After 85 years, Tyler Junior College (TJC) has become a comprehensive community college run by people who are truly dedicated and appreciate what it has to offer. In fact, President Dr. L. Michael Metke says that seven of its nine board members are alumni of the school. “They already are outstanding, well known leaders in the community,” he says. “They’re not people using the board as a stepping stone to another elected office. They love the college and want to give back and have said this is the only elected office they would ever run for.”
Located in Tyler, Texas, TJC opened in 1926 as part of the Tyler Public School System. In its early years, TJC had a student body of only 200. That changed in 1945 when local voters approved a measure to create a junior college district that issued $500,000 in bonds for the college.
This allowed TJC to add new facilities and full-time faculty members. Today, TJC’s district includes six independent school districts and a student enrollment of approximately 12,000 people. TJC also enjoys a reputation as a strong higher learning institution, Metke says. He notes that the college often attracts students who ranked among the top-10 graduates of area high schools.
“We’re a great value with solid, good students,” Metke says. “There is not any other two-year college in the country that is like Tyler Junior College where you have a complete package that includes so many national award winning students and programs.”
Working Together
Metke, who joined TJC in 2007, praises the culture the college has nurtured. “The employees here are very invested [in TJC],” he says. “Many of them have been here for more than 40 years and all of them recognize that this is a special place to work, study, learn and grow.
When hiring, TJC looks for similar enthusiasm as well as extensive experience. Because of TJC’s reputation, the college can attract top leaders. “We’re about to have another president emeritus of a neighboring college who will be our interim academic dean,” he says. “[We have] tried to hire people that have expertise and backgrounds I don’t have.”
Metke strives to give his associates autonomy to make important decisions, instead of micromanaging. “When you’re involved in making every decision, large and small, you can’t be effective,” he explains.
“I clear a path for them, support them, and try to establish the vision and direction,” he states. “We work together very well.”
Improving TJC
The TJC campus has undergone extensive renovations during Metke’s tenure. Although he was impressed by the appearance of the college when he first joined TJC, Metke soon found out that there were major systems that had to be replaced. “The infrastructure had begun to fail,” he recalls.
“We were routinely having to dismiss students for power outages and the entire hot and chill water underground system for the HVAC was also breaking down, creating jets of steam and sinkholes,” he explains. “Many times, it would take half a day to get temporary repairs made on these failing systems which wasted money and interrupted classes.”
To fund repairs, TJC implemented a maintenance tax and drew community support. Although the TJC board is authorized by law to raise taxes for critical preservation and repair needs, the board and president communicated openly and often with local taxpayers to explain the needs. TJC’s district is one of the most conservative, anti-tax areas of the country and local support for the college is essential to its future. “Even though we weren’t required to have a bond election, we conducted ourselves as if we were having an election and worked hard to get widespread support,” Metke says.
The board also raised its permanent tax rate to create a College Preservation Fund that will fund future maintenance needs so problems like this will never re-occur. Ultimately, the college spent $28 million on the recently finished renovations of its infrastructure. “TJC has never been better, inside or out,” Metke says.
TJC also plans to start construction on a $51 million nursing and health sciences facility, which it would fund partially through taxes.
“As soon as that is approved, we also will be [developing] a $22 million housing project,” he says. “We have 1,100 students living on campus and long waiting lists. With that new nursing/health science facility, we would need much more housing capacity.”
Metke also has improved security at the college. When he arrived, TJC suffered increasingly from bad behavior that included graffiti, vandalism, thefts and incidents where female students were being harassed. It turned out that most incidents were being caused by non-students who came on campus and blended into the student body without enrolling in classes.
To make TJC a safer place, the administration worked closely with local police on an undercover drug sting. The college also established a task force and accepted ideas from students on how it could improve security. These suggestions included being more discriminating about who was allowed to have rooms in its dorms.
“We would let anyone in,” Metke says. Now, TJC requires students to be full-time and pass a background check. “[We also] give preference to students in study groups,” he adds.
TJC also installed 250 security cameras throughout the campus and hired a former commander of the Houston Police Department. “His specialty is crime prevention through environmental design,” Metke says.
The college’s hard work has paid off, Metke says. “Students and their parents love the new school climate,” he adds. “Now that we’ve created a sense of TJC family, it’s almost impossible to walk the campus without people saying hello to you and opening doors. By eliminating the people that were making others feel unsafe, spontaneous acts of civility have been breaking out all over!”
Metke also notes that the college’s donors are appreciative of the changes. Donations last year to the College’s Foundation were up over $5 million. “Donors know that when they give to our capital campaigns, the facilities will be well cared and will last long into the future,” he says.
