SOWELA Technical Community College

Type	Publiccommunity college
Established	1938
Chancellor	Neil Aspinwall
Students	4,000[1]
Location	Lake Charles , Louisiana , United States 30°13′2.60″N93°9′46.19″W / 30.2173889°N 93.1628306°W /30.2173889; -93.1628306
Mascot	Flying Tigers[2]
Website	www.sowela.edu

SOWELA Technical Community College is apubliccommunity college inLake Charles, Louisiana, with an additional instruction site inJennings andOakdale. The school's mascot is the Flying Tigers, named forWorld War II General Clair Chennault's 1st American Volunteer Group and their P-40 aircraft adorned with a shark-faced motif. SOWELA's Lake Charles campus was developed on property formerly used asChennault Air Force Base.

Its service area includesAllen,Beauregard,Calcasieu,Cameron, andJefferson Davis parishes.^[3]

• In 1938, the Louisiana Legislature establishes the Southwest Louisiana Trade School.
• In 1952, the name was changed to Sowela Vocational Technical School, recognizing it as a technical school rather than a trade institute.
• In 1962, it was renamed as SOWELA (Southwest Louisiana) Technical Institute.
• In 1971, the institute received accreditation from the Commission on Occupational Education (COE) of theSouthern Association of Colleges and Schools.
• In January 1980, the institute moved to its present location nearChennault International Airport on the east side ofLake Charles, Louisiana.
• In March 1990, the institute was renamed SOWELA Regional Technical Institute.
• On July 27, 1995, the institute was renamed to Louisiana Technical College – SOWELA Campus.
• In 2003, theLouisiana Community and Technical College System (LCTCS) Board of Supervisors changed the name and status of the institute – renaming it to SOWELA Technical Community College and giving it the status of a technical community college.

Following damage byHurricane Rita in 2005, the Lake Charles campus was repaired and added four new buildings – the Phillips 66 Process Technology building, Arts and Humanities building, Nursing and Allied Health building, and Regional Training Center. An $8 million Student Services building is to be completed on the Lake Charles campus by mid-2017. Replacing the Morgan Smith Instructional Site in Jennings, a $10 million facility will be built in 2017 adjacent to the Jennings High School in Jefferson Davis Parish.

The College offersassociate degrees,technical diplomas, or certificates in 23 different programs. In the summer of 2014, SOWELA introduced the 16-week Fast Track Process Technology (PTEC) program, which provides a compressed pathway to anAssociate of Applied Science inProcess Technology to qualified students who already hold an Associate or higher-level degree.

• E. Holman Jones, former member of theLouisiana House of Representatives fromOakdale inAllen Parish

• Official website

• Community colleges in Louisiana
• Universities and colleges accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Buildings and structures in Lake Charles, Louisiana
• Education in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana
• Educational institutions accredited by the Council on Occupational Education
• Two-year colleges in the United States
• Universities and colleges established in 1938
• 1938 establishments in Louisiana

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