Los Angeles Valley College
 | |
| Established | 1949 |
|---|---|
| President | Dr. Erika Endrijonas |
| Students | 18,308[1] |
| Address |
5800 Fulton Avenue, 5800 Fulton Avenue Valley Glen, Los Angeles, California 91401 34°10′33″N 118°25′16″W / 34.17577°N 118.421097°WCoordinates: 34°10′33″N 118°25′16″W / 34.17577°N 118.421097°W |
| Campus | Urban, 105 acres (42 ha) |
| Mascot | Monarchs |
| Website | www.lavc.edu |
Los Angeles Valley College (LAVC) is a community college located in the Valley Glen district of Los Angeles, California in the east-central San Fernando Valley. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Community College District.[2]
The community college is adjacent to Grant High School. Often called "Valley College" or simply "Valley" by those who frequent the campus, it opened its doors to the public on September 12, 1949, at which time the campus was located on the site of Van Nuys High School.[3] The college moved to its current location in 1951, a 105-acre (42 ha) site bounded by Fulton Avenue on the west, Ethel Avenue/Coldwater Canyon Boulevard on the east, Burbank Boulevard on the south, and Oxnard Street on the north.
Los Angeles Valley College is one of nine colleges in the Los Angeles Community College District (LACCD) and is a fully accredited by the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges, which is part of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, a nationally recognized accrediting agency.[2]
The sports teams are known as the Monarchs, and the school colors are green and yellow.
History
Los Angeles Valley College was founded on September 12, 1949 to meet the tremendous growth of the San Fernando Valley during the 1940s and early 1950s. The college was officially chartered by the Los Angeles Board of Education in June 1949, and was located on the campus of Van Nuys High School. In 1951 Valley College moved to its permanent 105-acre (42 ha) site on Fulton Avenue in Valley Glen.[4]
In 1954, members of the faculty founded the Athenaeum which began to offer community programs that brought the Los Angeles Philharmonic to the campus. The campus also had internationally known speakers including Eleanor Roosevelt, Clement Attlee, Margaret Mead, and Louis Leakey.[4]
In 1969, the Los Angeles Community College District was formed and its nine colleges were separated from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Today, Valley College continues to meet the educational needs of the community by offering transfer education, career technical education, and lifelong learning. Valley College’s current enrollment is approximately 20,000 students with 199 full-time faculty and 401 part-time instructors.
Degrees and programs
More than 140 associate degree programs and certificate programs are offered at Valley College.[2]
Tau Alpha Epsilon Honors society
Los Angeles Valley College has its own honors society called Tau Alpha Epsilon (TAE).[5] TAE was founded in 1949, the same year that Los Angeles Valley College was established. In 1960, due to the popularity of junior colleges, a two-year version of the four year honors society Phi Beta Kappa was created called Phi Theta Kappa (PTK). Because of this, PTK merged with TAE at Los Angeles Valley College. The purpose of TAE is to act as the honors society for Los Angeles Valley College, encourage academic excellence, and work with fellow clubs and organizations to better the campus and community.[6]
Transportation
Los Angeles Valley College has its own stop on the Metro Orange Line, the Valley College Metro station. It is located at the intersection of Burbank Boulevard and Fulton Avenue. The nearest campus buildings are less than a 5-minute walk from the station.
Notable alumni
- Sean Astin - Actor, best known for playing Sam in the Lord of the Rings films.[7]
- Samuel Marcus - Actor, known for The People's Couch and Teens React.
- Ed Begley, Jr. - Actor and environmentalist.
- Adam Carolla - recruited to play football, dropped out[8][9]
- Bobby Castillo - Former Major League Baseball Pitcher and 1981 World Series Champion with the Los Angeles Dodgers.
- José Cortéz - Former American football placekicker.
- Bryan Cranston - Actor, best known for his roles as Hal on Malcolm in the Middle, and Walter White on the award winning series Breaking Bad, for which he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series three consecutive times.[10]
- Peter R.J. Deyell - Director, producer, actor, and screenwriter.
- Micky Dolenz - Lead singer of The Monkees.[7]
- Briana Evigan - Actress, best known for playing Andie West in Step Up 2: The Streets and Step Up All In.[11]
- David Gerrold, Writer
- Bryan Henderson - American football player
- Charlie Kendall - American football player
- Yael Markovich, Israeli/American Model and Beauty Queen/Pageant Titleholder (Miss Israel)
- Troy Miller - American film producer, director and screenwriter.[12]
- Kimberly Paige - Actress. Graduated summa cum laude, class of 1998, as the youngest student to enroll (at age 12) and the youngest to graduate (at age 15) from the college.[13]
- Michael Richards - Best known for playing "Kramer" on the hit show Seinfeld, Michael Richards took theatre classes at LAVC. He was also in many of Valley's theatre productions.[14]
- Richard Rossi - Filmmaker and musician best known for his biopics on lives of Aimee Semple McPherson and Roberto Clemente. Richard earned Cinema Arts and Theater Arts degrees at Valley and now teaches a guitar class at LAVC. [15][16]
- Tom Selleck - Actor, best known for playing Thomas Magnum on the popular show Magnum, P.I.. Selleck played on the basketball team while at Valley.
- Phil Snyder - Voice actor, best known as the voice of Jiminy Cricket. Professor of Digital Media at University of Houston.
- Kevin Spacey - Actor. Won Best Supporting Actor for his work in The Usual Suspects and went on to win Best Actor for his portrayal of Lester Burnham in American Beauty.[7]
See also
References
- ↑ "California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office - Data Mart".
- 1 2 3 http://www.lavc.edu/campusinformation.html Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "History of LAVC". Los Angeles Valley College. Retrieved 2007-01-21.
- 1 2 http://www.lavc.edu/lavchistory.html Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "TAE - LAVC Honor Society: Los Angeles Valley College". www.lavc.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
- ↑ "History: Los Angeles Valley College". www.lavc.edu. Retrieved 2015-10-24.
- 1 2 3 http://www.lavcfoundation.org/famous_alumni.php Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Features - Adam Carolla". Los Angeles magazine. p. 4. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ↑ "You're not going to believe Adam Carolla's middle name - Page 2: Humor, columns, commentary, lists and analysis from ESPN.com's Page 2". ESPN. Retrieved 13 March 2011.
- ↑ http://www.infoplease.com/biography/var/bryancranston.html Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0263759/ Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://www.lavc.edu/mediaarts/students/alumni.html Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://articles.latimes.com/1998/may/21/local/me-52096 Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ http://204.3.136.66/council/journal/sep00/marsellos.html Missing or empty
|title=(help) - ↑ "Valley Village singer responds to Ferguson with YouTube protest song". Los Angeles Daily News. November 28, 2014. Retrieved May 30, 2016.
- ↑ Rivera, Patricia (October 27, 2013). "Monarch pays tribute to a true diamond king". The Valley Star. Los Angeles Valley College. Retrieved May 30, 2016.