San Diego Mesa College

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San Diego Mesa College (known more informally as Mesa College or Mesa) is a public, two-year community college located in San Diego, California. It is administered by the San Diego Community College District which includes San Diego City College and San Diego Miramar College as well. Mesa is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Mesa College is also famous for educating American film star, Annette Bening.

Mesa College is coeducational. It has a semester-based academic calendar and resides on a campus of 104 acres (421,000 m²). Enrollment as of August 2004 was 22,573 students. Courses are provided in general education, lower-division transfer programs, occupational and developmental education. It is particularly known for its strong music program.

The [current] college newspaper, The Mesa Press, is run by journalism students and covers Mesa-related news.

The Mesa College Foundation offers scholarships to Mesa students.

[edit] History

Community college education in San Diego began in 1914 when the Board of Education of the San Diego City Schools authorized postsecondary classes for San Diego high school students. Classes opened with four faculty members serving 35 students.

San Diego Mesa College first opened in 1964. Initially offering education to 1,800 students, it has grown to become one of the largest community colleges in California.

Between 1965 and 1968 the college newspaper, The Olympian, was produced by the journalism students under the supervision of Richard H. Tarquinio, the journalism instructor. During the academic year, 1967-68, the newspaper became The Daily Olympian, producing four 4-page issues each week and noted at that time as the only junior college daily newspaper in the nation. The journalism students in the same period produced four issues of a monthly magazine, The Dyonisian, drawing the name from the Greek heritage of the college.

In the mid-1990s, Mesa College began to construct on its campus the Learning Resource Center (LRC). It opened its doors to students on April 20, 1998. It serves as the campus library (employing the Library of Congress Classification system) and offers study areas and computer labs. It was constructed at a cost of $20 million and has four stories occupying 107,000 square feet (9,900 m²). A bond measure passed in 2002 will allow construction of additional facilities on campus.