History of the College

51 YEARS OF OPPORTUNITY & INNOVATION The History of College of the Canyons

The first classes at College of the Canyons met in 1969, but our history actually began two years earlier. That’s when citizens of the Santa Clarita Valley decided it was time to have a college to call their own. On Nov. 21, 1967, local voters transformed the idea into reality. They also elected a five-member board of trustees to oversee their new public institution of higher learning. William G. Bonelli, Edward Muhl, Peter F. Huntsinger, Bruce Fortine and Sheila Dyer were chosen from a field of 41 candidates. Taking the helm of California’s newest community college was Dr. Robert Rockwell, who previously served as president of Santa Barbara City College. It took two years for Rockwell to build a team and create a college from the ground up. Ambitious ideas were forged into a workable plan, faculty and staff were hired, curriculum was developed, and preparations were made to open the college before it even had a campus to call its own.

The College Debuts

College of the Canyons debuted with the help of Hart High School, which contributed a modest, nondescript bungalow at its Newhall campus for the first year. That’s where the college held its first classes – around 150 of them – for the 735 students who enrolled in the inaugural year of 1969. The schedule was limited, hampered by the fact classes could not meet until late afternoon, when high school students had left for the day. As that first academic year came to a close, the college held its first and only commencement ceremony at Hart High to honor its first graduates – all 16 of them. Rockwell’s plan accelerated in 1970 with the purchase of 153 acres of prime property along the east side of Interstate 5, south of Valencia Boulevard. Here, in the first summer of the new decade, architects envisioned the future, earthmovers began reshaping the terrain, and an assortment of modular classrooms and offices was assembled to accommodate classes that fall.

Fast-Forward to Today

Having just celebrated the college’s 50th anniversary, the contrast between then and now is striking. College of the Canyons now serves more than 33,000 students per year on two campuses – in Valencia and Canyon Country – and remains one of the fastest-growing community colleges in the nation. The college provides cuttingedge educational and training programs, and it is widely recognized as a model community college for enhancing student access, success and equity. Recent recognition includes: • The prestigious 2021 Bellwether Award for its innovative approach to assessment and course sequence redesign in English and mathematics, which paved the way for groundbreaking legislation that benefited community college students statewide; • A Champion of Higher Education for significantly increasing the number of students earning Associate

Degrees for Transfer in 2018 and 2019; • One of the nation’s Best Two-Year Colleges for Adult

Learners, ranking No. 1 in Los Angeles County and

No. 2 in Southern California in 2019; • One of the top community colleges in the nation for enrolling the largest number of Hispanic students in 2019, 2020 and 2021; • One of America’s Best Colleges for Student Voting in 2020 for inspiring students to vote and participate in community decisions; • Completion rates ranking among the highest in

California, and one of the top transfer rates in Los

Angeles County. The college has also established a reputation for bolstering economic development and offering innovative career technical education programs that put students on the path to success. College of the Canyons owes its success to an equally dynamic and historically supportive community, as well as the vision of college leadership to build the finest and most-innovative community college anywhere.

Exceeding Demands

As the college embarks on its new master plan, much of the focus turns to the Canyon Country campus, where a 55,000-square-foot Science Center is getting ready to hold its first classes. To put the size of this building into perspective, its square footage eclipses the total available space at that campus today. The Science Center will be complemented by the Student Services & Learning Resources Center, a companion building now under construction on the other side of a central outdoor amphitheater. Passage of the $230 million Measure E bond in 2016 is helping the college meet future needs, as well as leverage state resources for facilities at both campuses. The most recent project to be completed was a three-level parking structure that opened at the Valencia campus in 2019. It boasts 1,659 spaces, 53 of them with electric vehicle charging stations. These and future facilities not only address the urgent needs of today, they signify a longstanding commitment by college leadership and the Board of Trustees to create the infrastructure necessary to provide relevant, cuttingedge educational and training programs well into the future.

