The Mission College Interim Campus was housed on the site of the vacant Jefferson Middle School at the corner of Monroe Street and Lawrence Express in Santa Clara, California in early September, 1975. From this humble beginning, three members originally appointed for full-time duty—Teri Chiang (Mathematics), Don Joslen (Fine Arts), and Son Le (Philosophy)) worked with Administrator Burt Hermosillo with the support of several part-time faculty volunteers from West Valley College to offer morning and evening classes. By summer, 1976, the Governing Board had appointed Warren Sorenson as founding president. Mission College’s first Commencement took place in June, 1977 with the President of Santa Clara University as Commencement Speaker. How to make a Mission College diploma, replica Mission College certificate, replica US diploma.

Notably, among a handful of graduates for Mission College Class ’77 was Eddie Sousa who was later elected Mayor of Santa Clara. The birth of Mission College seemed uneventful; its full development was not, however. Reported disputes over noise levels at West Valley College with its Saratoga residents helped changed the membership of the long-serving Governing Board, leading in upper management changes at both West Valley and Mission Colleges soon after the new Mission College campus was completed in 1979. Even though the departure of its founding president was unexpected, among many legacies of his was Mission College’s commitment students as individual learners: individualized self-paced learning, decades before the advent of the digital revolution and cyber learning.

The 12 acres of land that was today’s Mission College was bought in Santa Clara in between 1966 and 1967. Later, by 1970, 164 acres of land in total was bought and acquired. The first piece of the Mission College Interim Campus construction plan was completed during 1979, which is also the start of the 1979–80 academic year, which enrolled about 3,500 students, 8 administrators, and 73 instructors.