St Petersburg College

St. Petersburg College is a part of the Florida College System and is designated as a "state college" since it offers more Bachelor's degrees than the traditional community colleges. It is located in South Florida, Pinellas County in the greater Tampa Bay area. The area includes several South Florida counties and the Tampa-St.Petersburg-Clearwater metropolitan zones.

During the 1920s, area residents began to realize the need for higher education to provide job skills training for people with a modest income. It was an era when only those who could afford to go and stay in other cities could get more training than a high school education.

Local business leaders and politicians backed the opening of the college in September of 1927. The first classes took place in an unused wing of St. Petersburg High School which was a new building at that time. An enrollment of 102 students was taught by a faculty of 14 instructors. The first graduating class was in 1929 for 48 students, roughly half of which received teaching certificates to teach in the state of Florida. They only were required to have two-year degrees because the need for certified teachers was so urgent at that time.

The college later moved into its own facility in downtown St. Petersburg overlooking Mirror Lake where it remains today. The college became fully accredited in 1931. Today, eleven campuses and centers comprise St.Petersburg College. Four are located in St. Petersburg proper and seven more serve Seminole, Pinellas Park, Clearwater, Largo and Tarpon Springs. Most SPC campuses tend to specialize in one to two fields rather than offer a large curriculum of courses. For example, the Seminole campus is geared toward technology and Pinellas Park campus operates the Caruth Health Education Center for specialized health care.

The Seminole campus also houses the University Partnership Center which offers 60 undergraduate degree and 39 graduate degree programs from different accredited institutions including the following:

- Barry University

- Francis Payne Bolton School of Nursing

- Cleveland State University

- Eckerd College

- Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

- Florida Gulf Coast University

- Florida Institute of Technology

- Florida International University

- Florida State University

- Indiana University

- Saint Leo University

- University of Central Florida

- University of South Florida

- University of Florida

The following facilities from SPC recently received Leadership and Energy in Environmental Design(LEED)Gold Certification: the St. Petersburg/Gibbs Campus Student Service and Natural Science buildings and the Clearwater Campus Mathematics and College of Education Building.

Notable alumni from SPC include astronauts Samuel Durrance and Nicole Stott, Bob Carrol, creator of the I Love Lucy show and musician Jim Morrison of the Doors.