Contact: Alex Lyda
214-378-1819; alyda@dcccd.edu
For immediate release — March 3, 2020
(DALLAS) — One of Texas’ largest community college systems will soon be known by a new name. As part of its all-encompassing “One College” plan, the Dallas County Community College District Board of Trustees approved a resolution on Tuesday to become “Dallas College” upon final approval by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) in June.
Once its single accreditation application is approved by SACSCOC, what has been called the Dallas County Community College District, or “D-Triple-C-D,” for decades will officially recede into the district’s 54-year history with the merging of its seven separate colleges this year.
“Fifty-four years of being a district is a long time, and we know it will take time and effort to fully implement the Dallas College name. Today’s resolution helps officially establish the new name in the community,” said Board Chair Diana Flores. “We are excited to embark on a change that helps us better fulfill our mission to transform lives and communities through higher education.”
Several factors — all of which relate directly to students — are driving the name change.
In fall 2020, as a unified college, Dallas College will launch its School of Education and the Early Childhood Institute, which will offer a first-of-its-kind, four-year baccalaureate degree program in early childhood education and teaching. Pending SACSCOC approval, the new bachelor’s degree will represent the first one to be offered by the district. As a new four-year degree-granting institution, a community college designation that connotes two-year degrees only no longer encapsulates the scope of the unified college.
Another important reason emerged when district officials learned that more than 1,300 students were unable to receive degrees because they had not acquired enough credits at one college — but had credits from several colleges that could not effectively be combined for a degree. With the seven DCCCD colleges operating as separate institutions, current accreditation rules required a student to earn at least 25% of their credits from one institution. As Dallas College going forward, however, students will graduate from one unified institution rather than by accumulating credits at several schools that may not have led to a degree.
In order to be accredited as a single institution, however, the district needs to functionally operate as a unified entity under a new name. The board took formal action to move to single accreditation in late August of last year. Since then, the district has been determining what organizational and structural changes are required for this transition, which also allows more students to graduate on time and at reduced cost, while shortening the time it takes them to earn a degree or certificate. Becoming Dallas College allows students to take multiple classes at more than one campus.
“Over the past six months, we reached out to many in the community and across the district for recommendations that were so appreciated and helpful,” Dr. Joe May, DCCCD’s chancellor, said. “Through the process, Dallas College edged out others on the list, and we took our recommendations to the board of trustees, who have today resolved to agree on a name that serves and welcomes all.”
After sifting through hundreds of suggestions from a pool that included names similar to the existing district name, to more creative monikers, the board of trustees landed on Dallas College as the new name that will build on the equity of the previous name and the global awareness of the Dallas area itself. The new Dallas College will encompass Brookhaven, Cedar Valley, Eastfield, El Centro, Mountain View, North Lake and Richland, which will be referred to as campuses pending accreditation.
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