About Lamar State College - Orange

Lamar State College–Orange is a public community moot in Orange, Texas. It currently serves nearly 2,300 students and is a advocate of the Texas State University System.

Opened in the slip of 1969 as an extension middle of Lamar University, LSC-O first held classes in a empty elementary school (Tilley Elementary) located upon the site of the former naval base in Orange. That structure burned in 1971, prompting community leaders to lift funds for the buy of a new capacity that could accommodate students. The fund-raising raise a fuss produced $250,000 that allowed for the buy of a building located upon Front Street in downtown Orange. That similar year the Texas legislature approved the operation of a two-year educational middle in Orange and appropriated $125,000 to maintain the operation of the center (known as Lamar University at Orange).

Dr. Joe Ben Welch played a key role in the early deposit and enhancement of the college. He served as director, dean, provost, and president during his nineteen-year tenure at the institution. The initial class offerings focused on academic courses that would transfer and combine toward a baccalaureate degree. Welch, however, saw the need to pay for career-oriented programs that would prepare students for sharp entry into the workforce and began to ensue programs such as vocational nursing and welding. This amalgamation of academic and career-oriented programs defines the campus mission to this day. The campus attracted more students and enrollment grew to more than 800 students by 1979.

During the 1980s, the moot gained its own identity and became independent from Lamar University. The Texas legislature created the Lamar University System in 1983 and named Lamar University at Orange as a component of that system. In 1985, Texas voters certified a constitutional amendment establishing a dedicated fund for capital expenditures. Lamar—Orange was included among the institutions eligible to draw on this fund. The campus applied to the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools for independent accreditation in 1987 and traditional that accreditation in 1989. The Texas legislature affirmed the college’s degree granting authority in 1991.

Following Dr. Welch’s departure, the Lamar University System Board of Regents named Steve Maradian as president. He served until 1994 and was well-off in bringing external agree funding to the campus. In 1994, the Board agreed J. Michael Shahan to succeed Maradian.

Under Shahan’s leadership, the campus has grown to higher than 2,000 students and made significant improvements to the campus infrastructure. The Ron E. Lewis Library was completed in 2001, the first supplementary construction in the college’s history. A new nursing and classroom building was bonus in 2013. Major improvements were made in parking and landscaping. The campus suffered $10 million in damages due to Hurricane Ike in 2008, but was dexterous to resume classes in three weeks. The Texas legislature abolished the Lamar University System in 1995 and moved Lamar—Orange into the Texas State University System. In 1999, the legislature renamed the institution as Lamar State College—Orange.

The campus has grown to 12 buildings across three city blocks. The school’s Registered Nursing and Pharmacy Technology programs have both been ranked among the summit in the permit of Texas. LSCO recently further a Maritime program that is certified through the U.S. Coast Guard and a Fishing Club that will compete bearing in mind other theoretical fishing teams.

In 2018, Dr. Thomas A. Johnson was selected to replace Dr. Shahan, who retired after 24 years as president.

Orange is a city and the county chair of Orange County, Texas, United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 18,595. It is the easternmost city in Texas, located upon the Sabine River at the connect with Louisiana, and is 113 miles (182 km) from Houston. Orange is portion of the Beaumont−Port Arthur Metropolitan Statistical Area. Founded in 1836, it is a deep-water harbor to the Gulf of Mexico.