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DIVISION CHAIRPERSONS
Brad Elmore, M.S. .............................................................................................................Social Sciences
Kelly Driskell, Ed.D. ..................................................................................................................... Fine Arts
Guy Furr, M.S. ............................................................................................................................Kinesiology
Nancy Long M.A. .........................................................................................Science and Mathematics
David Loper, M.B.Ed. ..................................................................Business and Computer Science
Bill Monds, M.A. .................................................................................................................Language Arts
Russell Self, M.S. ............................................................................................. Developmental Studies
Ron Walker, M.S. ............................................................................................. Career and Technology
GENERAL INFORMATION
HISTORY
Henderson County Junior College was founded by a group of Athens civic leaders
headed by J. P. Pickens, Orval Pirtle, and public school administrators in late 1945
and early 1946. The creation of Henderson County Junior College was formally
approved by voters in the election of May 4, 1946. The first registration was
conducted in temporary facilities at Athens High School on June 3, 1946, and three
days later, classes began there. The Board of Trustees provided Henderson County
Junior College with its own facilities at the present location of the Athens campus on
June 24, 1946. The college moved to its new campus for the beginning of the fall
semester, 1946.
Henderson County Junior College began its development into a multi-campus
institution with the initiation of an off-campus instructional program at the Texas
Department of Corrections, Coffield Unit, in the spring of 1969. Course offerings
were subsequently expanded to the following correctional units: Beto I, Powledge
Unit and the Michael Unit. The campus in Palestine was established in 1972 and
moved to its present facility three miles north of Palestine in 1975. The Terrell
campus was established in 1973 to serve the northern portion of what had become
an enlarged Henderson County Junior College District. The present campus opened
in the fall of 1986. In May of 1983, a new Health Science Center complex was
completed in Kaufman for the purpose of providing various health occupation
programs. The M.L. Risinger LRC building was added to the campus in 2006.
As a result of the continued regional expansion of the college, the Board of Trustees
authorized and approved a name change from Henderson County Junior College to
Trinity Valley Community College in September 1986.
Trinity Valley Community College has a proud heritage of service to the people
within the region and is currently engaged in continuing growth and development
toward realization of its full potential in higher education.
