INTRODUCTION TO THE COLLEGE
History of the College
Douglas MacArthur State Technical College
On May 2, 1963, Governor George C. Wallace announced that Opp would be the site of a postsecondary technical institution that would serve five South Alabama counties. A local committee chaired by Opp City Schools Superintendent Vernon L. St. John directed plans for the construction of the school one mile north of downtown Opp on a 100 acre campus provided by the City of Opp and the Covington County Board of Revenue. Mr. E. C. Nevin, then principal of Kinston High School, was appointed President.
On November 22, 1965, Douglas MacArthur State Technical College opened its doors, admitting 116 students in twelve departments. The campus consisted of four buildings, the George C. Wallace Administration Building and three shop buildings.
In the next several years, six additional buildings were added to the campus. These were the Gaines Ray Jeffcoat Building, the Vernon L. St. John Building, the Henry R. Donaldson-Bennie Foreman Building, the E. Claude Nevin Building, an electronics building and the Student Center.
Mr. E. Claude Nevin retired in December of 1982, and Dr. Raymond V. Chisum was appointed President in January of 1983. The Raymond V. Chisum Health Sciences Building was added in 1996. After Dr. Chisum’s retire ment in August of 1996, Mr. L. Wayne Bennett was named Interim President and served until the merger with Lurleen B. Wallace Junior College in January of 2003.
Lurleen B. Wallace Junior College
On December 14, 1967, the Alabama State Board of Education authorized the development of a junior college to be located in Andalusia, Alabama. On August 15, 1968, the State Board of Education named the College the Lurleen Burns Wallace State Junior College in honor of the former governor. Dr. William H. McWhorter was appointed the first president. In September of 1969, the College opened in the Bethune School, a temporary location leased from the Covington County Board of Education. In May of 1970, the College moved to its new campus consisting of 112 acres, an administration/classroom building and physical education dressing rooms. The 160-acre Andalusia Campus consists of nine buildings, six lighted tennis courts, a lighted baseball field, a lighted softball field, a two-mile scenic trail, a nine-hole golf course and driving range, and expansive parking. Dr. and Mrs. Solon Dixon of Andalusia, Alabama, through the Solon and Martha Dixon Foundation, have provided more that $3 million through the years for facility development, such as the Solon and Martha Dixon Center for the Performing Arts and the Dixon Conference Center.
On August 31, 1990, Dr. William H. McWhorter retired and Dr. James D. Krudop was named as
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2022-23 College Catalog and Student Handbook
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