History - PDF - Merced College

Merced College
Fifty Years Of Educational
Excellence
A Brief History
by Dr. Susan Walsh
August 2012
©2012

In the beginning --
� Merced College was formed by a vote
of 3,996 to 1,494 on February 27, 1962,
of voters in the Le Grand and Merced
High School Districts.
� A five member Board was elected on
May 22, 1962:
– Buddy Iwata -- John Hann
– Don Robinson -- George Clark
– Byron Cunningham

The first Board of Trustees were
pioneers in education in Merced County.
Buddy Iwata Byron Cunningham John Hann
George Clark
Don Robinson

The first Board:
� Selected the site of the new campus.
� Worked with Clair Hopkins, Merced
High School Superintendent and acting
College President, to organize the
District financially and administratively.
� Hired the first president.
� Hired the architectural firm to design the
campus and its buildings.

The first employee:
� The first employee of
the District was Dr.
Lowell Barker.
� He had been president
of Antelope Valley
College. He reported
to work in February,
1963 and remained
president until 1977.

The first staff choices:
Helen Grubb -
President’s Secretary
Earl Fry -
Business Manager
Dan Walker -
Dean of Instruction

The first faculty:
�Twenty full time faculty were
hired the first year:

They were:
� John Caligiuri
� Richard Conrad
� Maurice Crawford
� Harlan Hamlin
� John Intardonato
� Loren Irwin
� Hermon Jones
� Elizabeth Juul
� Carmen Mauro
� Merle McClellan
� Theodore McVey
� John Mehrens
� Marion Morse
� Wayne Pirtle
� June Prowell
� Donald Reid
� May Robbie
� Lynn Steed
� Eleanor White
� Mary Jane White

The first classified staff were:
� Eileen Boyle
� Jean Galloway
� Patricia Gower
� Helen Grubb
� Ira Kress
� Christine Lockyer
� Oneta Mattos
� Parker Dunby
� Sandra Parker
� Marguerite Vickers

The first campus
� The college offered classes at the
Merced County Fairgrounds.

The college began with:
� A full academic
program
� A vocational
program that
included nursing
and welding classes
� Sports including
golf, basketball,
bowling, wrestling,
and baseball
� Student clubs and
organizations
� A student
newspaper and
yearbook
� A library
� A bookstore

The library, bookstore, and language
lab had interesting locations.
The Library in the
Rock Building
The
Bookstore in
the floral
exhibit
The Language Lab in the Beer Stand

Baseball, golf, volleyball, and
wrestling were started in the first year.

Students bowled in Century Bowl
and played baseball in a diamond at
the Fairgrounds.

Merced
College
started the
football
program in
its second
year, 1965.

Students were active from the
beginning:
� Students picked
“The Blue Devils” as
the name of their
mascot on October
8th, 1963.
� Richard Hazencamp
was the student
artist who drew the
first Blue Devil.

The first student body election
was held February 3, 1964.

The Alpha Gamma Sigma Club
Honor Society was formed the
first year.

The Alma
Mater was
written by
Garth Steen,
a student
from Merced
High.

The Inferno staff published
yearbooks from 1964 to 1970.
The first INFERNO staff

The Apostrophe, Merced College’s
Literary Magazine, began
publication in 1964.

Faculty had desks in one large
space in the Pavilion and often met
together for meals and coffee.

The whole college community
felt like a family.

Merced College’s first graduation in
1964 saw 35 students receiving
degrees.

Construction of the permanent
campus began on June 6, 1964, with
the initial grading of the property.

The architects chosen to develop the
campus were Dupertuis and Hesse.

The first buildings went up in
this order:
� The Boiler Room.
� The Science
Classroom Building.
� The Administration
Building.
� The Library (now the
Communication
Building).
� The Vocational
Building.
� The Student Union
and Bookstore.

The Dedication
of the permanent
campus took
place on April
23, 1967.

The choir under
the direction of
William Pitzer
toured Europe in
the summer of
1971 and then
recorded an
album.

The Los Banos Campus was
established in September 1971.

In 1975, the Associated Students of
Merced College donated Varaz
Samuelian’s The Owl, to the college.

Stadium 76 was built in part by a
community-wide fundraising project
led by Tom McNamara, Jess Roth,
and Ed Peara.

In 1978 Merced College won the
State Championships in Football,
Baseball, and Basketball.

In 1980, the college moved into Division
I. The Women’s Volleyball Team under
Coach Delores Anenson won the college’s
first Division I Championship.

Learning Resources
Center
The voters of the
Merced Community
College District
passed a Facilities
Bond in 2002.
Several facilities have been
built or remodeled with a
combination of local bond
and state facilities funding.

Los Banos Campus

Allied Health Center

Merced College continues to have an
active Student Government.
ASMC Board Fall 2011

The College continues to recruit and
retain exceptional faculty.

And we continue to educate
thousands of students every year.

Merced College had five presidents,
including Dr. Barker,
during the first 50 years .
W.C.Martinson
1977-1984
E. Jan Kehoe
1990-1997
Tom Harris
1984-1990
Ben Duran
1997-2011

The Merced College Board of
Trustees announced the appointment
of the 6 th president of Merced
College on June 19, 2012.
Dr. Ronald C. Taylor

Merced College developed a
Strategic Plan for its future.

And looks forward to serving our
community for the next 50 years.