Imperial Valley College is a

public In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociology, sociological concept of the ''Öf ...

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior s ...

Imperial County, California Imperial County is a county on the southeast border of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 179,702, making it the least populous county in Southern California. The county seat is El Centro. Imperial is th ...

. It was founded in 1962 and enrolls around 7,000 students per year. In April 2022, Lennor M. Johnson, Ed.D., was appointed president of the college. The main campus is located on a site in the city of

Imperial Imperial is that which relates to an empire, emperor, or imperialism. Imperial or The Imperial may also refer to: Places United States * Imperial, California * Imperial, Missouri * Imperial, Nebraska * Imperial, Pennsylvania * Imperial, Texas ...

with extended campuses in El Centro and Brawley.

History

The Imperial Valley College had its beginning on May 9, 1922, with the name of Central Junior College, opening in September that year. Originally at Central Union High School, two years later a new college named Brawley Junior College was opened. Brawley Junior College had to close in 1947 due to lack of attendance. Because of this, Central Junior College was now receiving students from all over the Imperial Valley; students and faculty wanted to change the school name to a more representative one. The Board of Trustees officially changed to Imperial Valley College in late 1951. The college remained housed on the campus of Central Union High School in El Centro until the governance of the college was changed in 1959. The Imperial Community College District was formed by a vote of the electorate in 1959 and a bond issue then authorized construction of a new campus on a parcel at Aten Road and Highway 111. A ground-breaking service was held, October 2, 1961, for the new college campus. Meanwhile, due to the lack of space, IVC moved from El Centro to a temporary site in Imperial, on the campus of Imperial High School. The new campus opened for students in September 1962.

Mascot

Because of the desert location, the mascot "Arabs" was chosen. However, the college's leadership has intermittently considered changing this because the mascot has become a distraction for athletic teams traveling out of the Valley. An unsuccessful push to change the mascot was launched during the spring 2009 academic semester. In October 2020, after a Town Hall meeting to consider the matter, featuring vociferous community and student objection to retaining the "Arabs" mascot, the Board of Trustees voted to change the school mascot, with a new mascot due to be unveiled in 2023.IVC Board of Trustees votes to change school mascot
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References

External links

Official website

Sources

* Henderson, Tracey. ''Imperial Valley''. Neyenesch, 1968. {{authority control Schools in Imperial County, California California Community Colleges Brawley, California El Centro, California El Centro metropolitan area Imperial Valley Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Educational institutions established in 1962 1962 establishments in California