Mission College is a community college located in Santa Clara, California, in Silicon Valley, and is part of the West Valleyâ€"Mission Community College District. The land the college is on was bought between 1966 and 1967. Mission College opened for it first year from 1979-1980 with "3,500 students, 8 administrators, and 73 instructors". Mission College's course offerings are broad-based and include computer technology, hospitality management, health occupations, and fire prevention, as well as a large number of transfer degrees.
History
Mission College Virtual Tour -
The 12 acres of land that was today's Mission College was bought in Santa Clara in between 1966 and 1967. Later, by 1970, 164 acres of land in total was bought and acquired. The first piece of the Mission College Interim Campus construction plan was completed during 1979, which is also the start of the 1979-80 academic year, which enrolled about 3,500 students, 8 administrators, and 73 instructors.Â
The Mission College Interim Campus was renamed West Valley-Mission Community College district in September 1985. By that time, Mission College has prided itself for having a large diversity of academic learning approaches. The campus' architecture was also designed to increase interaction among its students and faculty, which results in a more effective learning environment.
During Super Bowl 50 Mission College hosted rock group Heart.
In recent years the college has hosted a number of speakers, including Pulitzer Prize winning author Sonia Nazario, Civil Rights activist Cornel West, Tuskegee Airman Les Williams, and former Santa Clara Assistant District Attorney Rolanda Pierre Dixon.
The college's art department also hosts exhibits at its Vargas Gallery in the Gillmor Center. The Mission College Symphony is celebrating its 10th season in 2016-17.
In May 2014 the Gillmor Center opened, named after former Santa Clara mayor Gary Gillmor. The building houses 50 percent of the college's class room and is a LEED Gold Building. Gillmor was the City's first elected mayor and helped facilitate the land sale that eventually became Mission College.
The Hospitality Management program runs lunch service on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Formerly called the Owl Cove, it is now called the Mission Bistro. The restaurant was renovated between 2009 and 2012.
In its parking lot it hosts 2,640 high-efficiency SunPower solar panels, saving the college $9 million over the next 25 years.
In January 2011 the school opened its new Child Development Center preschool.
A new main building is under construction in 2017 and will be completed and open in Spring 2018.
Organization and administration
Mission College is part of Silicon Valley's West Valleyâ€"Mission Community College District, which also administers West Valley College in nearby Saratoga, California. It is part of the California Community Colleges System. The district serves the cities of Campbell, Los Gatos, Morgan Hill, Monte Sereno, Santa Clara, and San Jose. The district's headquarters are on the campus of West Valley College.
Campus
The college originally was focused on a single large structure where most of the classes took place. In 2014, the Gillmor Family Center opened, with classrooms and labs on three floors. The library, cafeteria, and bookstore are in nearby buildings. A separate building houses the science departments. The Hospitality Management building includes the "Mission Bistro", which serves lunch on Tuesdays and Thursdays during the Fall and Spring semesters.
The campus is immediately north of the Mercado shopping center and west of facilities of EMC and McAfee. The Campus is also located relatively close to Levi Station and Great America.
Transportation
Mission College is reached from the California's Great America exit of U.S. Route 101. There are shuttles that are reachable with walks of a few blocks that connect to the Old Ironsides station of the Santa Clara VTA Light-rail, the Great America station of the Altamont Corridor Express, and the Lawrence station of Caltrain. VTA bus lines 57 and 60 stop in the college's front loop. While the new main building is under construction, VTA bus lines 57 and 60 stop in a section in the college's parking lot.
Student demographics
Ethnicity of student enrollment (Spring 2017):
- African-American 3.7%
- American Indian/Alaskan Native 0.2%
- Asian 37.7%
- Filipino 9.6%
- Hispanic 27.2%
- Multi-Ethnicity3.7%
- Pacific-Islander 0.4%
- Unknown/Non-Respondent 1.1%
- White Non-Hispanic 16.6%
Gender (Spring 2017): The majority of students at Mission College are women (55%)
Age Group (Spring 2017):
- 19 or less 17.9%
- 20-24 31.3%
- 25-29 17.1%
- 30-34 10.1%
- 35-39 7.3%
- 40-49 8.5%
- 50+ 7.8%
- Unknown 0.0%
Administrative Departments
There are many educational departments at mission college including Biology, Business, Chemistry, English, History, Humanities, Psychology and much more.
Clubs
Mission College has a variety of clubs: Alpha Gamma Sigma, Associated Student Government, Fire Tech Student Association, The Florets, Future Accountants of America, Kinesiology Club, MC Dance Company, MC Health Occupations Association, Mission Inter-Connect, Muslim Student Association, Puente Club, Umoja Community Club, Veterans with Associates.
Student Services
Mission college also provides various student services including Counseling, Admissions and Records, Assessment Center, Career Center, Tutoring Center, STEM program, DSPS, CalWORKS program, EOPS, etc.
Offered Degrees
There are various types of degrees offered by Mission College including, Accounting, Art, Biological Sciences, Business, Child Development, Communication Studies, Computer Applications, Computer Information Systems, Computer Information Technology, Counseling, Economics, Engineering, English, History, Hospitality Management, Mathematics, Psychology, etc.
Sports
Mission College has men's and women's tennis, women's basketball, softball, women's badminton, baseball. It began a new website in February 2017 at missionsaints.com.
Notable alumni
- Gary Matthews, Jr. â€" MLB of Anaheim Angels
- Joseph Hernandez â€" YouTube food critic "JoeysWorldTour"
- Matt Stonie â€" YouTuber and competitive eater ranked number two in Major League Eating
See also
- West Valley College
References
External links
- Mission College official website
- West Valleyâ€"Mission Community College District website