Pensacola State College


Pensacola State College, formerly Pensacola Junior College, is a public college in Pensacola, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System.
The main campus, located in Pensacola, was opened in 1948 and was the first institute of higher learning in Pensacola. Pensacola State quickly expanded to include a downtown campus in 1957, a Milton campus in 1971, and a Warrington campus in 1977, with centers in Santa Rosa County and Century. A mini-campus opened on Naval Air Station Pensacola in 1981 but was destroyed during hurricane Ivan in 2004. In July 2010, the college changed its name to Pensacola State College in order to reflect its transition into offering four-year degrees. The current president is Charles E. Meadows. The college is accredited by the Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools.

Academics

Courses

Pensacola State offers more than 120 majors and areas of concentration, especially focusing on career advancement and technical training. The school’s collection of courses includes many that would also be found at other Florida colleges; however, PSC has increasingly been offering courses in cybersecurity, the culinary arts, pre-med, and other more technical and specific course paths.
The college offers associate and bachelor's degrees as well as vocational certifications and an adult high school. In the 2007–08 academic year over 34,000 students enrolled, of which about 11,000 sought associate degrees. As with all Florida state colleges, Pensacola State's associate in arts degree guarantees acceptance to a State University System of Florida institution.
Job placement is 100 percent in most technical areas for Pensacola State students earning certificates, A.S. and A.A.S. degrees.

Parterships and joint events

It works closely with University of West Florida and has a joint campus with the University of Florida in Milton.
Harvard professors held a three-day workshop at the Mary Ekdahl Smart Center for Patient Simulation Training & Research on the Warrington campus. This was the first time Harvard held such a seminar at a community college.

Non-student run media

Pensacola State operates WSRE, the main PBS station in Pensacola. It is complemented by the operation of WUWF, the main NPR station in the area, by the nearby University of West Florida.

Student publications

''The Corsair''

The Corsair is the print and online student newspaper of Pensacola State College. The paper is circulated across campuses of Pensacola State College and is published monthly during the primary school year and once during the summer term. The paper primarily focuses on special events or occurrences involving its constituent college, in addition to student profiles, arts reports, editorials, and Pensacola State College sports reports.

History and operations

The paper has been was first published February 2, 1949; its first issue was titled, You Name It, then changing the name of its second issue to the Beachcomber. This name continued to be used until the 1980s, when it was renamed The Corsair.
The paper is written completely by students of the college, directed by a faculty advisor and assisted by a layout editor. As of the August 2019 issue, The Corsair has 11 staff writers, with additional members reportedly signing up for the fall of 2019 term. The paper is currently managed by editor-in-chief Daniel Cheer, guided by faculty advisor Paula Ingram. The periodical is commonly staffed by members of the college's journalism program, as a portion of their overall academic plan.

Associations

The Corsair, along with the Pensacola State College literary magazine, The Kilgore Review, are members of the statewide organizations, the Florida College System Publications Association and the Florida College Activities Association. These organizations aid to link together various student newspapers and other extracurricular activity programs throughout the Florida College System.

Awards and honors

The paper and its staff have won several local, statewide, and national awards for excellence in journalism and design. This includes two national awards regarding "excellence and outstanding achievement" in the operations of the paper's website, eCorsair; in addition, this website has just come out of reconstruction. The Corsair consistently rates among the top student newspapers among Florida colleges by number of awards earned through the Florida College Activities Association. Through this organization, The Corsair has earned 14 and 13 awards in 2018 and 2017 respectively, as well as several more in previous years.
Previous administrations of the paper had received attention in regards to the defense of free speech and a free press, due to the paper reporting on a schism between certain faculty and the then college president, despite certain warnings from faculty at the time. In addition, The Corsair has had photographs included in The New York Times, has had writings and editorials quoted or cited by published books, and has had former writers and editors write for nationwide papers, such as USA Today.

Athletics

The school's athletic teams compete in the Panhandle Conference of the Florida State College Activities Association, a body of the National Junior College Athletic Association Region 8.
Pensacola State College participates in many different collegiate sports, including basketball, softball, baseball, and cross country running.

Notable alumni