The Dallas County Community College District will now be unified as Dallas College. The district has announced that The Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (or SACSCOC) Board of Trustees application has been formally approved. District Chancellor Joe May made the announcement in an email June 12.

According to May, the district was also awarded a level change, which will allow it to offer four-year degrees such as a Bachelor of Applied Science in Early Childhood Education & Teaching. This will be the first four-year degree program offered by Dallas College.

May wrote that when the district started addressing barriers students were facing, officials realized having the seven colleges operate with different processes and administrative systems was a problem. “While this structure served us well for more than 50 years, it was beginning to hinder our students from completing their degrees, especially those enrolled in more than one of our colleges,” May wrote.

According to May, the district will officially launch the branding campaign for Dallas College July 1. “You’ll hear more about this soon, but we still have work to do to unify many of our disparate systems and processes. This will be necessary as we anticipate a SACSCOC site visit in the fall to verify that the district is operating in a way consistent with our approved application,” May wrote.

May ended the email by thanking employees for helping lay the foundation for Dallas College. He wrote: “Today is a seminal moment in the history of our district as we embark on this journey, officially as Dallas College. As employees, this is also a reminder of what we can do when we are committed to overcoming our challenges.”