Allan Hancock College will culminate its centennial celebration this weekend, marking 100 years of providing education and entertainment to northern Santa Barbara County while working toward changing the odds for students.
The college began in 1920 as Santa Maria Junior College with just six students and 12 courses held on the Santa Maria High School campus.
It wasn’t until 1954 that increasing enrollment prompted a move to its current location at Hancock Field.
Before the college, the site known as Hancock Field trained pilots through the Hancock College of Aeronautics and the University of Southern California’s School of Aeronautics.
At the request of defense leaders, the pilot training program later focused on readying cadets in the Army Air Forces for World War II.
Recognizing the site’s history, the junior college was renamed in July 1954 to honor entrepreneur Captain G. Allan Hancock, who owned the land and facilities.
Today, Allan Hancock College, with the motto of “Changing the Odds,” offers more than 1,000 credit courses and serves about 20,000 students annually across its four locations in Santa Maria, Lompoc, the Santa Ynez Valley and Vandenberg Air Force Base.
“Hancock College is a true community college,” said Jon Hooten, executive director of the Allan Hancock College Foundation, which raises funds for the Hancock Promise. “Donors are literally investing in the community. … It has the opportunity to impact every family.”
Allan Hancock College continues to remove barriers and encourage success for students to this day.
In the fall 2018 semester, the college began the Hancock Promise, which provides a year of free tuition for students who enroll at Hancock after graduating from a high school within the Allan Hancock Joint Community College District — Santa Maria, Lompoc, Santa Ynez and Cuyama valleys.
According to the college’s website, the Hancock Promise saves students more than $1,200 in tuition and fees during their first year of college.
“The Hancock Promise has changed the game for Northern Santa Barbara County,” Hooten said. “Since we launched in 2018, we’ve served over 4,000 students.”
Hooten said that 95% of students at Hancock are locals, and the college contributes about 1,300 jobs to the local economy, making it one of the largest employers in the northern county.
In addition to building the Lompoc Valley Center, which is home to the state-of-the-art Public Safety Training Complex for first responders, voter-approved bonds have transformed the Santa Maria campus where several projects have been completed and one more remains under construction. That project, a new 88,000-square-foot fine arts complex, is scheduled to open in October 2022.
During the past 100 years, many changes have taken place at Hancock College and the college now serves not only students on its campus, but the entire community as well.
In 1973, the college began its Community Education program to offer noncredit and fee-based classes such as English as a second language, citizenship and more. The college also has been offering online classes each semester since 1998.
A partnership with the University of La Verne allows students to complete a bachelor’s degree locally. The program currently bachelor’s degrees in business administration, organization management and public administration.
Beyond education, Hancock College has offered sources of arts and entertainment open to the community over the years. The college is the venue for multiple plays each year at the Pacific Conservatory Theatre, and the PCPA has remained the only conservatory theatre training program at a community college since it began in 1964.
During the past several months, the college has provided a community need its founders probably had not anticipated — serving as a public health vaccination site.
“As of May 1, of all the vaccinations administered in Santa Maria, one out of every three doses was administered on this campus,” Superintendent/President Kevin Walthers said during the May 11 Board of Trustees meeting. “It’s been transformative.”
Allan Hancock College kicked off the centennial celebrations last September by opening a time capsule from 1995, revealing photographs, a VHS tape featuring promotional videos, and more that can be seen on the college’s website.
The celebration continues with a virtual event on Saturday with registration available by clicking here. While the event is free, sponsorships are available, with proceeds going toward the Hancock Promise.
Sponsorships have raised more than $230,000 so far, surpassing the foundation’s initial goal of $100,000, Hooten said.
The college’s foundation will be making some “exciting announcements” during the centennial event, Hooten added.
Allan Hancock College’s 100th commencement ceremony will take place as a drive-through and livestreamed event in two sessions at 10 a.m. and 2 p.m. on Friday at the Santa Maria campus.
— Serena Guentz is a local freelance writer. Contact her at news@noozhawk.com.