Leadership Matters

The vast majority of the college’s growth has occurred under the leadership of Chancellor Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook, who was hired to lead the college in 1988. She has transformed the Valencia campus – and created an entirely new one in Canyon Country – to not only meet the community’s demands, but to anticipate the educational

and training programs that will emerge in the future. She immediately embarked on a major update of the educational and facilities master plan, a “roadmap” that guided a seemingly non-stop series of construction projects that dramatically altered the college landscape to meet the needs of soaring enrollment and new educational programs. The college was composed of just eight buildings on a single campus when Dr. Van Hook took the helm. Today, the Valencia campus has been radically reshaped with 18 additional or expanded facilities that encompass nearly 1 million square feet. And, it was her vision that created an entirely new campus in Canyon Country to serve the needs of the eastern Santa Clarita Valley. Her leadership, imagination, tenacity and commitment are responsible for the college adding facilities such as the Santa Clarita Performing Arts Center, the Library and its subsequent expansion, Mentry Hall and its expansion, the Family Studies & Early Childhood Education Center, Pico Canyon Hall, Aliso Hall, Aliso Labs, Hasley Hall, the University Center, East Physical Education Building and adjacent tennis courts, TLC (The Learning Center), Applied Technology Education Center, Canyons Hall, College of the Canyons Institute for Culinary Education, the Valencia campus parking structure, and the soon-toopen Science Center at the Canyon Country campus. These state-of-the-art facilities have allowed the college to vastly expand the breadth and depth of its educational and training programs, as well as numerous services that augment and support them. She was instrumental as well in creating the University Center, home to a collection of public and private universities that offer advanced degree programs at the Valencia campus – eliminating the need for residents to commute long distances to obtain bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees, specialized certificates, and credentials. This expansive facility also accommodates the William S. Hart Union High School District’s awardwinning Academy of the Canyons and the college’s Economic Development Division and its subsidiaries, among others. Because of her vision, passion and resolve in bringing the center to fruition, the Board of Trustees deemed it appropriate to name the building the Dr. Dianne G. Van Hook University Center. Her unique brand of leadership was on display once again during the coronavirus pandemic. She was instrumental in ensuring a smooth transition to remote learning to allow students to continue with their educational programs. Student-focused measures included a laptop-lending program, expanded wi-fi in parking lots, and free lunches prepared by the culinary arts program. Among the many community-wide efforts were COVID-19 drive-through testing and vaccination sites at the Valencia campus, Nursing Program donations of personal protective equipment to Henry Mayo Newhall Hospital, and donations of face shields manufactured by the college’s MakerSpace to frontline health-care workers.

Educational Expansion

The college’s academic and occupational offerings have grown significantly over the years. The college now offers 96 associate degree programs, as well as 146 programs that lead to workforce training certificates. Academic programs are numerous and varied, ranging from animation to welding. Expanding students’ transfer options are 31 associate degree programs that provide guaranteed transfer to the California State University system. Regardless of their chosen major, College of the Canyons students consistently obtain the knowledge and skills they need to launch high-paying careers or graduate prepared to continue their studies at four-year universities.

Access

Increasing opportunities even further is Canyons Promise, which pays college fees for new full-time students for two years. The program, which launched in 2017, allows students to achieve their educational goals by paying their enrollment and student service fees, and providing free computer lab printing, textbooks and instructional supplies. The college also has been a pioneer in adopting Open Educational Resources (OER) and Zero Textbook Costs (ZTC), terms that refer to textbooks and learning resources in the public domain. Students consistently point to the high cost of textbooks as a significant barrier to their educational goals. Most OER and ZTC textbooks, on the other hand, are free. The number of courses using such materials continues to grow.

Athletic Excellence

With an institutional philosophy to educate both the mind and body, the college provides outstanding opportunities with 17 intercollegiate athletic programs that compete in the Western State Conference and Southern California Football Association. The newest athletic program, women’s tennis, launched two years ago. Intercollegiate achievements include three consecutive Western State Conference Supremacy Awards, which recognized the collective performance of College of the Canyons athletic programs from 2013 to 2016. The college is also home to golf coach Gary Peterson, the winningest coach in California Community College Athletic Association history, having led the men’s program to a record nine state championships and the women’s program to four state championships.

Innovative Partnerships

The college has designed and established numerous partnerships in both the public and private sectors that have redefined the traditional role of a community college. Academy of the Canyons was established at the Valencia campus in partnership with the William S. Hart Union High School District in 2000. Based on a middle college high school model, it allows promising high school students to attend high school and college concurrently. The academy has been recognized with a National Blue-Ribbon Award that ranks it in the top 1 percent of high schools nationally. Partnerships have helped private industry become more productive, efficient and competitive while helping fuel the local economy. The College of the Canyons Economic Development Division, which includes the Small Business Development Center, Center for Applied Competitive Technologies and Employee Training Institute, has helped numerous local businesses and employees. The division assisted 1,554 companies, secured $3.1 million in training funding, trained 3,420 individual employees, and