Breaking
Boundaries
Connecting TJC students to high-paying jobs at local, state and national surveying companies for 66 years
By Rebecca Sanders
During the 1950s, veterans were returning home to East Texas after completing their military duty in the Korean War. The oil and gas industries were booming, and companies urgently needed educated employees to fill their workforce. It was during this time of growth and opportunity that executives of Humble Oil (now Exxon Mobil) approached the leadership of Tyler Junior College to discuss forming a program to teach surveying. Schedules were arranged so that students could work in addition to going to college. Freshmen took classes Monday and Wednesday, and sophomores on Tuesday and Thursday, leaving one day for lab classes and two days for work. More than 66 years later, the surveying and mapping program at TJC continues to train surveyors to work in various roles across the globe. Professor and Department Chair Willace Johnson acknowledged the foresight of the early instructors. “Classes have always been on the block system. Back in the ‘50s, they had the vision; they understood the importance of connecting the industry with the education. “Students are encouraged to work,” Johnson continued. “Through our advisory committee and the local industry, we are really connected. Typically, if a student wants to work, there will be an opportunity for them to work locally. Best outcomes are when students work. The theories they learn in the classroom, they can see happening on the job.” Johnson, as well as Professor Patti Williams, credits much of the program’s success to the connections they maintain with local surveyors. Williams, who began teaching surveying and mapping at TJC in 1985, started having pizza lunches at the beginning of each semester so that surveyors and crew chiefs could meet the students. Today, the tradition continues, bringing surveyors from all over the state to seek out prospective employees while enjoying pizza and soda with the students.
Willace Johnson and Patti Williams 10
Local surveyors recognize the quality of the TJC students and are committed to helping them succeed. Survey Education Foundation of Texas (SEFT) is an organization formed more than 30 years ago by local employers to support
Our students read more boundary law than any law school student in the state of Texas. Patti Williams
