The Victoria College, 1925-2000: A Tradition of Excellence

overflow crowd, folding chairs were set up on
the stage, the first and only time for a Lyceum
program. Buckley’s polysyllabic vocabulary and
speaking style entertained and delighted the
mostly conservative throng by skillfully orating
upon the key issues of the day and taking verbal
swipes at President Jimmy Carter. 32
In the spring of 1980, Dr. S. Joe McCord,
library director, received a letter from C. A.
LaBarre, superintendent of documents for the
United States government, stating that the
library had been given an excellent rating
for its depository collection. LaBarre commended
him for “achieving standards of excellence
in all depository library groups,” which
placed the library “among a select vanguard of
pace-setters serving as creative models for
depository documents.” 33
During the 1980 fall semester, the Victoria
College Library was ranked first among Texas
community colleges in the number of books per
student and faculty. Statistically, there were 78.66
books per student while the number of volumes
per faculty member was over 1,000. This notable
accomplishment was made possible by placing
volumes of Victoria College and the University of
Houston Victoria Center into a joint collection. 34
Dr. Richard C. Allen, Jr., Victoria physician,
was the commencement speaker for the first
graduates of the nursing attendants program, a
course of study designed to provide assistance
to registered nurses and licensed vocational
nurses. The ceremony for the twenty-nine graduates
was held on November 13, 1980, in the
Fine Arts Auditorium. The highlight of the
evening’s event was the presentation of a bronze
plaque by the students to Rose Pustka, RN,
director of the program. Inscribed on the gift
was a statement of appreciation dedicated to
Pustka and the names of the graduating class. 35
Under the able advisorship of Jerry Zavesky,
business instructor, a team of Victoria College
students won the Business Case Competition at
Corpus Christi State University at the beginning
of the 1981 spring semester. The contest was
conducted by the senior institution to provide
community college students an opportunity to
refine their business skills. The local college
aggregate was composed of Norma Martinez,
Reuben Salone, Cindy Kaiser, Kenneth Cykola,
and Lou Talbott. 36
In April 1981, the board adopted a resolu-
✯
Did someone say flag football
was nonphysical?
156 ✦ THE VICTORIA COLLEGE, 1925-2000