The first decades of San Mateo Junior College focused almost exclusively on educating white-collar workers. The “junior” in the title suggested an identity rooted in the College’s relationship to UC Berkeley and Stanford. It empha­sized its role as a prep school for those and other four-year institutions. But by the end of the second world war, CSM had expanded its programs to serve a much wider variety of professional and educational needs, offering certificates in plumbing, bookkeeping, dental assisting, and many other professions and vocations. Academic education and vocational training merged. By 1955, “junior” had been dropped from the College name, thus suggesting a shift in identity: no longer a junior partner to the UCs, CSM was firmly oriented towards becoming the community’s college.

In the mid-1960s, CSM confronted its poor record with Black/African American students (just 87 enrollees in a student body of over 8,000). Acknowledging that “our tra­ditional open door is not enough,” faculty and adminis­trators created a support program for hyper-marginalized students that offered wrap-around academic and sup­port services: one-on-one tutoring and counseling, free meals, bus passes, and campus jobs. The program was highly successful, transferring 38 students in the first year, increasing Black/African American enrollment to 650, and minority enrollment generally to over 1,000.

The College Readiness Program marks a critical CSM milestone for several reasons. First, it was a homegrown program, tackling a national problem at the local level. Second, it was conspicuously proactive, seeking to bring peo­ple into the college community who had not thought of themselves as “college” material. Third, the support it offered students was financial, cultural, and academic. Fourth, it was highly effective; Bill Sommerville, director of the San Mateo Foundation, described the program as “the most comprehensive counseling and tutoring effort found on any two- or four-year campus in the country.” And al­though it evolved over the years, it never really ended. It was one of the programs that inspired the Extended Op­portunity Programs and Services (EOPS) bill in 1969. By the 1970s, EOPS had cemented the legacy of the CRP not only at CSM but at community colleges throughout North­ern California for 53 years; it continues to serve as the bedrock of student services at the College.

In 1964, College of San Mateo began broadcasting to its community on UHF television and FM radio. The goal was three-fold. First, KCSM-TV supported a highly successful broadcast training program. It afforded a rare degree of hands-on experience, and its graduates were sought after by television and radio stations.

Second, having its own television station allowed CSM students to broadcast their work and experiences to the community. And third, then-President Bortolazzo’s vision of a “College of the Air” led to over thirty years of telecourse offerings before on­line education took off in the early 21st century.

Apart from being a standout program, the story of KCSM offers an example of the College being ready to take a bold step ahead of the curve (most homes in the county did not even have UHF when the station began broadcasting) to bring the College to the community. The connection continues: CSM currently operates a student-run digital station, KDOG, and houses KCSM-FM.

The 1970s saw an influx of adult women looking to re-enter higher education. These students, however, faced many barriers, the most significant of which was child­care. Childcare was generally considered the moth­ers’ problem and not something institutions needed to address. But in 1978, CSM students sued under Title IX, arguing that the lack of childcare facilities on campus de­prived them of an “equal educational opportunity.” They won, and three years later, the Mary Meta Lazarus Center opened to serve the children of CSM students and facul­ty, with low-income families taking priority. The program today not only provides childcare but is itself a training ground for early childhood learning specialists and is thus integrated into the academic life of the College.

The current campus opened on September 30, 1963.Af­ter five previous addresses, the permanent home of the College was made possible by the energetic efforts of students, faculty, staff and administrators. Two bond mea­sures over two years, totaling $18.7 million, paid not only for College Heights but for the land that eventually be­came Skyline and Cañada Colleges. The community’s in­vestment paid off; by 1970, enrollment had skyrocketed to 20,000, and College of San Mateo — with its state-of-the-art campus, theatre, and planetarium — had become the largest community college in Northern California. The austerity ushered in by Proposition 13 put a brake on the College’s growth, but in the first decade of this century, voters once again approved $675 million to improve all three campuses in the District. The result is today’s cam­pus: a new Health and Wellness Center, the Athletic Cen­ter, housing for faculty and staff, and College Center, the focal point for the campus, housing the Learning Center, cafeteria, and a number of student services. The new cam­pus design, with the central placement of the College Center building, expresses CSM’s emphasis on student life, services, and support. The new campus is also testi­mony to the voters’ commitment to the College. Few ac­tions speak more clearly to the importance of an institu­tion to the community than the community’s willingness to pay for its improvement.