Pima Community College
 

The Tucson site I chose for my Tucson Wiki project was Pima Community College which has been and will continue to be an important establishment that helps further the local Tucson community. Being an open admission, low cost, and a high-quality education has been the goal of Pima Community College for generations; allowing members of the Tucson community to further themselves through a higher education and improved skills. Approved for creation in 1966, Pima Community College’s first steps to becoming an educational institution were put in place by the citizens of Pima County, Arizona; soon after construction began in the foothills of the eastern mountains surrounding the city of Tucson.

With classes starting in Fall of 1969 at a remote location and campus opening in 1970, Pima Community College kicked off its long-standing positive relationship with the local Tucson community. This original campus is now only 1 of 6 other active campus for Pima Community College, not including the many other various site and locations that Pima Community College uses for learning and other activities. These 6 campuses that make up Pima Community College are West Campus (the original campus), Downtown Campus, Desert Vista Campus, East Campus, and Northwest Campus, each being spread out to cover the entire Pima County area surrounding Tucson. Only 4 years after the first classes at the West Campus, the county decided to open the new Downtown campus in 1974 on Speedway Boulevard, it is the closest campus to downtown and the University of Arizona. A year later, the county decided to upgrade their educational outreach to expose more Tucson area citizens to higher education, they created the Community Campus which allowed classes to be taught at over 100 more places across the county and in modern times this outreach has grown more with the introduction of online teaching. This is a great program that has helped generations of Pima County citizens reach their higher education goals while being able to continue their lives. Another year later the East Education Center was created which soon turned into the East Campus, adding another campus that can service even more people. It was not till about 10 years later when Pima Community College decided to expand again this time building the Education Center South, soon to relocate and become the Desert Vista Campus. Again a long wait until 2003 when the Northwest campus was established which completed the campus building for Pima Community College, so far because if there is anything we know about Pima County it is that the citizens want the best higher educational opportunities available to everybody in the county. Pima Community College has been a historical beneficial program for the greater Tucson area for the past 55 years by creating opportunities for work or education, allowing people to change their lives giving them second chances at a higher education, and improving the overall quality of the community in the city of Tucson. In a recent article written by David Wichner, he states “Now, Pima is on the verge of a building boom, as it looks to make more space for high-demand programs like aviation maintenance and more than double its pipeline of trained tech workers” (Wichner 2020) a quote that shows how Pima Community College has been working hard to increase the education and skill level of everyone in Pima County. Pima Community College has been investing more time and money into aviation and technology programs which are booming markets in the world right now, with employers looking for graduates with technical and STEM backgrounds increasingly. Pima Community College not only helps get the Tucson area residents a full education and ready for the workforce, but it is also a major stepping stone into the University of Arizona which is conveniently located blocks from the Pima Community College Downtown Campus.

Many programs and classes offered at Pima Community College directly tie into classes at the university of Arizona with many classes even being eligible for credit at the University if transferred from Pima Community College. Pima Community College is made up of a collection of colleges so the total number of students enrolled at Pima Community College is actually comparable to the University of Arizona, with around 28,000 students a year at Pima Community College and 35,000 students a year at the University of Arizona. Of course this does not include the full range of reach that both schools have, with plenty of technical students, online students, teachers employed, general school workers, and so many more citizens of Pima County that have had their lives improved by the created of the Pima Community College Campuses. Pima Community College has a rich diversity of students and staff allowing for the prosperity of many cultures to thrive within the Tucson area, as well as a close split between genders showing the equal opportunities provided for all in the Pima County community by the college. Many of these statistics mentions as well as more interesting facts can be found at Pima Community Colleges website ( https://www.pima.edu/about-pima/quick-facts/index ). Pima Community College has proved throughout the years that it cares about the citizens of the Tucson community bey adapting to changing work force, technological advancements in education, new demand for workers across various fields, and most recently they have adapted to the new Corona Virus pandemic and the new age of teaching with the worldwide quarantine. Since the pandemic hit, Pima Community College’s efforts to reskill low wage and unskilled workers has been drastically changed with even worse conditions now for those it was targeted to help. Receiving various grants from private donors, subsidies from the government, and more the University is still training and reskilling workers so they can achieve long term careers in high economic industries such as aviation and technology; even with the devastating Corona Virus sweeping across the world, Pima Community College still puts max effort into helping those who are struggling the most during these trying times. In the picture below is an active Pima Community College student who is being trained in the same STEM field as mentioned actively preparing to add quality work to the Tucson workforce, showing Pima Community College’s advanced technical training facilities as well. 

Overall Pima Community College has and will continue to be a staple of education and higher learning in the Tucson are, providing highly skilled workers to Pima County and offer people the opportunity at a better life.