College of the Mainland

College of the Mainland (COM) is a community college located in Texas City, Texas, United States. Its name comes from its location on the "mainland" portion of Galveston County, Texas (that portion north of Galveston Island). The school's sport teams are named the Fighting Ducks.

History

College of the Mainland was launched in late 1966 when the voters of Dickinson, Hitchcock, La Marque, Santa Fe, and Texas City approved a building-bond issue of $2,850,000, having been largely an idea since 1935. Herbert F. Stallworth, who previously had helped establish two colleges, was selected to head the new college in April 1967, and Fred A. Taylor was appointed dean of instruction. Classes were begun in temporary quarters in 1967. On March 21, 1970, the administration building, learning-resources center, math and science building, and technical-vocational building were completed, and the College of the Mainland moved to its new campus on Palmer Highway. On May 16, 1970, residents of the college district approved $4,750,000 for a second phase of construction. The campus was expanded to include a fine arts building, a physical education complex, and a student center. The math-science and technical-vocational buildings were improved. In 1984 a third addition to the technical-vocational building was constructed. In 1991, two industrial education buildings were completed to house auto mechanics and diesel technology programs. In 1999, a new public service careers building opened to provide classrooms and labs for EMS, fire and police academies as well as housing the college’s pharmacy technician program.

Mainland

Mainland is a contiguous landmass that is larger than and often politically, economically and/or demographically more significant than politically associated islands or exclaves, especially outlying oceanic islands situated outside the continental shelf.

In geography, "mainland" can denote the continental (i.e. non-insular) part of any polity or to the main island within an island nation. In geopolitics, "mainland" is sometimes used interchangeably with terms like Metropole as an antonym to overseas territories. In the sense of "heartland", mainland is the opposite of periphery.

The term is used on multiple levels. From a Tasmanian perspective, continental Australia is the mainland, while to residents of Flinders Island, the main island of Tasmania is also "the mainland".

Prominent uses of the term "Mainland"

College

College (Latin: collegium) is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. Usage of the word college varies in English-speaking nations. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate university, or an institution offering vocational education.

In the United States and Italy, "college" formally refers to a constituent part of a university, but generally "college" and "university" are used interchangeably, whereas in Oceania and South Asia, "college" may refer to a secondary or high school, a college of further education, a training institution that awards trade qualifications, or a constituent part of a university (See this comparison of British and American English educational terminology for further information).

Etymology

In ancient Rome a collegium was a club or society, a group of people living together under a common set of rules (con- = "together" + leg- = "law" or lego = "I choose" or "I read").

Overview

Higher education

Fire Technology

Fire Technology is a peer-reviewed journal publishing scientific research dealing with the full range of actual, possible, and potential fire hazards facing humans and the environment. It publishes original contributions, both theoretical and empirical, that contribute to the solution of problems in fire safety and related fields. It is published by Springer in conjunction with the National Fire Protection Association and the Society of Fire Protection Engineers.

Topics include material testing, fire modelling, detection and suppression, performance-based building design, building code, emergency evacuation and human behaviour, fire investigation, wildfire and fire risk analysis.

Annually, three awards are presented to the best papers appearing in Fire Technology. The Harry C. Bigglestone Award for excellence in communication of fire protection concepts is given by the Fire Protection Research Foundation to the best overall paper. The Jack Bono Award for engineering communications is given by The Society of Fire Protection Engineers’ Educational and Scientific Foundation to the paper that has most contributed to the advancement of professional fire protection engineering. And the Tibor Z. Harmathy Award for the best paper led by a student given by Springer.