Victor Valley College

Victor Valley College (VVC)

Motto	Educating Generations, Building Communites
Type	Public, community college
Established	1961
Superintendent/ President	Christopher O'Hearn
Students	12,547 (2012)
Address	18422 Bear Valley Road, Victorville, CA 92395-5850 USA , Victorville , California , USA
Campus	253 acres (102 ha)
Colors	Maroon and gold
Nickname	VVC
Affiliations	California State University, San Bernardino, Azusa Pacific University, University of La Verne
Mascot	Rams
Website	www.vvc.edu www.facebook.com/victorvalleycollege
[www.facebook.com/victorvalleycollege]

Victor Valley College is a community college in the southeast corner of Victorville, California, United States, part of the 112-campus California Community College System. The Victor Valley Community College district includes Victorville, Hesperia, Apple Valley, Phelan and Adelanto.

History

The college was created by a vote of the public in 1960 and the first classes were held in 1961 at Victor Valley High School in an unused building. The 253-acre (102 ha) campus started construction in 1963 and was opened to students in 1965.

During the 1990s and 2000s, the campus went through a number of improvements as the resident population of the High Desert increased, most notably an Adaptive Physical Education Building, Advanced Technology Building, Gymnasium, Library, an expanded Performing Arts Center, Planetarium, and the Student Activities Center.

On February 14, 2012, Victor Valley Community College District opened its first satellite campus in Apple Valley called the Regional Public Safety Training Center just northwest of the Apple Valley County Airport (nicknamed the Eastside Center in the Five-Year Plan.) The new center contains 46,000 sq. ft. of classrooms, conference rooms, laboratories, and lecture halls. Directly outside the center, a prop area called "CERT City" (named after County of San Bernardino Community Emergency Response Team) has large vehicles, a hazard tower and disaster areas for simulated exercises. Construction on the second satellite campus, the "Westside" Workforce Development Center in West Hesperia, continues into the 2013-2014 school year, when it is estimated to be ready for use.

Academic and vocational programs

The college provides nearly 40 major courses of study, with the most popular being Liberal Arts, Registered Nursing and Business Management. Other majors include Agriculture and Natural Resources, Fire Science, Welding, Music, Animation, Automotive Repair, Construction Technology, and Criminal Justice.

As a junior college, VVC issues Associates degrees. Offices are present on-site from universities in partnership with VVC to allow distance education coursework in a handful of majors that provide students with Bachelor's degrees. Victor Valley College has developed an online class offering that allows select major courses of study to be taken entirely on the Internet.

Geography

Location

Victor Valley College lies on the southern edge of the Mojave Desert. The college sits directly to the south of Spring Valley Lake (a planned unincorporated community in San Bernardino County). It is located at the most southeastern point in the City of Victorville. Directly south of the campus is Hesperia and east of the campus past the Mojave River is the town of Apple Valley. The San Bernardino and Los Angeles mountain ranges lie approximately 15 miles to the south, southeast, and southwest of the college.

Campus property

Victor Valley College features are split into Upper and Lower campuses by a steep hill halfway through the school's property. The Upper Campus on the west is limited on the west by Spring Valley Lake Parkway, built around a man-made lake surrounded by campus buildings on all sides. The Lower Campus on the eastern side is bordered by the Mojave River and the Mojave Fish Hatchery which is run by the State of California. The north of the campus property adjacent to Spring Valley Lake offers additional expansion room, which is somewhat limited by hilly terrain and natural debris flow. Bear Valley Road physically limits Victor Valley College on the south, being a major highway as well as the city limit of Hesperia.

Population

The current student population averages 12,000 full-time enrolled students. A full time staff of approximately 600 classified, management, and instructional employees are on duty, which includes approximately 140 full-time instructors. The campus is the only community college in the Victor Valley region; the district boundaries are set east of Antelope Valley, south of Barstow and west of Yucca Valley.

Plans in 2007 called for funding and facility improvements to handle up to 30,000 students by 2017. A general obligation bond, Measure JJ was approved by the residents of the Victor Valley in November 2008, allowing $2 billion in tax revenues to forgive past debts and to continue expansion of the campus.

Future expansion/construction projects

These construction projects are documented in the District's Five-Year Plan and are ongoing (estimated completion academic years listed below).

• Music Building Modernization - 2013/14
• Science/Health Building - 2014/15
• Expand/Refurbish Certain Vocational B - 2014/15
• Student Services One-Stop Center 2014/15
• Practice Fields/Track - 2014/15
• Academic commons Building Renovation - 2015/16
• Old Nursing Building #32 Modernization - 2016/17
• Liberal Arts Modernization - 2017/18
• Visual/Performing Arts Lab Building - 2018/19
• Central Plant - Phase II - 2018/19
• West Side Center - Phase I - 2018/19
• West Side Center - Phase II - 2018/19
• Campus Wide Parking & Traffic Improvement - 2018/19

Transportation

Victor Valley Transit Authority operates two public-access bus stops on campus, one of them acting as a transfer point to connect to a routes in the Victor Valley region. Bicycle loaders are common on these buses, and bicycle racks are provided throughout the campus.

The closest freeway access to Victor Valley College is on Interstate 15 to the West approximately seven miles away on Bear Valley Road.

Notable alumni

• Earl W. Bascom, inventor, actor, rodeo cowboy, Hall of Fame inductee, international artist and sculptor.
• John W. Henry, commodities broker and principal owner of the Boston Red Sox.
• Jamel Richardson, player in the Canadian Football League.

External links

• Official website

www.facebook.com/victorvalleycollege