Hartnell Community College is a 2-year community college in Salinas, California, USA. It was founded in 1920 as Salinas Junior College, and renamed in 1948 for William Edward Petty Hartnell. The mascot is a black panther.
Hartnell Community College offers majors in health and nursing, math and science, Animal Health Technology, agriculture, a variety of foreign languages, Early Childhood Education, astronomy, and hosts an award-winning athletics and physical education department. It also offers majors in Administration of Justice, Health Education, Music, History, Computer technology, Drafting, English, Engineering, Welding, Auto Collision repair, and Business Administration. Anthropology, Art, Sociology, Music, Theater Arts, and much more are also offered through Hartnell. The College maintains four campuses: South Salinas, Alisal (East Salinas), King City, and Natividad Medical Center. The main campus in South Salinas also includes a Disabled Students Services Center, Admissions & Records office, Financial Aid Office, Student Union, cafeteria, and a large newly-constructed parking structure. A new library and learning resource center allows students, faculty, staff, and the community at large to meet, study, and learn.
During the Fall 2006 semester, Hartnell was the first California community college to have its faculty go out on strike in a quarter-of-a-century. Attracting broad community and student support, the strike lasted about a week.
In 2007, Hartnell College hired a new president, but came under an accreditation cloud. In 2008, accreditation was extended pending additional requirements.[1]