| De Anza College | |
| Type: | Public Community college |
| Parent: | Foothill-De Anza Community College District |
| Faculty: | 300 full-time, 635 part-time[1] |
| President: | Lloyd A. Holmes[2] |
| Students: | 21,526[3] |
| City: | Cupertino |
| State: | California |
| Country: | United States |
| Campus: | 112acres |
| Sports Nickname: | Mountain Lions |
De Anza College is a public community college in Cupertino, California, United States. It is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District, which also administers Foothill College in nearby Los Altos Hills, California. The college is named after the Spanish explorer Juan Bautista de Anza.[4]
The average class size at De Anza is 35, and approximately 2,800 students transfer per year. It also attracts a heavy international student population.
The Puente Project is a program offered at De Anza that helps underserved students transfer to 4-year institutions. "Puente" means "bridge" in Spanish, which symbolizes the "bridging" of students to higher educations due to the program. Puente is made up of three key components: English, individualized counseling, and individual mentoring. Puente students transfer from De Anza at a much higher rate than non-Puente Latino students—61% of De Anza's Puente students transfer within six years.[5]
The school provides applied technology programs including automotive technology and design and manufacturing.[6] The school also provides environmental studies, such as energy management, resource management, pollution prevention, and wildlife science.[7]
Formerly called the Institute of Community and Civic Engagement, the Vasconcellos Institute of Democracy in Action (VIDA) is the community service learning and civic engagement office.[8] VIDA coordinates Community Learning Partnership's work at De Anza.[9]
Established as the ICCE in fall 2005, It was initiated by then new president, Brian Murphy and was led by faculty members Jackie Reza and Cynthia Kaufman.[10] In 2015 the ICCE was renamed VIDA in tribute to John Vasconcellos.
The Flint Center is De Anza's main theater, seating about 2,400 people, and hosts concerts, Broadway shows, dance and speaking events. Each year, De Anza invites several celebrities and dignitaries for public speaking engagements. Construction began in 1968 and the building was dedicated in 1971 as the Calvin C. Flint Center for the Performing Arts, named after the District Superintendent and first Chancellor,[11] The Flint Center also has classrooms and was home to the Film and TV department in its early years.[12]
Steve Jobs introduced the original Macintosh in a January 1984 press conference in the center (which was recreated in 2015 for the movie Steve Jobs) and the iMac in 1998.[13] [14] [15] In January 1985, Jobs came back to Flint Center to introduce the LaserWriter laser printer and its built-in PostScript technology, which launched the desktop publishing revolution of the 1980s.[16] The Foothill DeAnza Board has voted to close the Flint Center and tear it down. The last event in the facility was June 22, 2019.[17]
The mission of the Euphrat Museum of Art is to stimulate creativity and an interest in art among audiences of all ages.[18]
Hank Baum wrote in the California Art Review:[19] Rita Felciano noted in her review of the 1987 The Power of Cloth,"The Euphrat... puts together exhibits from the outside—events that usually have some bite to them."[20]
In the 1990 Art around the Bay: a guide to art galleries and museums in the San Francisco Bay Area, Paul Monaco and Murwani Davis wrote:[21]
The college is the home of the California History Center, housed in a mansion called "Le Petit Trianon".
The Visual and Performing Arts Center opened on March 6, 2009[22] and was built with an art exhibit and also a 400-seat performance and lecture hall that can be rented by De Anza College organizations and outside community groups.[23]
The Kirsch Center opened in 2005 and was the first community college building in the US to receive a LEED platinum rating.
A 17-year effort, the Kirsch Center was conceived and is operated by De Anza faculty, staff and students.[24]
Over 100 environmental classes are taught in the Kirsch Center. In addition to classrooms and labs, students can work in self-paced programs at special open study stations throughout the building.
A few examples of what the building features are:
The building is a favorite location for policy makers, school officials, student groups, Silicon Valley entrepreneurs to visit and utilize for conferences and for tours.[26]
The building was a 10 million dollar project that was funded by various groups including the student senate, Morgan Family Foundation, and Steve and Michele Kirsch Foundation.
