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GENERAL INFORMATION
EFFECTIVE CATALOG DATE
The effective date of this catalog is the beginning of the 2017 fall semester. A
student must graduate by August 31, 2022, to be eligible for graduation under the
provisions of this catalog.
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 with the addition of the M.L. Risinger LRC building in 2006. In
May of 1983, a new Health Science Center complex was completed in Kaufman for
the purpose of providing various health occupation programs.
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.
MISSION STATEMENT
Trinity Valley Community College is a learning-centered college that provides
quality academic, workforce, college preparatory, student support and community
service programs that prepare and empower students for success and promote and
enhance life-long learning for all communities served.
