Howard County Junior College was established in Big Spring in 1945. 148 students began lessons in September 1946, in the hospital wing of the former Big Spring Army Air Force Bombardier School (later Webb Air Force Base).[1] Five years later the school moved to a 100-acre (40 ha) site in southeast Big Spring which came to include an administration-classroom-library building, a practical-arts building, a greenhouse, a music building, dormitories, and a 10,000-seat stadium.[1] The Lamesa campus was established in 1972 and the first class in San Angelo was held the following year.[2] The school's name changed to Howard College by 1974.[2] In August 1980 the school opened the Southwest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf on 57 acres (23 ha) of the former Webb Air Force Base, and it took over a nursing program in San Angelo the following year.[1]
Campus
Hall Center for the Arts at Howard CollegeAnthony Hunt Library at Howard College
The main campus occupies 120 acres (49 ha) in Big Spring, with another 276 acres (112 ha) near Stanton in Martin County for agricultural research, and a 20-acre (8.1 ha) rodeo facility east of town.[1] There are branch campuses in San Angelo, Lamesa, and at the SouthWest College for the Deaf in Big Spring; the college also offers programs at the Big Spring Federal Correctional Institute and the Eden Detention Center.[1]
The college sports teams are nicknamed the Hawks. Howard College participates in Region 5 of the NJCAA, also known as the Western Junior College Athletic Conference, in the following sports: baseball, softball, rodeo, men's and women's basketball, and cheerleading. The basketball and baseball games are broadcast locally on KBYG AM 1400.[5]
After winning in 1991, Howard won the Junior College (JUCO) World Series a second time, in 2009, with a season record of 63–1.
