Forty years is a long time. That's how long it took the Israelites to journey from Egypt across the desert to the Promised Land.</p><p>Forty years is also how long the Los Banos Campus of Merced College has been a full-time presence in our community. It has gone through a few tribulations during that time, but today it is fulfilling the promise of a well-rounded, vibrant education for people who live on the west side of Merced County.</p><p>Forty years is worth a celebration, and that's what the campus will be doing on Dec. 8 from 6 to 8 p.m. when the school brings together former deans, faculty, students and community members.</p><p>The gathering in Room A103-4 will feature refreshments and a brief program that includes former deans Anne Newins and Karyn Dower, college president Ben Duran and board member Gene Vierra. Everyone is encouraged to attend.</p><p>In September 1971, Merced College offered classes for the first time as a full-time campus. That was the culmination of efforts by several people over several years.</p><p>In the 1960s, Dr. Joe Cox, along with Tom Wallace, had worked to have college classes offered in Los Banos in the evenings, first by Modesto Junior College and then by Merced College. Merced was a relatively new college at that time, having started in 1962.</p><p>In 1971, community leaders like Cox and Wallace convinced Dr. Lowell Barker, Merced College's president, to create a full-time campus in Los Banos, with day and evening classes offered in its own facility. Barker chose Ted McVey, who had been the college's dean of evening instruction, to be the new campus dean.</p><p>Together they found a building at 821 W. L St., which had been used by the state's Department of Water Resources as the headquarters for the construction of the San Luis Dam and Reservoir. The building was renovated, and classes began in the fall of 1971, with a staff that included the dean and five full-time faculty. The total enrollment that semester was a little more than 400 students.</p><p>In June 1978, California voters passed Proposition 13, which caused severe reductions to funding for community colleges, including Merced College.</p><p>That fall, McVey and three of the full-time faculty were transferred to Merced by new college president Bill Martineson to save money, and Merced Dean Jerry Shaffer was assigned to oversee the Los Banos Campus while at the same time continuing to direct the college's community services program in Merced.</p><p>The campus limped along for a year, and many people in the county thought it would cease as a full-time operation.</p><p>In 1980 land owner Richard Menezes came forward to donate 10 acres on Mercey Springs Road, north of Pioneer Road, within a development that would be called College Greens. The college's board of trustees committed to purchase modular buildings for the site.</p><p>In the meantime, short on funds, the college left the facility on L Street and offered classes in many different locales, including a storefront on I Street, The Red Cross building at the fairgrounds and a small building in Tabott Park. Bob Edminster kept the campus together as its coordinator.</p><p>Students and teachers had to be good navigators then, well before GPS, in order to find what places in town would be holding their classes. The campus without a campus survived until the new facility on Mercey Springs opened in fall 1982.</p><p>But there was no campus dean then and only three full-time faculty members, including Edminster and Anita Cianfichi. It was then called the Westside Center of Merced College</p><p>The Westside Center struggled until 1985, when a new president, Tom Harris, reinstated the dean position and the original name, the Los Banos Campus. Little by little the campus grew, in students and faculty. From 1992 to 1994 Edminster again agreed to lead the campus temporarily, this time as acting dean.</p><p>In 1994, Dr. Anne Newins was named campus dean. Several years later, while Newins was dean and Dr. Ben Duran was college president, developer Larry Anderson came forward, worked with Duran, and donated 120 acres of land for a new permanent campus in Los Banos, </p><p>In 2002, with Newins continuing to direct the campus, the Los Banos community passed Measure J, which provided, along with state monies, the funds to build a campus on the newly donated land. More than two-thirds of the votes cast favored the measure.</p><p>Under the deanship of Karyn Dower, the new campus was built, and it opened in 2007. It included up-to-date science laboratories -- not available at the Mercey Springs facility but needed for many majors, including nursing</p><p>Last year, with Dr. Brenda Latham as dean, the new campus served more than 2,000 students who enrolled in credit and noncredit classes.</p><p>Much has happened in 40 years, some tribulation but primarily extraordinary success -- in the educational advancement of thousands of students and in a continuing economic benefit to Los Banos.</p><p>I hope the Dec. 8 celebration draws many people -- to reminisce and to celebrate a campus that has done so much for the community for so long.</p><p>Comments on the writings of John Spevak, a 2011 California Newspaper Publishers Association's columnist award recipient, are encouraged, and can be sent via email to</p><p>john.spevak@gmail.com.