History of Southeast Arkansas College

Southeast Arkansas College opened after Act 1244 of the 78th General Assembly of the State of Arkansas, which was signed into law by the Governor on April 17, 1991.

The act re-designated and redefined the mission of eleven (11) existing postsecondary vocational-technical schools located throughout the State to technical colleges. Similarly, state authority for these institutions was transferred from the Arkansas Board of Vocational-Technical Education to the Arkansas Board of Higher Education. The latter serves as the state coordinating agency for all public universities, community colleges, and technical colleges in the State of Arkansas.

The predecessor of Southeast Arkansas College was Pines Vocational-Technical School, which began offering postsecondary vocational-technical programs as Arkansas Vocational-Technical School on September 21, 1959. With the enactment of Act 1244, on July 1, 1991, all land, buildings, equipment, and personnel associated with Pines Vocational-Technical School was transferred to Pines Technical College. In October of 1991, the Governor appointed the Charter members of the Pines Technical College Board of Trustees. The College's first president was appointed by the Board of Trustees effective December 1, 1992. To better reflect the College's service area, it changed its name from Pines Technical College to Southeast Arkansas Technical College on July 1, 1996. The word "Technical" was removed from the College's name on July 8, 1998.