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De Anza College
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De Anza College is a 112-acre (453,000 m²) community college located in Cupertino, California. It was founded in 1967 on the site of the Beaulieu Winery and is named after the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza (who passed through the area in 1776).
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Encyclopedia
De Anza College is a 112-acre (453,000 m²) community college located in Cupertino, California. It was founded in 1967 on the site of the Beaulieu Winery and is named after the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza (who passed through the area in 1776). Along with the arrival and growth of Apple Computer, the presence of De Anza College contributed significantly to the growth of Cupertino from a small town to an industrial city and an integral part of Silicon Valley. It consistently ranks #1 or #2 in the state for the total number of students who annually transfer to University of California and California State University campuses.
The college is one of the largest, single-campus community colleges in the country with a fall enrollment averaging 25,000 students from over 50 different countries. The college is also the home of the California History Center, housed in a mansion called "Le Petit Trianon". The current president of De Anza college is Brian Murphy. The average class size at De Anza is 30, and approximately 2,800 students transfer per year. It also attracts a heavy international student population.
De Anza College is part of Silicon Valley's Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which also administers Foothill College in nearby Los Altos Hills, California. The district serves the cities of Cupertino, Los Altos, Los Altos Hills, Mountain View, Palo Alto, Sunnyvale and San Jose. The district headquarters is on the Foothill campus.
Each year, De Anza invites several celebrities and dignitaries for public speaking engagements at its main theater, the Flint Center. De Anza once held the second largest pow-wow in the Bay Area, but the pow-wow organizers moved the event in 2005.
De Anza holds a monthly flea market its parking lot, which has become a community tradition as well as major source of income for the De Anza Associated Student Body. (DASB) With a budget of near 1 million dollars, the DASB has one of the biggest student budgets of any community college in California.
De Anza formerly had their own campus police. They used to wear slacks and polo shirts, and officers were unarmed. The department was not a POST participating agency and in 2001, the campus police departments at De Anza and Foothill College were merged to become the Foothill-De Anza College District Police.
Notable alumni
- Mervyn Fernandez, former professional football player
- Ron Gonzales, former mayor of San Jose.
- Teri Hatcher, actress
- Joe Murray, Emmy-winning creator of Rocko's Modern Life and Camp Lazlo
- Steve Jobs, co-founder, chairman, CEO of Apple Computer
- Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple Computer
- Jeff Sevy, former NFL lineman
- Jhonen Vasquez, cartoonist
- Len Wiseman, film director
Euphrat Museum of Art
The mission of the Euphrat Museum of Art at De Anza College is to stimulate creativity and an interest in art among audiences of all ages. The museum hosts changing art exhibits and accompanying educational programs for local and distant emerging and established artists. School programs are offered, primarily in Cupertino and Sunnyvale, and each year the museum creates public art projects with young area students, De Anza student interns and Euphrat artist/teachers.
The museum is open from Monday to Thursday.
A new facility is planned for the museum, to be located in the new Performing Arts Center that will be built at De Anza College.
Outdoor Artwork on Campus
- "La Vita E Una Fontana" or "Life is a Fountain" by Salvatore Pecoraro Dec 1, 1991
- "Longevity Turtle" by Elwood Martin Reynolds, donated by Dr. and Mrs. Alvin Rutner
- "Time Graffiti" by David Middlebrook, 1997. donated by Mrs. Rena Frabony DeHart in memory of De Anza College Founding President A. Robert DeHart.
De Anza Associated Student Body
Like many public and private colleges, De Anza College in Cupertino also has its own student government, the De Anza Associated Student Body (DASB) Senate. Unlike many other colleges, however, the DASB handles an annual budget of about $1 million. Some schools, in comparison, handle annual budgets of less than $500 thousand. The budget is generally allocated to many programs on campus to help the students succeed in their academics, as well as inviting guest speakers from various universities to advise students on strategies they can use to get an edge in their transfer application.
The DASB Senate meeting meets every Wednesdays at 3:30pm except for the first Wednesday of the month which is at 4:30pm. It is located on the lower level of the Hinson Campus Center in Student Council Chambers. However, there are no Senate meetings on the week before finals, which is called dead week.
The DASB Senate has seven different internal committees plus several ad-hoc committees.
Internal Committees:
Executive Council, Administration, Budget & Finance, Marketing & Communications, Student Rights & Campus Relations, Student Services, Technology, and Diversity & Events.
Ad-Hoc Committees:
Environmental, Retreat, Business & Community, Election
Every spring quarter they hold elections where candidates can run for executive & senate positions for the upcoming year. This DASB event takes place during the month of May where students at De Anza can apply for a position in which they seek. During this time the candidates are challenged to compete with other candidates while trying to get the most votes to get elected for office. This includes marketing yourself with slogans, posters, flyers, classroom presentation, and etc. In other words, this is to demonstrate each candidates ability to be able to work together in a team, as well as demonstrate their abilities to prove that they can handle the responsibilities of not just only as a DASB Senate member, but to the entire De Anza Student Body of 25,000+ students.
Averted shooting
On January 29, 2001, San José police arrested De Anza College student Al DeGuzman who planned a Columbine style school shooting at the school. At his home, police found bags filled with homemade explosives including Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs. They also discovered numerous guns, including a semi-automatic rifle and a cut-down 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. There were also plans for a noon attack at De Anza College.
Kelly Bennett, an employee at a Longs Drugs store in San Jose, developed pictures of DeGuzman posing with his guns and homemade bombs. She and a coworker called police, who arrived at the drugstore and waited for DeGuzman. He was arrested when he returned for his photos.
De Anza evacuated over 10,000 students the next day in fear that DeGuzman may have planted bombs at the college, though no bombs were ever found. In the following weeks, Kelly Bennett was praised and credited with averting a tragedy. She appeared on local news, Good Morning America, and The Today Show.
Some critics believe that DeGuzman had no intention of following through with the plan and that he intentionally photographed himself with his arsenal as a cry for help because of years of depression. He was sentenced to serve time in prison, but shortly after took his own life by hanging himself in his cell.
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