Message from the Dean

Fall 2008

As we finish up our first year of operation at our beautiful Canyon Country campus, it is a good time to reflect upon where we started and how far we have come in twelve short months.

Planning this campus began many years ago – back in the early 1990s when the state Chancellor’s Office first identified the need for a second campus in the Santa Clarita Valley. Through the work our Canyon Country Campus Site Selection Committee, our Canyon Country Campus Advisory Committee, the College Board of Trustees and our Chancellor/President, along with college faculty and staff, and the voters of the Santa Clarita Valley, our 70-acre campus is completing its first full year of operation. And there is so much more to come!

In this remarkable first year, we finished developing the 35,000 square feet of modular space which will be our home while we construct the permanent campus. We have offered nearly 700 classes since opening, served more than 1200 full time equivalent students, and put the finishing touches on many of the programs and services we designed for the new campus.

As we originally planned, Canyon Country Campus students can take general-education classes or specialized classes in the arts, science and geology. An Early Childhood Education Program, coupled with a Child Development Center laboratory for pre-school-age children, will be completed sometime in fall 2008, at which time we will apply for our state license. Once the license is approved, we can begin accepting children into the Center.

We have moved ahead this year in planning future programs including recreation leadership, landscape maintenance and management, construction trades training including plumbing, electrical, and HVAC programs, as well as alternative energy and energy management. A new “Career Technical Education” complex is being constructed on the campus to house these programs, along with our Auto Technology Program, and we plan to have it ready for classes by Fall 2009. These specialized programs, not available on the Valencia campus, speak to the unique and innovative culture at the Canyon Country Campus.

The Canyon Country Campus provides a great learning venue for concurrently enrolled students from the William S. Hart Union High School District, traditional students who have recently completed high school, re-entry students who have decided to resume their college-level studies, working professionals who need to keep up with the latest technology and community members seeking life-long learning opportunities.

We have brought our award-winning Small Business Development Center (SBDC) to the campus, offering business assistance to local entrepreneurs each Tuesday from 12:30 – 5:30 pm. A Career and Job Fair will be held at the campus on October 8th from 11:00 am – 1:00 pm in our new Amphitheater. As we expand our programs, local businesses are finding the Canyon Country Campus a great resource for small business assistance and connecting with students to fill employment demands on the eastern side of the valley.

Last, this year our Canyon Country Campus Advisory Committee developed a strategic plan for the campus, which includes many exciting new ideas and initiatives over the next several years.

The majestic hillsides above the campus, coupled with beautiful chaparral terrain surrounding the campus, makes the new campus feel worlds apart from the hustle and bustle of Sierra Highway below us. The Canyon Country campus is indeed a special place, where dreams can take root, while future opportunities soar.



Dena P. Maloney, Ed.D.
Founding Dean
 

Dena P. Maloney, Ed.D.
Founding Dean
Canyon Country Campus

'The principle goal of education in the schools should be creating men and women who are capable of doing new things, not simply repeating what other generations have done; men and women who are creative, inventive and discoverers, who can be critical and verify, and not accept, everything they are offered.'

-- Jean Piaget