Los Angeles Valley College


Los Angeles Valley College is a public community college in the Valley Glen neighborhood of Los Angeles, California in the east-central San Fernando Valley. The school is a part of the Los Angeles Community College District.
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. The college moved to its current location in 1951, a 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 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.
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 site on Fulton Avenue in Valley Glen.
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.
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 18,000 students enrolled with 203 full-time faculty and 374 part-time instructors.

Ransomware incident

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.

Degrees and programs

More than 140 associate degree programs and certificate programs are offered at Valley College.

Tau Alpha Epsilon Honors society

Los Angeles Valley College has its own honors society called Tau Alpha Epsilon. 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. 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.

Transport

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.

Athletics

The college athletic teams are nicknamed the Monarchs. The college currently sponsors five men’s and five women’s varsity teams. Los Angeles Valley competes as a member of the California Community College Athletic Association in the Western State Conference for all sports except football, which competes in Southern California Football Association.

Notable alumni