusual practice in higher education.[50]

On April 24, 2023, the American Association of University Professors issued a report titled "Egregious Violations of Academic Freedom at Collin College." It documents the dismissals of Professors Lora Burnett, Suzanne Jones, and Michael Phillips and concludes that they were " compelled to find that general conditions for academic freedom at Collin College are severely degraded."[51] In a statement, the college replied to the report, maintaining that "that tenure and academic freedom are not unqualified privileges that can be extorted by external groups for their own purposes."[52]

Academics

In addition to associate degrees, the college has bachelor's degrees in cybersecurity and nursing established in 2019; this was the first time Collin College made its own bachelor's degrees available.[53] The college had worked with university partners to offer their bachelor's degrees at its Collin Higher Education Center. In 2021–22, the college conferred 26 bachelor's degrees, all of which were in nursing.

Athletics

Collin College's athletic program offers scholarships in men and women's basketball and tennis. The teams are known as the Cougars and Lady Cougars, respectively. They compete in the North Texas Junior College Athletic Conference in the NJCAA Region 5.[54] The Lady Cougars won NTJCAC conference championships in 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2020.[55]

The competition gym and tennis facilities are located on the Plano (Spring Creek) Campus.

Awards

In 2020, the college applied for and was classified among "community engaged" institutions. Collin College was one of three two-year institutions in the nation and one of 119 U.S. colleges and universities to receive the classification; only 11 institutions in Texas were awarded this distinction in 2015 and 2020 combined.[56] That same year, the college was also named a center of excellence in nursing education by the National League for Nursing.[57] The following year, the college's respiratory care program received the Distinguished Registered Respiratory Therapist Credentialing Success Award from the Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care for the eighth consecutive year.[58] The college was named one of the best higher-education employers in the nation for the second year in a row, according to a survey by The Great Colleges to Work For® program.[59]

Notable faculty
  • Levi Bryant – Continental philosopher, influential figure of the Speculative Realism and Object-Oriented Ontology movements.

