Mt. San Jacinto College’s Past, Present and Future.
SAN JACINTO
MENIFEE
TEMECULA
SAN GORGONIO PASS
1960
1960 - 1967
Residents of the San Jacinto Valley and San Gorgonio Pass decide that they want to form their own college district instead of attending Riverside and San Bernardino college districts. After public meetings and much discussion, an election was scheduled for the four school districts: Beaumont, Banning, San Jacinto and Hemet. The election results in the formation of a local college district.
1962
Residents of the San Jacinto Valley and San Gorgonio Pass elect the first Board of Trustees. The first CEO and first employee are hired. In February 1962,The Hemet News reports a contest to name the new college. A $100 savings bond is offered for the winning entry. (Records of who won the college-naming contest could not be found.) The Banning Daily Record urges college trustees to select a name that represents the entire district area. Names like Manzanita and El Potrero emerge. On July 10, 1962, the board names the college. On July 11, 1962, the Daily Record reports: “Mt. San Jacinto Junior College beat out El Potrero as the name of the new junior college district for the Hemet, San Jacinto, Beaumont and Banning area. Each of the trustees present submitted five choices in the order of preference. Mt. San Jacinto received three first place votes and one fourth. El Potrero drew one first place vote and several seconds.”
1963 - 1964
Mt. San Jacinto College opens with 425 students in rented facilities in the San Gorgonio Pass and the Hemet-San Jacinto area. In 1964, MSJC starts its first intercollegiate sport: Basketball. Danny Ayala, the coach at Beaumont High, is recruited to coach the new MSJC basketball team.The only other sport was soccer, which was not intercollegiate. The MSJC community barbecue is intended to strengthen and build ties in the community. Students and faculty work together to dig a large pit, build a fire, and prepare the barbeque.This event begins a tradition that lasts nearly a decade.
1964 - 1967
In 1964, San Jacinto rancher Carl Quandt donates more than 100 acres for a campus to be built on State Street in San Jacinto. Leaders from the local schools and communities gather to observe the ground breaking ceremonies for the first MSJC campus in San Jacinto. • In 1965, MSJC celebrates its first commencement ceremony for eight graduates. • The San Jacinto Campus opens with only two buildings. • Betty Rich begins the Licensed Vocational Nursing Program. • In 1967, Jerry LaMattery begins the Multimedia Program.
MSJC
MSJC
FIRSTS Claire Broyles
was the first employee hired to the college district. She was the secretary to the President.
Dr. Milo Johnson,
formerly the Superintendent/President at Imperial Valley College, was hired as MSJC’s first Superintendent/President
THE FIRST BOARD OF TRUSTEES:
(left to right) Rogers Cox, Omar Barker, William Watson, Ruth Peters, Rev. O.D. Johnson
MSJC
CLASSES
START The First Faculty
BBQ TRADITION
BEGINS
ATHLETICS
GROW One of the first MSJC buildings in Banning
First Basketball coach Danny Ayala
The BBQ Crew Early MSJC basketball fans
The First Student Government Association
MSJC
MSJC
PLANNING
BUILDS THE
FUTURE
A HISTORICAL MOMENT: Leaders from the schools and communities observe groundbreaking ceremonies for the new campus.
Dr. Mildred Hight
GROUNDBREAKING: The Board of Trustees turn the first shovels of ground.
Betty Rich begins the Licensed Vocational Nursing Program.
CONSTRUCTION
Jerry LaMattery (left) begins the Multimedia Program. (right)
FLOOD OF 1965
Eight students comprise MSJC’s first graduating class.
MSJC
1970 - 1990
MSJC GROWS
1970
Ayala, MSJC’s first basketball coach, leaves in the mid-70s for an assistant coaching position at the University of Nevada. John Chambers enters the coaching post.
1975
Voters in Temecula, Lake Elsinore, Perris and adjacent areas approve joining the Mt. San Jacinto Community College District, increasing the college’s boundaries to the present 1,700 square miles.
