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Bakersfield College was founded in 1913 by the Kern Union High School Board of Trustees with a first-year enrollment of 13 students. Bakersfield College spent its first 43 years on the Bakersfield High School campus, steadily growing in enrollment and stature. College operations were transferred to the present 153-acre main campus on Panorama Drive in 1956 with 1400 students and 89 faculty members. Since that time, Bakersfield College has grown to an all-time high of more than 17,000 students in Fall 2007 and Spring 2008 and over 253 contract faculty employed during the last year. Bakersfield College is located 118 miles north of Los Angeles and 111 miles south of Fresno, in the Southern San Joaquin Valley of Central California. Bakersfield College it is one of 110 colleges in the California Community Colleges system.

One of the distinguishing features of Bakersfield College is its rich history, accompanied by strong community roots. Generations of families have made Bakersfield College their preferred higher education choice. In response to the changing demographics of the surrounding community, the college reflects the vibrant cultural diversity that is increasing throughout California. While Bakersfield College has a long and rich history of excellence in serving a large and diverse student body, continuing to meet the educational needs of our rapidly increasing minority community presents a significant challenge in the face of declining state resources and rapidly increasing fixed costs. Bakersfield College’s student body is increasingly low-income, first-generation college, minority and academically underprepared. In response to this challenge, faculty, staff, administration and students have cooperated to leverage alternative sources of funding, such as Hispanic Serving Institution grants, to support innovative educational programming and integrated student learning opportunities.