References
  1. "Personnel Head Count – Collin College".
  2. "District Statistics – Collin College".
  3. "Collin College marks highest enrollment in 35-year history | Community Impact". September 16, 2019.
  4. Texas Education Code, Sec. 130.175. COLLIN COUNTY COMMUNITY COLLEGE DISTRICT SERVICE AREA.
  5. "Central Park Campus". Collin.edu. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  6. Luna, Nicole (January 20, 2016). "Collin College Opens New Cary A Israel Health Sciences Center". Community Impact. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  7. "Spring Creek Campus Library Design". Collin.edu. June 23, 2015. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  8. "Collin College – Athletics". Collin College Athletics. Collin.edu. Retrieved January 3, 2018.
  9. "Collin College – THE ARTS Gallery". Collin.edu. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  10. "Gallery Listings". TASA. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  11. "Collin Theatre Center". Collin College. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  12. "Record-Setting Gift At Collin College: Frisco Couple Donates $2 Million For Scholarships". www.collin.edu. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
  13. "Institute of Hospitality and Culinary Education". Collin.edu. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  14. "Maps/Visit Us." (Archive) Collin College. Retrieved on July 17, 2013.
  15. Ritter, Cassidy (September 18, 2018). "Collin College opens Public Safety Training Center in McKinney". Community Impact. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  16. Ford, Greg (September 15, 2020). "Collin College celebrates Technical Campus opening". Star Local. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  17. Engbrock, Chad (September 26, 2020). "Collin College holds Open House for Wylie campus today". Wylie News. Retrieved September 28, 2020.
  18. "Collin College celebrates opening of Farmersville Campus". McKinney Courier-Gazette. May 24, 2021. Retrieved February 22, 2022.
  19. "Collin College holds Celina campus ribbon cutting and library dedication". Celina Record. September 20, 2021. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  20. "Rockwall Center – Collin College". www.collin.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  21. "Celina, TX – Official Website". Celina-tx.gov. Archived from the original on July 24, 2015. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
  22. Beattie, Chris (July 2, 2016). "Collin College to build Wylie campus, centers in Celina, Farmersville". Celina Record. Retrieved January 11, 2018.
  23. "Collin College Technical Campus – Collin College". www.collin.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  24. "Collin Higher Education Center – Collin College". www.collin.edu. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  25. "Courtyard". Collin.edu. May 28, 2014. Retrieved July 24, 2015.
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  32. Luna, Nicole (May 7, 2017). "Collin College $600 million bond passes with more than 55 percent of the votes". Community Impact Newspaper. Retrieved July 31, 2019.
  33. Zeeble, Bill (November 11, 2020). "Collin College Doesn't Post A COVID-19 Dashboard. Faculty, Students Ask Why". KERA News. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  34. Zeeble, Bill (August 13, 2021). "Collin College Dean Of Nursing Dies From COVID-19 Complications". KERA News. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  35. Zeeble, Bill (December 9, 2020). "Collin College Ends In-Person Classes Until 2021, Publishes COVID-19 Dashboard". KERA News. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  36. Redden, Elizabeth (August 24, 2020). "College president faces criticism for how he communicated a professor's death from COVID". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  37. Wright, Lawrence (December 28, 2020). "The Plague Year". The New Yorker. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  38. Salcedo, Andrea (November 24, 2020). "A 70-year-old came out of retirement to teach nursing. She died of complications from Covid-19 after a student exposed her". The Washington Post. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  39. Pettit, Emma (November 24, 2020). "'One of Us': A President's Message Stuns Faculty After Their Colleague Dies of Covid-19". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  40. Tompkins, Lucy (December 1, 2020). "Retired only a few months, a nurse felt compelled to help. And then the virus hit her". The New York Times. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  41. Zeeble, Bill (October 29, 2020). "Collin College Student Dies After Contracting COVID-19". KERA News. Retrieved January 7, 2021.
  42. Zeeble, Bill (August 13, 2021). "Collin College Dean Of Nursing Dies From COVID-19 Complications". KERA News. Retrieved January 22, 2023.
  43. FIRE (February 17, 2021). "10 Worst Colleges for Free Speech: 2021". FIRE. Retrieved March 2, 2021.
  44. Vasquez, Michael (April 13, 2021). "'That Man Makes Me Crazy': How one president shattered norms, played down Covid-19, and sent his critics packing". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved April 16, 2021.
  45. Richman, Talia (January 25, 2022). "Former Collin College professor who claimed retaliation over tweets resolves lawsuit with school". Dallas Morning News. Retrieved September 17, 2023.
  46. "USCourts : Case 4:21-cv-00733 Document 1 Filed 09/22/21" (PDF). Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  47. Vasquez, Michael (January 31, 2022). "Days After Settling a Lawsuit, a Texas College Ousts Another Outspoken Professor". The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
  48. Macon, Alex (March 30, 2021). "At Collin College, a Collision Over Free Speech". D Magazine. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  49. "LAWSUIT: A history professor advocated for removing Confederate statues. Then his college fired him". FIRE Newsdesk. Foundation for Individual Rights in Education. March 8, 2022. Retrieved March 8, 2022.
  50. Zeeble, Bill (November 9, 2021). "Amid controversies over COVID-19 and fired professors, some blame Collin College's president". Texas Standard. Retrieved February 1, 2022.
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  52. Jaschik, Scott. "AAUP Condemns Collin College on Academic Freedom". Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved May 9, 2023.
  53. Panicker, Jobin (June 20, 2019). "Collin College to offer four-year bachelor's degree programs". WFAA. Retrieved July 5, 2019.
  54. "NJCAA Region 5". njcaaregion5.com. Retrieved June 12, 2016.
  55. "Wins Propel Basketball Teams into Post-Season". Collin College. February 24, 2020. Retrieved April 2, 2020.
  56. "Collin College Honored with 2020 Community Engagement Classification From Carnegie Foundation". Collin College. February 10, 2020. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  57. "NLN Announces 2020 Centers of Excellence (COE) in Nursing Education". www.nln.org. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
  58. "CoARC – Commission on Accreditation for Respiratory Care – Awards and Scholarships". www.coarc.com. Retrieved March 19, 2021.
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