50th Anniversary

The Community's College for 50 Years

August 26, 2019

This year marks College of the Canyons' 50th anniversary of serving the Santa Clarita Valley.

The college enrolled 735 students when it offered classes for the first time in September 1969 at Hart High School. Students could only attend afternoons and evenings following the regular school day at Hart.

Those humble beginnings gave little indication of what College of the Canyons would grow into.

Today, 50 years later, we serve more than 32,000 students annually at campuses in Valencia and Canyon Country, as well as online. We offer 201 degrees and certificates, with more than 30 bachelor's, master's and doctoral degrees available in the University Center from four-year universities. Our Performing Arts Center draws world-class entertainers while also welcoming college and community performers.

With more than 1,600 full- and part-time employees and a $126 million annual general fund budget, we are not only one of the largest employers in the Santa Clarita Valley, but also a significant driver of economic activity for our community.

What a difference five decades makes!

Credit is due to the dedicated and talented faculty, staff, administrators, and board of trustees who have worked to build the college over the years. And, at the same time, we are particularly appreciative of the community's support, without which there would be no college.

After all, we wouldn't be here if it weren't for the residents who voted in 1967 to establish a community college district and ensure that higher education was available in the Santa Clarita Valley.

That appreciation for the opportunities created by education has inspired the community to consistently support the college during the past five decades. In 1970, voters approved a $4 million bond measure by 75 percent, far exceeding the two-thirds majority needed. Residents said "yes" again three years later, with 80 percent of the electorate passing an $8 million bond.

That investment has continued even recently, with local residents supporting three college bond measures in 15 years - Measure C in 2001, Measure M in 2006 and Measure E in 2016. Collectively, the bonds enabled us to access state construction funding, build the University Center, acquire a site and build the Canyon Country campus, open the College of the Canyons Institute for Culinary Education, and begin modernization of the Valencia Campus, where many buildings are more than 40 years old.

That support from the community has enabled us to make a significant impact into meeting the needs of the community and shaping the Santa Clarita Valley into a vibrant and dynamic community in which we are lucky to live, work and play.

We are truly the community's college, as we have helped nearly 250,000 students start here and go anywhere in our five decades of service. Teachers, business owners, nurses, filmmakers, doctors, actors, law enforcement officers, lawyers, musicians, journalists, political leaders, and professionals in every field imaginable began first at College of the Canyons and established a foundation that enabled them to achieve their current success.

That sense of potential and possibility inspires us to continue enhancing and growing in our ability to serve students. Over the last 50 years, College of the Canyons has remained at the forefront of change. We have built a reputation for innovation and finding new ways to support the success of our students.

Whether it's launching the Canyons Promise program to provide two years of tuition-free education to new full-time students, or leading the statewide adoption of Zero Textbook Costs (ZTC), faculty-authored learning materials released under an intellectual property license that allows for sharing, which saves students $4 million annually in textbook costs, or reducing the number of remedial courses students are required to take, we look forward to continuing to be challenged and supported by our community, and building on our history of success.

We are ready to make the most of the opportunities the future brings, and with a shared commitment by our employees to constantly improve, we will dream, risk, create, and persist in ways that not only benefit our students, but also make our community proud to call College of the Canyons their community college.

Abraham Lincoln is known for saying, "The best way to predict the future is to create it." We have done that for 50 years at College of the Canyons, and that philosophy will guide our efforts as we move forward. The future is not fixed. We can shape it to match our vision, and I look forward to working with the community that supports us to create an amazing future for the next 50 years at College of the Canyons.