In 1915, Santa Ana Junior College opened its doors to 25 students as a department of Santa Ana High School. It was the second community college founded in Orange County, behind Fullerton College, and the fourth oldest in all of California. In 1932, a charter of Gamma Sigma Fraternity International was granted. Beta Alpha Chapter was at the school from 1932 to 1938 but anti-fraternity agitation and lack of communication with the organization in the east made the chapter dormant by 1938. The 1933 Long Beach earthquake damaged the Santa Ana High School building, prompting the campus move to North Main Street where it remained until 1947. A bond issue passed in 1945, paving the way for development of a 48-acre (194,000 m2) campus at its current location. Santa Ana College plays host to Middle College High School, a small alternative high school in the Santa Ana Unified School District in which students can earn their Associate of Arts degree at the same time as their high school diploma. In the late 1970s the college purchased the properties on Martha Lane south of the original campus and that land is now part of the parking lot. Recent years have witnessed the further development of and annexation of adjacent property to the original location.
For a short time, the college was known as Rancho Santiago College, but the name changed back to Santa Ana College in the late 1990s.
The college has various programs lead to the awarding of associate degrees in Arts and Sciences, as well as vocational certificates.
Santa Ana College is also home to the Tessmann Planetarium which was renovated and now has a state-of-the art planetarium system. It is the largest, both in diameter (30 ft) and seating capacity planetarium in the County of Orange CA. It was completed and became operational in 1967.
Santa Ana College is also home to Around and About Orange County News and Noticiero Latino del Condado de Orange (NLCO), student-produced weekly news shows. NLCO became the first Spanish language college newscast produced by a community college.
The TV Department uses the college's Digital Media Center to produce, shoot, and edit the college's newscast.
The Journalism & Media Studies Department writes, edits, and publishes the college's nationally recognized online and printed news called el Don.[3]
Santa Ana College sponsors 18 sports programs.[4] The 9 men's sports programs are baseball, basketball, cross country, football, soccer, swimming, track and field, water polo and wrestling. The 9 women's programs are basketball, beach volleyball, cross country, soccer, softball, swimming, track and field, volleyball and water polo.
