The college is adjacent to
Grant High School in the neighborhood of
Valley Glen. 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 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.[7]
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 Eustace St. James, Eleanor Roosevelt, Clement Attlee, Margaret Mead, and Louis Leakey.[7]
In 1969, the Los Angeles Community College District was formed and its nine colleges were separated from the Los Angeles Unified School District.
In December 2016, many of the college's electronic files were maliciously
encrypted, disrupting voicemail, email, and computer files. A ransom note demanded $28,000 in
Bitcoin in exchange for a decryption key. The
Los Angeles Community College District paid the amount.[8]
In 2016, Los Angeles Community College District approved the construction of the Valley Academic and Cultural Center building to meet campus needs.[9] The project was originally scheduled to be completed and opened in 2018 but the completion date has been pushed back twice, first to 2020 and then to 2022. Although the project was originally approved with at $78.5 million budget, the cost has increased to over $100 million.[10]
Campus security incidents
In January 2014, a man was fatally shot in the parking lot of Los Angeles Valley College due to a drug-deal gone bad. Two men were later arrested in connection.[11]
In 2014 and 2016, Los Angeles Valley College was locked down and evacuated several times due to reports of active shooters. In February 2014, a former student was detained in a "swatting" incident where another person called in a fake threat that the student was planning to shoot the school. She was released after several hours when it was determined to be a hoax.[12] In June 2014, Los Angeles Valley College received a threatening phone-call from a man claiming he was coming to the school with guns. The campus was lockdown however the threat failed to materialize and Sheriff's opened an investigation.[13] On March 30, 2016, Los Angeles Valley College was evacuated due to a suspicious package on campus and a bomb threat.[14][15] On November 10, 2016, the campus was again locked down due to shots being reported on campus. It was later claimed that the reports were an old car backfiring.[16][17]
Academics
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).[18] 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.[19]
Transport
Los Angeles Valley College has its own stop on the
Metro G Line, the
Valley College 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.
Kimberly Paige - actress, graduated summa cum laude ('98), youngest student to enroll (age 12) and to graduate (age 15).[30]
Michael Richards - actor ("Kramer" on
Seinfeld); took theatre classes at LAVC and was in many of Valley's theatre productions.[31]
Richard Rossi - musician, filmmaker: wrote and directed biopics on the lives of
Aimee Semple McPherson and
Roberto Clemente, and the film Canaan Land which contained five songs by Rossi that made the Oscars consideration song list (Canaan Land was also on the list of 366 films eligible for a Best Picture Oscar in 2021);[32] earned Cinema Arts and Theater Arts degrees, and has taught a guitar class at LAVC Community Services.[33][34]
Tom Selleck - actor (Thomas Magnum on Magnum, P.I. Selleck played on the basketball team while at Valley.