In 1957, when the entire population of the Eastside was only 22,000, a community college planning committee of Eastside citizens and school district officials was formed. That committee made enough progress in five years that voters in 1962 passed a $575,000 levy to establish a junior college.
A year later, in 1963, the Bellevue School District purchased 70 acres for a campus. And three years after that, in January 1966, Bellevue Community College finally opened with 464 students in a temporary home at Newport High School.
Classes on the main campus didn’t begin until fall quarter of 1969. Even then, memories of those early days center on portable classrooms and the challenge of crossing vast muddy stretches of campus, which has expanded to nearly 100 acres near I-90 and 148th in the Eastgate neighborhood.
Since then, BC’s growth has paralleled the meteoric rise of the Eastside itself, from sleepy little towns to dynamic world-class cities.
In April, 2009, the college changed its name to Bellevue College. BC is the third largest higher education institution in Washington State (behind the UW and WSU) and the largest in the community college system. BC sends more students on to four-year schools than any other community college in the state and in the past several years has begun to offer bachelor’s degrees in addition to programs that can lead to academic transfer to a 4-year college, transition to a new career, advance in a current career, or for personal enrichment.
The college serves an area which stretches from Lake Washington to the crest of the Cascades. In a typical year now, the college will touch the lives of some 37,000 learners. BC has long been a leader in lifelong learning, and has the largest Continuing Education program in the state, housed in a North Campus building near 148th and Highway 520.
– by Bart Becker
Bellevue College Presidents
(Bellevue Community College 1966-2009)
1966–1976: Dr. Merle Landerholm
1976: Dr. Roy P. Wahle (interim)
1976–1977: Dr. Wayne G. Siegel
1977–1983: Dr. Thomas E. O’Connell
1983–1988: Dr. Paul N. Thompson
1988–1989: Dr. Richard White (interim)
1989–2011: B. Jean Floten
2011–2013: Dr. Laura Saunders (interim)
2013–present: Dr. David L. Rule
Last Updated October 3, 2016