Lamar State College Port Arthur 2016-17 Catalog | Page 8

Lamar State College Port Arthur
2016-2017 Catalog

General Information
Accreditation

Lamar State College Port Arthur is accredited by the
Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award
degrees at the associate level. Contact the
Commission on Colleges at 1866 Southern Lane,
Decatur, Georgia 30033-4097 or call [phone],
at http://www.sacs.org for questions about the
accreditation of Lamar State College Port Arthur.

The College is approved by the Texas Education
Agency
for
training
veterans
under
all
classifications. The College is also a member of or
approved by the American Bar Association, the
Commission on Accreditation of Allied Health
Education Programs (CAAHEP), the Texas
Department of Aging and Disability Services, the
Texas
Certification
Board
of
Addiction
Professionals, the Texas Department of Licensing
and Regulation, the Texas Board of Nursing, the
Accreditation Review Council on Education in
Surgical Technology and Surgical Assisting
(ARC/STSA), the U.S. Department of Education and
the Veterans Administration.

Government

A board of nine regents, appointed by the Governor
and confirmed by the State Senate for terms of six
years, governs the Texas State University System.
The Board of Regents delegates the direction of
affairs to the president, campus administrative
officers, and faculty.

History

John W. Gates of New York City, one of the founders
of Texaco, established Port Arthur Business College
in 1909, to train people for the petrochemical
industry, then in its infancy. The College became
Port Arthur Collegiate Institute in 1911, when the
school was presented to the Board of Education of
the Methodist Episcopal Church North, a forerunner
of the present United Methodist Temple.
The church operated the growing campus until 1918,
when it was turned over to a non-profit Texas
corporation, which had no capital stock and was
overseen by a self-perpetuating board of trustees.
The name of the school was changed back to Port
Arthur Business College and finally, in 1932, to Port
Arthur College.

University regent, presented a resolution to merge
the College into Lamar University. The 21 trustees
agreed that a merger would be in the best interests
of both institutions and their constituencies.

John Gates
The 64th Texas Legislature authorized the merger
and appropriated $600,000 for creation of the Lamar
University Center at Port Arthur. On Aug. 21, 1975,
the trustees presented the deed for Port Arthur
College to the Lamar University Board of Regents.
Classes began on the Port Arthur campus on Aug.
28, 1975.
In the years following the merger, enrollment
increased from 151 students to a peak of more than
3,000 and the curriculum expanded to more than 50
areas of study.
In 1977, the 65th Legislature approved House Bill
1134 renaming the school Lamar University-Port
Arthur and dropping the “Extension Center”
designation.
In 1983, the 68th Legislature passed three bills that
directly affected the College:
1.

Senate Bill 409 deleted the restrictive language
of HB 130 (passed in 1971 by the 63rd
Legislature), making Lamar University-Port
Arthur eligible, on an equal basis with other
state institutions, for state funds to be used to
buy land and/or buildings.

2.

Senate Bill 410 provided Lamar University
regents with the authority to levy a fixed
student fee and the authority to bond against
said fee for construction of a Student Center on
the Port Arthur campus. This legislation was
validated by a majority vote of the Lamar

Another milestone in the school’s history was
reached July 31, 1974, when W. Sam Monroe,
President of Port Arthur College and a Lamar

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