Luna Community College is a public

community college A community college is a type of educational institution. The term can have different meanings in different countries: many community colleges have an "open enrollment" for students who have graduated from high school (also known as senior sec ...

Las Vegas, New Mexico Las Vegas is a city in and the county seat of San Miguel County, New Mexico, United States. Once two separate municipalities (one a city and the other a town), both were named Las Vegas—West Las Vegas ("Old Town") and East Las Vegas ("New Town" ...

. The college also has campuses in

Mora Mora may refer to: People * Mora (surname) Places Sweden * Mora, Säter, Sweden * Mora, Sweden, the seat of Mora Municipality * Mora Municipality, Sweden United States * Mora, Louisiana, an unincorporated community * Mora, Minnesota, a city * M ...

Springer Springer or springers may refer to: Publishers * Springer Science+Business Media, aka Springer International Publishing, a worldwide publishing group founded in 1842 in Germany formerly known as Springer-Verlag. ** Springer Nature, a multinationa ...

and

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca *Santa Rosa, La Pampa * Sa ...

History

The college was founded in 1969 as the result of a 1967 act of authorization by the

New Mexico Legislature The New Mexico Legislature ( es, Legislatura de Nuevo México) is the legislative branch of the state government of New Mexico. It is a bicameral body made up of the New Mexico House of Representatives and the New Mexico Senate. History The Ne ...

. Legislation to establish the school was sponsored by State Senator

Ray Leger Ray Leger (January 6, 1925 – October 14, 2009) was an American politician and educator who served as a member of the New Mexico Senate for the 8th district from 1973 to 1980. Early life and education Leger was born on January 6, 1925, in L ...

. The school was named "Luna Area Vocational Technical School" after Captain Maximiliano Luna, who was a Speaker of the

New Mexico House of Representatives ) is the lower house of the New Mexico State Legislature. There are 70 members of the House. Each member represents roughly 25,980 residents of New Mexico. The most recent elections were held on November 3, 2020. Composition Leadership Cu ...

and a member of the

Rough Riders The Rough Riders was a nickname given to the 1st United States Volunteer Cavalry, one of three such regiments raised in 1898 for the Spanish–American War and the only one to see combat. The United States Army was small, understaffed, and diso ...

. The name was changed in 2000 to Luna Community College. In 2017, LCC faced losing its accreditation after a series of governance problems and allegations of nepotism and financial wrongdoing surfaced by the

Higher Learning Commission The Higher Learning Commission (HLC) is an institutional accreditor in the United States. It has historically accredited post-secondary education institutions in the central United States: Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa ...

. LCC managed to maintain their accreditation. However, in November 2019, the Higher Learning Commission extended the college's probation, concluding that the institution remains out of compliance with two criteria for accreditation and meets five other criteria with concerns. In November 2020 the Commission reevaluated the college and removed its probationary status.https://www.hlcommission.org/download/_PublicDisclosureNotices/20191122%20PDN%20Luna%20Community%20College%20Probation.pdf

References

{{Authority control Educational institutions established in 1969 Education in San Miguel County, New Mexico Two-year colleges in the United States Buildings and structures in San Miguel County, New Mexico Las Vegas, New Mexico