The Fujitsu Planetarium, with its 50-foot dome and seating for 139, teaches De Anza students, field trip groups, and the public. It also includes an evening musical laser light show on its Saturday public schedule from September to April. Its optical-mechanical projector was installed in 2007, and the new digital projection system was installed in 2016.[27] [28] The planetarium was built in the early 1970s and was named the Minolta Planetarium until 2008.[29]
This is a 1.5acres natural garden containing some 400 species of plants representing 12 California natural communities. It is located next to the Kirsch Center on the southeast corner of campus, and it was built by a group of De Anza students and faculty in 1971, after having received a US$12,000 grant.[30]
The 12 plant communities are:
Students and visitors can learn about California's natural heritage and see plants and animals in person. Students can also conduct environmental research here and deepen their appreciation for California's biological richness.[31]
The association is required by law to "encourage students to participate in the governance of the college".[32] It participates in meetings sponsored by a statewide community college student organization named Student Senate for California Community Colleges. The statewide Student Senate is authorized by law "to advocate before the Legislature and other state and local governmental entities".[33]
The student body association also operates The De Anza Flea Market held on every first Saturday of a month. The flea market began as a small effort by the students of De Anza College to raise money for the student body over 30 years ago and has grown into an established community event attracting vendors and patrons from throughout the state. it is still a student enterprise with the De Anza Associated Student Body paying for all of the expenses and gaining approximately $300,000 annually for a variety of programs, services and events at De Anza College. The De Anza Flea Market contains about 825 vendor stalls and usually sells out very quickly. If the weather is good the flea market will draw approximately 15,000 to 20,000 shoppers.
In 2020, De Anza adopted a new mascot after students voted overwhelmingly the previous year to retire the Don, an outdated symbol that many students had never even seen. The Mountain Lion was chosen in December by the college mascot working group, which included DASB student representatives, student-athletes and coaches, after extensive input and campus-wide participation.[34]
De Anza College has its own district police department with armed officers. The department was not a POST participating agency. In 2001, the campus police departments at De Anza and Foothill College were merged to become the Foothill-De Anza College District Police.
On January 29, 2001, Kelly Bennett, 18, an employee at a Longs Drugs store in San Jose, was developing photos for Al DeGuzman, 19, a De Anza College student, when she noticed that many of his photos were of guns and bombs as well as of DeGuzman himself posing with said weapons.[35] She called the police, who arrived at the store and waited for DeGuzman. He was arrested when he returned for his photos.[36]
Shortly after DeGuzman's arrest, police executed a search warrant on DeGuzman's parents' home in San Jose, where he lived at the time. Inside DeGuzman's bedroom, police found bags filled with homemade explosives including Molotov cocktails and pipe bombs, as well as numerous guns, including a semi-automatic rifle and a cut-down 12-gauge pump-action shotgun. In addition, plans were discovered for a noon attack at De Anza the next day.[37]
Over 10,000 students and over 1,000 staff were evacuated from De Anza the next day out of fear that DeGuzman had already possibly planted bombs on campus, although none were found.[38] In the following weeks, Bennett was praised and credited with averting a massacre; she appeared on local news, Good Morning America and the Today Show.[37]
DeGuzman was initially sentenced to seven years in prison after most of the charges against him were thrown out.[39] However, appeals by prosecutors resulted in a resentencing of 80 years in prison. Several months after his resentencing, DeGuzman died in prison after hanging himself in his cell.[40]
See main article: 2007 De Anza rape investigation. In 2007, the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office investigated an inquiry into allegations of sexual assault of a 17-year-old female student, arising from an off-campus party on March 4, 2007, by eight members of the De Anza College baseball team. On June 4, 2007, Santa Clara County District Attorney Dolores Carr announced that no charges would be filed. This decision was questioned by some, and the Office of the Attorney General was invited by the prosecutor to perform an independent investigation of the available evidence. On May 2, 2008, the attorney general's office announced that no charges would be filed as there was no new evidence to charge anyone present with a crime.
| Baseball | Badminton | |
| Basketball | Basketball | |
| Cross Country | Cross Country | |
| Football | Soccer | |
| Soccer | Swimming & diving | |
| Swimming & diving | Track & field | |
| Track & field | Volleyball | Beach Volleyball |
| Water Polo | Water Polo |