Pasadena City College
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Pasadena City College (PCC) is a community college located in the Los Angeles suburb of Pasadena, California, USA.
PCC mainly serves people who live in the cities of South Pasadena, San Marino, Temple City, Rosemead, Pasadena, and La Canada Flintridge. All of these cities are part of the Pasadena Area Community College District. Its mascot is the Lancers.
PCC is regarded as one of the best community colleges in the state. The rate of students who transfer to four-year universities in order to complete a bachelor's degree is ranked second after Santa Monica Community College. The math department has won the AMATYC community college mathematics competition numerous times. The music department provides the honor band for the Rose Parade and is the host of the annual Band Fest. Until recently, its applied music staff included John Dearman of the L.A. Guitar Quartet.
As of fall 2002 there are 25,549 credit students and 3,990 noncredit students. The demographics of the students are: 36.0% Hispanic, 26.3% Asian or Pacific Islander, 17.1% White, 6.1% Black, 3.9% Filipino and 0.6% American Indian.
The local radio station KPCC 89.3, a member station of National Public Radio, airs from PCC. Unlike most NPR stations, where they may have music programming in addition to news, KPCC's main output is talk radio. A dispute arose on campus in 2001 about what to do with the license for the radio station, which was owned by the trustees of the Pasadena Area Community College District. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) submitted a bid to manage the station, which the trustees accepted, retaining ownership of the license but giving a mandate to MPR to make the station financially self-supporting. A purge of presenters and programs ensued, in which popular music and community-oriented programs were cut. Larry Mantle, the host of the talk show Air Talk, was one of the main proponents for this change. This is in line with NPR's recent strategy shift towards maximizing audience, in contrast with the strategy that formerly prevailed in which the emphasis was on maximizing quality, and "small" was perceived to be "good". The uproar that ensued was mitigated when the trustees and MPR publicized a plan under which a "National Academy of Broadcasting Sciences" was to be created, under which student internship positions within the station were to be created, and also, news programming was to adopt a new focus on California-related news.
In 2000, another campus dispute centered on Irv Rubin of the Jewish Defense League, who came to speak on campus. Some students felt he should not have come.
In 2001 faculty-administration negotiations on salary reached impasse. Protests ensued, including one at which Dolores Huerta spoke.
During the California budget crisis of 2003, PCC found itself in the enviable position of having a budget surplus and an A+ loan rating. Using a part of that surplus, construction started on a second parking lot that runs parallel to Allen Avenue, and was opened for the Winter 2005 semester.
PCC is currently the defending champion of a two-year college competition in Mathematics.
Famous alumni
- Jackie Robinson, first African American in major league baseball
- William Holden, actor best known for Sunset Blvd. and Sabrina
- David Lee Roth, rock musician, (dropped out)
- Nick Nolte, actor
- Sirhan Sirhan, Robert F. Kennedy's assassin
- Michael Dorn, actor, best known as Worf on Star Trek
- Verne Winchell, founder of Winchell's Donuts and former chairman of Denny's Restaurants
- Nicholas Brendon, Xander on Buffy the Vampire Slayer
- Jaime Escalante, former Garfield High School (Los Angeles) teacher, whose successful math class was dramatized in Stand and Deliver.
- Alex Van Halen, drummer of Van Halen
External link
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