By Karen Gavis/editor-in-chief

This year’s graduates may be the first in 14 years to receive diplomas embellished by the college seal.

Since changing its name in 1999, Tarrant County College has not had an official TCC seal. Board members approved a new design March 7, and it is anticipated to be stamped firmly upon this year’s diplomas, Chancellor Erma Johnson Hadley said.

“We have not redone the seal since we were Tarrant County Junior College,” she said. “So we haven’t been using one.”

The reason for the seal hiatus was it just had not been addressed, vice chancellor of communication Reginald Gates said. However, the new look is part of TCC’s current brand-building campaign, and the timing for creating the replacement was perfect, Gates said.

“This is just another good opportunity for us to have TCC out there in the marketplace,” he said during the board presentation.

Graphic services director Arturo Martinez masterminded the design project and said various design concepts were submitted from each campus. While both the old and new versions are embossed with 1965 as the college’s date of establishment, the latest is minus the capital J and an illumination symbol which gave way to a simple star iconography.

Martinez said the main element of focus is the acronym that gives an illusion of depth.

“The overlapping kind of held the letters together and unified it as one individual piece,” he said.

Since approved, the design will now be federally trademarked, and according to documents submitted to the board, the cost for registration will be about $1,600.

“The seal is reserved for official and legal college documentation,” Martinez said.