Chula Vista’s vision of bringing a four-year university on a 375-acre parcel has been in the works for decades.
As the years have gone by, the city has gotten closer to making that dream a reality.
On Tuesday at a joint meeting with Southwestern College’s board of trustees, the city took another step toward reaching their goal by directing staff to investigate opportunities to create a joint working group of the city and Southwestern College’s governing board to allow the agencies to continue working together on bringing a university to eastern Chula Vista.
SWC Governing Board President Tim Nader said there is a need for a university in the South Bay.
“Numerous studies have shown that there is a pressing need for a four-year institution here in the South County,” Nader said.
City leaders and school officials sat through an hour-long presentation Tuesday by Diane Van Hook, founder of the Dianne Van Hook University Center at the College of the Canyons, about how the College of the Canyons brought the Diane Van Hook University to fruition.
College of the Canyons is a public two-year community college within the Santa Clarita Community College District, with a facility that partners with neighboring institutions to offer educational programs not otherwise available to Santa Clarita Valley residents.
Chula Vista Mayor Mary Casillas Salas said she was impressed with the College of the Canyons-University concept. She said the concept adds to many of the options the city is looking at for a potential university.
“We do have a vision for a multi-institutional university,” Casillas Salas said. “I think the property of 375 acres is so large that it could be a free standing university, a multi-institutional university. It could be a combination of public and private universities, so the possibilities are endless.”
