Saddleback College 50th Anniversary Celebration

Saddleback College in Mission Viejo is beginning a yearlong celebration marking the 50th anniversary of its founding. The Saddleback Community College District was initially approved in 1967 and the first classes were held in the fall of 1968.

Enrollment in the first year reached 1,500 students with staff of 34 full-time instructors and 30 part-time teaching faculty, along with 26 other employees. Today, over 27,000 students are served by approximately 1,300 faculty and staff.

The college website offers a variety of historical resources that include, Making History, the First Years of Saddleback College, compiled by Lynn Wells and Julie Brady-Jenner and published in 2001. The college library maintains an archive of transcripts and videos from oral interviews documenting institutional history.

You can read more in an article from The Orange County Register, "Saddleback College celebrates its golden anniversary — and the school’s first homecoming queen returns for the occasion," in late September.