Vanguard University of Southern California

In summer 1920, Harold K. Needham, D. W. Kerr, and W. C. Pierce opened Southern California Bible School, an institution intended to prepare Christian workers for the various ministries of the church.[2][3][4] The school moved from Los Angeles to Pasadena in 1927, and was chartered by the state of California in 1939 to grant degrees. Given this new distinction, the former Southern California Bible School became Southern California Bible College, the first four-year institution of the Assemblies of God.[2] In 1943 the college received recognition by the government for the training of military chaplains. It moved to the present campus in 1950, becoming the first four-year college in Orange County. Its name was changed to Southern California College nine years later when majors in the liberal arts were added to the curriculum.