Founded in 1918, Santa Rosa Junior College is the tenth oldest community college in the state. After just over a century, only six presidents have served SRJC: Floyd P. Bailey (1921-1957), Randolph Newman (1957-1970), Roy Mikalson (1971-1990), Robert F. Agrella (1990-2012), Frank Chong (2012–2023), and Maria Angélica Garcia (2023–present).[3]
President Newman established the Santa Rosa Junior College Foundation as a 501(c)(3)nonprofit organization in 1969.[3] The foundation is responsible for the administration of scholarships and infrastructural development fundraising,[4] in large part through the Alumni & Friends Association.[5] SRJC was closed from May 7–11, 1970 after Governor Ronald Reagan ordered that all California colleges and universities shut down due to anti-war protests and rallies after the shootings of four students at Kent State University.[6]
In 2014, Sonoma County voters passed Measure H, a $410 million dollar bond to improve district facilities, the largest investment in the schools history.[7]
In 2023, Dr. Angélica Garcia, the then President of Berkeley City College, was selected as the next Superindentent/President of the SCJCD and Santa Rosa Junior College. Becoming the first Woman, first Hispanic, and first LGBTQ+ person to serve in that position in the schools 105 year history.[8]
Campus
Santa Rosa campus
Santa Rosa Junior College Sign
SRJC's main campus is located 52 miles (84 km) north of San Francisco and has a traditional-style 100-acre (0.40 km2) campus with ivy-covered brick buildings in the heart of Santa Rosa, California. In addition to its administration buildings, classroom facilities, and laboratories, the campus houses a Planetarium, the Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery, the SRJC Theatre, and the Santa Rosa Junior College Multicultural Museum.[9]
Frank P. Doyle Library
Frank P. Doyle Library
In August 2006, SRJC moved its Santa Rosa campus library to the new Frank P. Doyle Library building. Named after the college's most significant benefactor, the four-story building is the largest on campus at 145,000 square feet (13,500 m2). It houses the Library, Media Services, Distance Education, and Instructional Computing Departments, as well as the college art gallery, tutorial center and Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, a multimedia training and production facility for SRJC faculty. The building was constructed with green building features designed to make it energy efficient and environmentally friendly, including an array of 77 KWphotovoltaic solar panels on the library roof.[10]
Santa Rosa Junior College librarians were leaders in the early movement to promote information literacy in California's community colleges, and SRJC was among the first of the colleges to institute an information literacy requirement for graduation. The Library and Information Resources Department offers several full-credit courses which fill this requirement.
Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery
The Santa Rosa Junior College Art Gallery was established in 1973, the first significant exhibition space in the region. The original gallery location was in Bussman Hall on the Santa Rosa Campus, where an old anthropology museum previously existed. In fall 2006, the Art Gallery transitioned to a new space in the Frank P. Doyle Library.[11] The gallery was later renamed in 2012 in honor of the recently retired president of 22 years, the Robert F. Agrella Art Gallery [2] offering exhibits and programs which support the art curriculum, focusing on art history, ceramics, computer graphics, drawing, graphic design, jewelry, painting, photography, printmaking and sculpture. In addition to the Annual Student Show and the occasional Art Faculty exhibits, quality art from outside the area is shown throughout the year. Exhibits are open to the community.[12]
Santa Rosa Junior College Multicultural Museum
The college's museum, originally called the Jesse Peter Museum, focuses on the Native American art of North America and ethnographic art of parts of Mesoamerica, Central America, South America, Africa, and Asia.[13] Permanent exhibits include Native American baskets, jewelry and pottery that come from the Elsie Allen Collection, acquired in the 1970s. The permanent and changing art exhibits focus on Native American art and anthropology of other cultures, and are used as a resource for multi-cultural studies by Santa Rosa Junior College students and area students.
Burdo Culinary Arts Center
The B. Robert Burdo Center is the home of Santa Rosa Junior College's Culinary Arts Program. The two-story, 22,000 square foot building includes three classrooms, and four teaching kitchens, incorporating a public demonstration kitchen. The student-run Café and Bakery is featured on the first floor of the new building. It was completed in 2012 and put into service for the Spring 2012 semester.
