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Foothill College
Type	Community college
Location	Los Altos Hills, California, United States
Affiliations	De Anza College
Website	http://www.foothill.edu

Foothill College is a community college located in Los Altos Hills, California and is part of the Foothill-De Anza Community College District. It was founded on January 15, 1957 by Founding Superintendent and President Dr. Calvin C. Flint.

Contents 1 History 2 Organization 2.1 Presidents 2.2 Divisions 3 Administration 4 Controversy 5 Miscellaneous information 5.1 Facts 5.2 Athletics 6 Famous Alumni 7 References 8 External links

In July 1956, Henry M. Gunn, superintendent of the Palo Alto School District, called a meeting of local school superintendents that led to the creation of Foothill College.^[1] Calvin Flint, then President of Monterey Peninsula College was hired as the first District Superintendent and President; he started work on March 1, 1958.^[2]

Candidates for the new college's name, besides Foothill, were Peninsula, Junipero Serra, Mid-Peninsula, Earl Warren, Herbert Hoover, North Santa Clara, Altos, Valley, Skyline, Highland, and Intercity.^[3] At first the name was Foothill Junior College, but because Flint insisted that his new college would be "not junior to anyone," the Board dropped the "Junior" in September 1958.^[4]

Foothill held its first classes in the old Highway Grammar School campus on El Camino Real in Mountain View on September 15, 1958.^[5] It was accredited by March of the next year and was the first school in the state to ever reach full accreditation in less than six months.^[6] The owl mascot originated from a concrete owl that was a decoration on the Highway School's bell tower; it was later moved to the new campus.^[7]

Today, Foothill College is regarded as one of the most beautiful and successful community colleges in the United States. Its unique neo-Japanese architecture is well-known among architects^[1]; the campus was designed by architect Ernest Kump and landscape architect Hideo Sasaki^[2].

Traditionally, it serves the communities of Los Altos Hills, Los Altos, Mountain View, and Palo Alto; together these communities form the northwest corner of Silicon Valley. The college sits next to Interstate 280, at the interchange with El Monte Road.

The college's student store and cafeteria are the only commercial facilities in Los Altos Hills. The entire town has been zoned as residential.

In 2003, the college began the most dramatic construction project ever attempted since its founding, to accommodate the fact that a campus designed for 3,500 is now serving 18,000. It is renovating nearly all buildings, tearing up and rebuilding its potholed parking lots, demolishing several unsafe buildings (including the campus center), and constructing several replacement buildings. Three of the new buildings will feature sod roofs.

• Dr. Calvin C. Flint (1957-1973)^[3]
• Dr. Hubert H. Semans (1967-1973)
• Dr. James S. Fitzgerald (1973-1982)
• Dr. Thomas H. Clements (1982-1994)
• Dr. Bernadine Chuck Fong (1994-2006)
• Penny Patz (interim President)

• Adaptive Learning
• Biological & Health Sciences
• Business & Social Sciences (BSS)
• Computers, Technology & Information Systems (CTIS)
• Fine Arts & Communication
• Language Arts
• Physical Education & Human Performance
• Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Engineering (PSME)

The community college district's headquarters are located in one corner of the Foothill campus. The district also administers De Anza College in nearby Cupertino.

The campus serves a large number of international students who are attempting to earn associate's degrees as the basis for transferring into prestigious American universities; according to a Community College Week survey in 2001, Foothill had the 12th highest population of international students out of all community colleges in the United States^[4].

The school was harshly criticized in 2002 by the Wall Street Journal for its aggressive recruitment of such students (who are a lucrative revenue source because they must pay the higher tuition required of all out-of-state students)^[5].

• Founding Date: January 15, 1957.
• First Classes Offered: September 15, 1958.
• Foothill College Opening: September 5, 1961.
• Campus area: 122 acres (494,000 m²).
• Enrollment (Fall 2003): 17,493.
  • Full Time Students: 4,572 (26%).
  • Part Time/non-credit: 12,920 (74%).
• Full Time Employees: 378.
• Enrollment (Fall 2006): 18,342.
  • Full Time Students: 3,730 (20.3%)
  • Part Time/non-credit: 14,612 (79.7)
• Associate Degree Programs: 70.
• Certificate Programs: 39.
• On-site Foothill Observatory.

Foothill is a member of the Coast Conference of the California Community College Commission on Athletics and NorCal Football Conference. School mascot is an owl.

Chris Robinson, hip-hop/pop music video director.
Randall Stone, Member of the United States Triathlon Team USA.
Steve Sampson, All American soccer player at Foothill, member of 1976 California state championship team from Foothill, coach of Santa Clara men's soccer team (1989 NCAA co-champions), coach of the United States men's national soccer team at the 1998 FIFA World Cup, coach of 1995 Major League Soccer championship team Los Angeles Galaxy
Brad Gilbert, All American tennis player at Foothill, former pro player ranked as high as #4, and coach to Andre Agassi
Debbi Fields, founder of Mrs. Fields Cookies
Adrienne Barbeau, actress in 'Maude (TV series)', and former wife of the film director John Carpenter

1. ^ Roberta Couch, Tom Jamison, Doug Stine, Susan Johnston, Rene Lynch, and Judy Sisk, Foothill College: 25 Years (Los Altos Hills: Foothill College, 1981), 10.
2. ^ Couch, 10.
3. ^ Couch, 11.
4. ^ Couch, 10.
5. ^ Couch, 11.
6. ^ Couch, 11.
7. ^ Couch, 130.

↑ Bartindale, Becky. "Foothill Denies Report Of Inaccuracy: College Accused Of Exaggerating Transfer Stats." San Jose Mercury News, 3 April 2002, sec. B, p. 6.

↑ Downey, Kirstin. "A Discerning Look At The Valley: Architects Assess Our Area's Aesthetics." San Jose Mercury News, 29 May 1986, sec. E, p. 1.

↑ Lane, Kristin. "World-Class Export." Community College Week, 20 August 2001, 6.

↑ Raver, Anne. "Hideo Sasaki, 80, Influential Landscape Architect, Dies." New York Times, 25 September 2000, sec. Arts, p. 9.

• Foothill College official website
• Foothill-De Anza Community College District

Colleges and Universities of Santa Clara County
Four-year colleges and universities:  Cogswell Polytechnical College • National Hispanic University • San José State University • Santa Clara University • Stanford University Two-year and community colleges:  De Anza College • Evergreen Valley College • Foothill College • Mission College • San Jose City College • West Valley College