NORCO - The Norco campus of Riverside Community College is taking its first steps toward becoming a full community college of its own.

Earlier this month, state officials voted to convert the Norco education center to a community college. The move will allow the campus freedom to tailor its offerings to students in Norco and the surrounding communities.

"There will be more of a unique community identity for us," said Dr. Brenda Davis, president of the Norco campus.

"We will have unique programs that the community can embrace. For years residents and students have talked about having their own sports teams, mascots, and programs. Members of the community have been awaiting this for a very long time."

The leap from satellite to full-service campus means the new Norco college will have its own sports programs, new academic programs, increased funding and more decision-making power at the campus-level.

The California Post-Secondary Education Commission voted March 9 to convert the Norco and Moreno Valley campuses of Riverside Community College to full junior colleges to accommodate growth in the region.

The campus is also expected to be a big financial boost for the city of Norco, said City Manager Jeff Allred.

"I think it is a benefit for the community and it will add to the economic base of the city," Allred said. "There will be new students, new faculty members, and sports teams. It's all a plus. It's very exciting."

The Norco campus now serves about 9,000 students, with 3,500 more expected to enroll by 2010. Officials expect to draw students from San Bernardino and Orange counties as well as from western Riverside County.

"Obviously the Corona-Norco area is our biggest area of growth but we have many students coming in from the Inland Empire area," said Jim Parson, spokesman for Riverside Community College.

The conversion will take two to three years while the college undergoes a lengthy accreditation process. Final approval is expected in May. Officials plan to invite students next year to select the school's name, mascot and colors.

During the transition, classes will continue as scheduled with only minor changes, said Linda Howdyshell, dean of instruction at the Norco campus.

"I don't think students will see a tremendous difference right away," she said. "But we will get the benefits of being a smaller community-based organization. Here the majority of students we'll be able to meet most of their needs and students will have the opportunity to have the best of the long tradition of college."

Although each campus will operate independently, they will all be part of the Riverside Community College District. A single board of trustees will oversee all three campuses at the district level. The three schools will offer common course catalogs and transcripts.

The Norco campus, which specializes in engineering, architecture, design, agriculture, and computer science, has grown 135 percent since 1991. Then, only 3,755 students attended the campus compared to nearly 9,000 enrolled this year.

A split between the campuses was spurred by residential growth in the region, Howdyshell said.

"It's very difficult to manage one college with 26,000 people," she said.

President Richard K. Towrek, of the Moreno Valley campus, said the independence of the campus will allow more room for growth, better access to state and federal grants, and better serve the community as a whole.

"We can't go anywhere but up from here," Towrek said. "We're looking at a build out on our campus within the next 10 to 15 years."

The Moreno Valley campus specializes in areas of the medical field.

"We had to turn away 1,200 students last fall," he said, adding that only 40 acres of the 140-acre Moreno Valley campus have been built on. "We need classroom buildings and we're hoping to add a preforming arts center to our campus in the future."

The Moreno Valley campus serves more than 7,000 students.

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Norco Campus Changes
Educational center to become junior college

Students will Be involved in the Process:

1. A new name for the campus will be selected

2. A school mascot

3. School colors

Sports

1. The campus will develop better sports programs

2. Norco campus will have individual sports teams

Finance

1. The campus will be able to access more state and federal grant money.

2. More classrooms, programs, and buildings.

3. Robotics program to be added to the Engineering Department.