Florida Gateway College (FGC), formerly Lake City Community College, is a state college in Lake City, Florida, U.S. It is part of the Florida College System. It is one of the institutions in the system designated a "state college", allowing it to offer four-year bachelor's degrees, and on January 9, 2011, FGC started accepting applications for its new RN to Bachelor of Science in Nursing, a program that is offered to current RNs with an Associate in Science degree in Nursing from a regional accredited college.
The institution was established in 1947 as the Columbia Forestry School, and became a junior college in 1961. It adopted its current name in 2008. FGC is located adjacent to Lake City Gateway Airport, six miles (10Â km) east of Lake City, and offers academic programs in liberal arts and sciences, occupational training and personal enrichment. The school serves 7,000 students each year from its five-county district, which includes Baker, Columbia, Dixie, Gilchrist and Union counties.
History
Florida Gateway College Nursing Program -
At the conclusion of World War II, the Lake City Naval Air Station was decommissioned and the Columbia Forestry School (CFS) was established in 1947, utilizing military structures that remained. At the time, Lake City claimed to be the "Forestry Capitol of the World". The first few years had extremely low enrollment and meager funding, causing the school's president to request help from the Florida Legislature. Instead of providing additional funding, the politicians directed the University of Florida to take over management of the school. Columbia Forestry School became the University of Florida Forest Ranger School in 1950.
Throughout the turbulent 1960s, the school had fewer than 400 students. In 1961, the school was invited to become one of 28 two-year educational facilities in the state's master plan for education as Lake City Junior College. Increased funding allowed wooden buildings to be replaced with brick structures after a fire burned several in 1963. However, a few of the WWII era buildings remained, though mostly unused, until the middle 1970s, when the last one was finally demolished. The "Junior" was dropped and the word, "Community" was placed in the college's name in 1970 to emphasize that the school offered occupational and cultural enrichment education for area residents.
Beginning in 2008, the Florida legislature began granting name changes to any of the 28 public community colleges that requested it. By removing community from their name, or substituting state, the college would be eligible to add bachelor's degree programs on a limited basis. On November 10, 2009 the LCCC Board of Trustees voted 8-1 to change the name of Lake City Community College to Florida Gateway College, effective July 1, 2010. This was the fifth name change in the college's history.
Campus
FGC occupies 132 acres (53Â ha) of natural pinelands, with over twenty-five buildings landscaped with native azalea bushes and crepe myrtle trees. Florida Leader Magazine designated LCCC as the most beautiful college campus in Florida. FGC operates 3 satellite locations (Macclenny, Cross City & Bell) in the surrounding counties included in the college's service area. At these "storefront centers", local residents can attend live classes, take distance learning courses or talk to advisors via the internet and pick up brochures, catalogs, schedules, and forms.
As of May 2, 2008 Granger Hall closed its doors as the 84-student residence hall at Lake City Community College. It was one of only two community colleges to offer on-campus housing in Florida but was used predominately for students on athletic scholarship.
Organization and administration
FGC is part of the Florida College System and its president is Charles W. Hall. As of June 2011 its endowment was $9.67 million.
Academic profile
A record 883 students graduated from Lake City Community College in the 2002-03 school year; however, enrollment since then has declined. In 2006, enrollment was 2,736, of which 1,084 were full-time students. The school has an open admissions policy for all programs except nursing, golf course operations and allied health programs.
In 2006, the most popular fields of study were Corrections, Liberal Arts & Sciences, Nursing and Emergency Medical Technology.
Liberal arts and sciences
The majority of students follow the track to earn an Associate of Arts degree for transfer to an upper division school in pursuit of a Bachelor's degree. Students are encouraged to select one of 44 majors with elective courses that will be accepted at their next educational institution.
Cosmetology
Cosmetology is a one-year program (three semesters) which prepares students to pass the state of Florida examination to become a licensed cosmetologist. The program began in the mid-1960s, and enrolled a full class for more than twenty years, before struggling during the 1990s. The program was opened to students working full-time when a night program was started for the Summer term in 2003.
Forest ranger
Forest Technology, which includes training in timber cruising & surveying, wood procurement and logging operations, was offered at the college for over 60 years. The first participants received a certificate upon completion of the 12-month program, but graduates in 1970 invested two years to receive an Associate of Science degree in Forest Technology. At the time, LCCC was one of only two, 2-year forestry programs east of the Mississippi river.
