Bored as a kid, flipping through an encyclopedia of politicians and former U.S presidents like Robert Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Lyndon Johnson, Van Chaney’s passion for politics strengthened the more he looked through each page.
Van Chaney is a part-time political science professor at El Camino College and his love for politics was discovered when he was just 5 years old.
He has been focused on learning and working with it ever since then.
His father being a union representative and his mother being a teacher when he was younger and their habit of keeping up with the news helped him pursue his passion.
Political Science Professor Van Chaney, 57, sits at the steps of El Camino College Behavioral Social Science building. Chaney said he became interested in the field at a young age after seeing Richard Nixon on TV. Chaney’s mother did early childhood education as a nursery instructor, and his father delegated with united auto workers in Los Angeles working aerospace. (Madison Moody | The Union)
During his years in high school at Daniel Murphy Catholic High School in Los Angeles, which Chaney graduated from in 1985, he showed a lot of interest in political issues.
Chaney read up on Richard Nixon and how he dealt with China and the Soviet Union, going to the lengths of subscribing to two newspapers, the Los Angeles Times and USA Today, to stay informed.
After graduating, Chaney began college at West Los Angeles College in the same year and became the Associated Students Organization president.
It was at West Los Angeles College, where a work-study counselor came into the ASO offices one day, when Chaney got the chance to talk to him and was able to get an internship as a field office intern for congressman Mel Levine.
“Anyway, that’s [during his time as an intern] where I found out by another student at West Los Angeles College, who, by chance, we were talking one day and he told me he had just taken a test with the FBI. I never thought about it. It literally did not even cross my mind,” Chaney said.
That same evening, he called the FBI to learn more and was told there would be a test the next day and for him to come. The test was measured as pass or fail and was an aptitude test to join the bureau.
Part-time El Camino College political science professor Van Chaney discusses topics of African American studies with students before passing out exams on Friday, Oct. 3. When Chaney started teaching at ECC back in 2006, there were more Friday evening and night courses, but over time the schedule for most students offered classes mainly on days between Mondays and Thursdays, Chaney said. (Madison Moody | The Union)
Chaney passed, and at only 19-years-old in 1987, he began working at the FBI’s Organized Crime Investigation Division. In this same year, he transferred to Loyola Marymount University.
Later on, while still working for the FBI, he took night classes at Southwestern Law School located in Los Angeles.
“The first one [first assignment in the organized crime investigation division] I did was an undercover wiretap,” Chaney said. “And in that time frame, it was an investigation whether or not organized crime had connections with the Hollywood industry.”
His task during this assignment was to listen to code words and take record of them. Chaney recalled multiple early morning arrests and multiple encounters with gang squads, which is a law enforcement unit dealing with gang-related crime.
As Students work on an exam, Professor Van Chaney, 57, makes himself available for any questions in relations to the material given on Friday October, 3, 2025. Chaney works Part-time as a Political Science professor, but started his first teaching position at Southwest College in Spring 2006. In fall 2006 he continued at Southwest, but started teaching at Pierce college and El Camino College. (Madison Moody | The Union)
“He was outgoing, he was friendly, he likes to to talk with everybody,” Lorne Stevenson, a former FBI worker who worked with Chaney, said.
Both Chaney and Stevenson used to be professional support positions at the FBI, and these positions included conducting background checks on new applicants.
Stevenson joined the FBI a year later than Van Chaney in 1988.
“I was looking for another career path, because I really wasn’t looking as far as the agent,” Chaney said.
Chaney later began teaching with a program known as Project Match which was run under Los Angeles Community College District.
He taught for the program from summer 2005 until he started his position at El Camino college during fall 2006.
Project Match is an instructional development and professional learning program that offers mentorship and more to increase the quality instruction and diversity in community college teaching, according to the Project Match website.
This program is still available today.
Chaney joined this project because he was ready for a career change.
In 2005, he also started working with another professor at Southwestern Law School.
In the following year, a now former political science professor got a full time position elsewhere leaving ECC with an open position, which Chaney applied for, beginning his journey at ECC in 2006.
Van Chaney, 57, has been a Political Science Instructor at El Camino College for 20 years and also A full-time tenure at Los Angeles Harbor College. Chaney served for the Federal Bureau of Investigation for nineteen years, and worked on multiple political campaigns as a congressional intern for U.S Congressman Mel Levine. (Madison Moody | The Union)
Since then, Chaney has become a dedicated and committed educator whose passion for politics is recognized in every class. He continues to strive to be an inspiration for his three children.
“He’ll just go into certain topics and you can tell that he’s pretty passionate about what he’s talking about,” Jaclyn Bruce, a 19-year-old political science major and a student of Chaney’s Political Science 10 class, said.