Lassen Community College (Lassen) is a small, rural, two-year institution serving a 23,000 square-mile, 5-county area of North and Central California lying east of the Sierra Nevada Mountains. Despite its large size, the service area has a total population of only 77,000 residents, ranging from a high of less than eight people per square mile in Lassen County (an area the size of Connecticut) to less than three people per square mile in remote Modoc County. These figures present a stark contrast to the average density of over 217 people per square mile for the state of California (US Census 2000). Although the socio-economic base is increasingly changing, the area is historically a region of forest products and agriculture. For the unfamiliar, it is the general region of the Ponderosa Ranch of Bonanza fame. Established in 1925, Lassen has experienced considerable challenges during the past 77 years as it responds to the increasingly diverse educational needs of its large service area.