1977
Physics instructor Ivan Couch buys a Heathkit, one of the first hobbyist computers, and assembles the first computer used for summer school registration. Soon after, the college invests in a Hewlett-Packard mainframe. Athletics (left to right): John Chambers, Mara Weber, Bob Stangel and Paul Moore.
1988
MSJC incorporates the first computers for students by offering a course in word processing. “The course involved new office equipment that allows written material to be entered into a special typewriter and later modified without retyping the entire contents. Final pages can be produced at speeds of more than 175 words per minute.” From an article in the Hemet News 1988
1990
The MSJC Menifee Valley Campus opens.
John Chambers, far right, becomes MSJC’s Basketball Coach after Danny Ayala leaves in the mid-70s.
Ivan Couch builds the first computer MSJC would use for registration
The Menifee Valley Campus opens in 1990. First computers for students in 1980s.
MSJC
FACULTY THROUGH THE
YEARS
MSJC
2000’s
MSJC TODAY 2004
John Chambers retires as the“winning-est” men’s basketball coach in the California Community College system, putting MSJC on the map in athletics.
2008
The board approves a new college logo.The college holds a grand opening for the new Business and Technology building on the Menifee Valley Campus. Temecula Education Complex opens to better serve students in the Southwest Corridor. Students can prepare for transfer to a 4-year university or pursue career and technical program certificates.
2010-2011
The MSJC San Gorgonio Pass Campus opens.
2011
MSJC’s accreditation is reaffirmed by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges,Western Association of Schools and Colleges. MSJC ranks high during the ACCJC’s visit at several state colleges, receiving eight commendations. MSJC is 1 of only 4 state colleges in 14 to receive accreditation with no sanctions during the accreditation cycle.
2011- 2012
MSJC begins construction of the Social Sciences and Humanities building on the Menifee Valley Campus.The State provided 100 percent funding for the building, protecting dollars that go to instruction for the students. The high-tech building opens to students in Fall 2012.
MSJC
TODAY The San Gorgonio Pass Campus An early 1960s photo, groundbreaking in 2010, and the campus today
Temecula Education Complex I opens in 2008. TEC2 opens 2014
The Menifee Valley Campus gets new buildings: Business and Technology in 2008 and Humanities and Social Sciences in 2012
San Jacinto Campus
MSJC
2020 VISION
Mt. San Jacinto College currently serves about 20,000 students a year district-wide. Its Facilities Master Plan will guide the district as it develops facilities to serve its growing communities into the future. The Facilities Master Plan is based on the Educational Master Plan and considers the future educational needs of students, state funding cycles and incorporates sustainability to preserve the environment and provide for the efficient use of available resources. The Facilities Master Plan, which received a statewide architectural award, projects the needs to accommodate student population growth by the year 2050. It is an “ever-evolving or live” document that can change in response to new trends or circumstances. The accompanying artistic renderings show just some of the buildings planned for each of MSJC’s main sites.
CULTURAL ARTS CENTER SAN JACINTO CAMPUS
MSJC
STUDENT
SERVICES BUILDING MENIFEE VALLEY CAMPUS
MSJC
MATH &
SCIENCE BUILDING SAN JACINTO CAMPUS
MSJC
MATH &
SCIENCE BUILDING
MENIFEE VALLEY CAMPUS
MSJC
MSJC
MSJC THROUGH THE
YEARS
Mission Statement
Mt. San Jacinto College, a California Community College, offers accessible, innovative, comprehensive and quality educational programs and services to diverse, dynamic and growing communities both within and beyond traditional geographic boundaries.We support life-long learning and student success by utilizing proven educational methodologies as determined by collaborative institutional planning and assessment. To meet economic and workforce development needs, MSJC provides students with basic skills, general and career education that lead to transfer, associate degrees and certificates. Our commitment to student learning empowers students with the skills and knowledge needed to effect positive change and enhance the world in which we live. Approved by the Board of Trustees on September 10, 2009 Created by RKR Marketing & Advertising