Petaluma campus
SRJC began offering evening classes in Petaluma in 1964, and in the early 1970s held classes in leased spaces throughout the city. In 1985, the Board of Trustees purchased a 40-acre (160,000 m2) site in east Petaluma, and in 1995 the first phase of construction of a Petaluma Center was completed. The Petaluma Center officially became a campus in April 1999. The second phase of construction to expand the Petaluma Campus to a 12,000-student capacity was completed in 2008, and included: life science and physical science labs, an art studio, a new 35,000 square foot library, a physical fitness center, bookstore, student services areas, dining areas, additional classrooms and technology labs, faculty/administrative offices, a digital arts lab, a nearly 300-seat auditorium (Carole L. Ellis Auditorium), and expanded outdoor spaces. The contemporary adobe-style buildings with red tile roofs and clock tower with Westminster chimes reflect the Spanish history of the area.[14] The campus is 35 miles (56 km) north of San Francisco.
Herold Mahoney Library
The Herold Mahoney Library at SRJC's Petaluma campus originally opened its doors in the Fall of 1995. Many of the programs in SRJC's Arts & Lectures Series take place in the Mahoney Library. With the expansion of the Petaluma campus, the Mahoney Library has expanded to five times its original size, 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m2). The new library building opened on June 16, 2008, the first day of summer session.[15]
Technology Academy
There is a Technology Academy located on the Petaluma Campus. Opened in January 2009 in Telecom Valley, this educational program was established to meet the training needs of North Bay technology companies, offering classes and training programs to the general public and in-service training for the technology companies. Clientele includes incumbent workers, entry-level workers, and high school co-enrollment students.[16]
Shone Farm
Established in 1972, the Robert Shone Farm currently operates as a self-sustaining 365-acre (1.48 km2) farm near the Russian River, in Forestville, generating income from the sale of grapes from the college's vineyard operation as well as oat hay, oat silage, and sheep and swine operations.[17] A new Agriculture Pavilion was completed in 2006.[citation needed] The farm offers diversified, hands-on educational opportunities in Viticulture, Wine Studies, Equine Studies, Animal Science, Sustainable Agriculture, and Environmental Conservation. Produce raised in farm gardens are used in SRJC's Culinary Training Program and in a community supported agriculture program operated by students from agribusiness and sustainable agriculture programs.[citation needed] The Shone Farm Winery was established in fall 2008.[18][19]
Public Safety Training Center
The Public Safety Training Center was established in Windsor in 1961, and currently provides coursework and field training for police officers, corrections officers, police dispatchers, seasonal park rangers, emergency medical technicians, paramedics, and firefighters. In spring 2002 the modern facility was completed on a 20-acre (0.081 km2) site in Windsor to provide in-service training for people working in public safety. The center is the largest provider of in-service training for law enforcement personnel north of the Golden Gate Bridge[citation needed], offering traditional academic offerings, administration and classroom buildings, an emergency medical care laboratory facility, an indoor firing range, a large multipurpose building, a scenario training village, and a driving instruction area with skid pad.[citation needed]
Athletics
Santa Rosa Junior College is home to the Bear Cubs. They are part of the Big 8 Athletic Conference and are usually contenders in most junior college playoff games. They are well known for their football, baseball, soccer and wrestling programs. They have a long time rivalry with the Sacramento City College Panthers. The Santa Rosa Junior College also has a very well known and successful Ice Hockey Program known as the Santa Rosa Junior College Polar Bears. Although the Ice Hockey team is a club sport the team has been nationally ranked in 2009-2010 and 2011–12. There are athletic organizations including Judo, Rugby, Cheerleading and Beach Volleyball.
Baseball
The baseball team won the state championship in 2016, placing second to Grossmont College in a seven-game championship series in 2017.[20]
Speech and debate
SRJC Forensics, the speech & debate team, earned the #1 national ranking among two-year colleges in 2016.[21] Led by Mark Nelson and Hal Sanford, the team ranked for five years (2012-2017) within the top six teams in the nation.[22]