Timber Harvesting Technician changed from a certificate program to an AS degree in Forest Engineering Technology in 1974, but was merged into Forest management in 1989. Over half of the instruction was provided in the field, where hands-on experience was emphasized. Over the years, technology reduced the number of jobs available in forestry, and by the mid-1990s, there were fewer than 30 students, so the program was scaled back and moved to the Golf Landscape Operations department. Ten years later, enrollment had fallen to just over 20, which did not justify two instructors, so one left and the program was changed back to a one-year certificate in Forest Operations. For several years, class size was in the teens, and the program completion rate was under 50%. Following graduation of the class in May, 2010, the Forestry program was discontinued due to lack of interest.
Golf course
The Associate of Science degree in Golf Course Operations and Landscape Technology programs started in 1967 and throughout the 1970s & 1980s it was one of the most popular vocational programs. The three-year curriculum is the only accredited program of its kind in the U.S. and includes two paid summer internships between challenging academic semesters. The program is recognized as one of the finest and graduates have become Golf course superintendents at notable facilities throughout the United States.
Nursing
The nursing program at FGC began in 1964 and is now part of the Allied Health Department which includes a dozen other health career programs. Nursing comprises four programs:
- Licensed Practical Nurse (LPN), which runs 11 months
- Registered Nurse (RN), which is a two-year course of study; some students transfer to an upper division school to complete their bachelor's degree in Nursing.
- LPN to RN bridge, which can be completed in 14 months as a full-time student or 12 months in the fast track evening/weekend program.
- Patient Care Assistant, which requires 11 months to complete
To meet the shortage of RNs, a bridge program was created for existing LPNs. However, most working LPNs could not afford to take a year off and return to school. In 2005, the Lake City Medical Center donated $130,000 to fund a new 12-month fast track bridge program. Classes were held two nights a week with clinical experience on Saturdays.
In 2003, the nursing program at FGC was limited to 24 students. In June, 2008 that number had grown to 60. In January 2013 the number of students accepted into the Traditional RN Program was increased to 100.
Corrections
The program for certification of Correctional officers began in the early-1970s as a cooperative effort between the college and the Florida Department of Corrections and was offered in both day and evening schedules. The college's five-county district includes over a dozen state incarceration facilities including major prisons, work camps and forestry camps. LCCC was the first community college in the state to offer an associate degree that bridged the gap between corrections and law enforcement. On February 1, 2008 Dr. Chuck Hall, President of LCCC announced that the correctional officer training program at LCCC would terminate at the end of February, 2008. The Department of Corrections began training staff internally, and the college lost between 450-650 students annually.
Student life
Collegiate Athletics
Athletics return to Florida Gateway College in 2017. Womens Volleyball begins their first season since 1982 as well as Mens Golf. Expected for 2018 is the return of Mens Basketball and Womens Cross Country.
There are intramurals in Basketball, Flag Football, Ping Pong, Spades Tournament, Soccer and Dodgeball. The college had a competitive intercollegiate athletic history for over 45 years but the program was disbanded in 2008.
The men's basketball program was state runners-up in 1968 and state champions in 1970, the year they placed third in the National Junior College tournament in Hutchinson, Kansas. Joe B. Fields was the coach for 22 years, but the sport was discontinued in 1995.
The women's softball team has eight National Junior College Athletic Association titles:
- Women's Slow Pitch Softball: 1983, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1990, 1992, 1993
- Women's Division I Fast Pitch Softball: 2001
On March 12, 2008 the college announced that at the end of the 2007-2008 school year, the Lake City Community College intercollegiate athletic program would be disbanded. The proposal was made by college president Charles Hall and endorsed by the college board of trustees. The reasons given were financial, including expected reductions in state funding, lower enrollment, program cutbacks after the Florida Department of Corrections withdrew its training courses, athletic dormitory and food service costs and the prospect of making similar cuts in the next school year. The school joined Edison Community College in Fort Myers, Valencia Community College in Orlando and Florida Keys Community College, near Key West as the only four of Florida's 28 community colleges without an intercollegiate sports program.
Notable people
Alumnus status is open to all graduates of Lake City Community College, all former students of LCCC who regularly matriculated and left the College in good standing.
References
External links
- Official website