Santa Monica College

Santa Monica College (SMC) was established in 1929 as a junior college. At the very beginning, it had only seven faculty members and 153 students. The lectures were conducted in Santa Monica High School, on the second floor. The college was mainly attended by high school students.

Despite the Great Depression and the Wall Street Crash that occurred in 1929 (the year the school was established), the school enrolment increased by 202 in 1930. By 1931, student enrollment had reached 600.

In 1932, Santa Monica Junior College was moved to a building in Garfield Elementary School. In the following year, there was a strong earthquake that made the building unsafe, and students were forced to take their classes in tents.

In 1940, the school bought a 6.18-acre piece of land on Pico Boulevard where the school was built. Five years later the name of the school was changed to Santa Monica City College.

Current Enrolment and Programs

SMC has over 30,000 students and is offering about 100 fields of study. The college admits college-age students intending to transfer to a 4-year university. About 20,000 students in SMC are part-timers. The college has over 2,000 employees, making it the biggest employer in Los Angeles. The student: teacher ratio in SMC is 45:1, which is higher than the average in community colleges in LA. The college has a minority enrolment of 72 percent of the student populations which comprises mainly of Hispanics. This is more than the state’s average by 4 percent.

SMC is leading all the 113 community colleges in terms of enrolment and quality education. It occupies the whole of Santa Monica Community College District and has five campuses in Santa Monica where it is the only higher education institution. The campuses include the Airport Campus, Emeritus College, Center for Media and Design, SMC Performing Arts Center & Music Academy, and Bundy Campus.

The Arts Mentor Program offered by the college provides applied and fine art students with training at the graduate level. The training is conducted by professionals in their specialized fields. There are also supply chain and logistics courses at certificate and AAS levels.

SMC also offers many certificate programs in entertainment technology (animation and interactive media), information systems, fashion design, and accounting.

Since 1929, the college has provided cultural enrichment, educational opportunities, and job training through its radio station called KCRW.

The range of options available at SMC is overwhelming. The college has career-oriented programs that rival the best universities in the state. Interestingly, new courses are continuously developed by the college, including some that are developed based on advice from leading industries. In the last decade, the college crafted over 300 courses covering about 60 subject areas.

Nearby employers like SMC graduates. They usually post vacant positions on the SMC job board. They post many positions including internship, full-time, and part-time positions. These vacancies are spread across all industries in both small and big companies.

Santa Monica College (SMC) Notable Alumni

Santa Monica College has produced very prominent people in the state. Some notable Santa Monica College alumni include Arnold Schwarzenegger, James Dean, Inonge Wina, Dustin Hoffman, Rivers Cuomo, Sean Penn, Mahira Khan, Kenan Thompson, Ryan Seacrest, Chad Johnson, Paul Thomas Anderson, Evan Lysacek, Hilary Swank, Walter Cunningham, Laila Ali, Anita Sarkeesian, and Monica Lewinsky, among others.

Arnold Schwarzenegger is an Australian-American author, businessman, filmmaker, and actor. Arnold served as California's Governor between 2003 to 2011. He studied both at SMC and at the University of Wisconsin, from where he received a bachelor's degree in marketing and business administration.

Another SMC alumni, Inonge Mutukwa Wina, has been Zambia’s Vice-President since 2015. Inonge is the first woman to be a vice president in Zambia. This makes her the highest-ranking woman in the Zambian government’s history. She attended Barotse National School and then proceeded to SMC for her High School studies. She got a diploma in social work at SMC then went to the University of Zambia where she graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree.

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