University of California

About UC Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara (commonly referred to as UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public research universityand one of the 10 campuses of the University of California system. The main campus is located on a 1,022-acre (414 ha) site near Goleta, California, United States, 8 miles (13 km) from Santa Barbara and 100 miles (160 km) northwest of Los Angeles. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944 and is the third-oldest general-education campus in the system.

UCSB is one of America's Public Ivy universities, which recognizes top public research universities in the United States. The university is a comprehensive doctoral university and is organized into five colleges and schools offering 87 undergraduate degrees and 55 graduate degrees. UCSB was ranked 37th among "National Universities", 8th among U.S. public universities and 24th among Best Global Universities by U.S. News & World Report 's 2016 rankings. The university was also ranked 48th worldwide for 2016-17 by the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and 42nd worldwide by the Academic Ranking of World Universitiesin 2016.

UC Santa Barbara is a "very high activity" research university with twelve national research centers, including the renowned Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics. Current UCSB faculty includes six Nobel Prize laureates, one Fields Medalist, 29 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 27 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 31 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. UCSB was the No. 3 host on the ARPAnet and was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1995.

The UC Santa Barbara Gauchos compete in the Big West Conference of the NCAA Division I. The Gauchos have won NCAA national championships in men's soccer and men's water polo.

• College of Engineering

• College of Letters & Science

• Gevirtz Graduate School of Education

History of UC Santa Barbara

UCSB traces its origins back to the Anna Blake School which was founded in 1891 and offered training in home economics and industrial arts. The Anna Blake School was taken over by the state in 1909 and became the Santa Barbara State Normal School, which then became the Santa Barbara State College in 1921. In 1944 intense lobbying by an interest group in the City of Santa Barbara led by Thomas Storke and Pearl Chase persuaded the State Legislature, Governor Earl Warren, and the Regents of the University of California to move the State College over to the more research-oriented University of California system. The State College system sued to stop the takeover, but the Governor did not support the suit. A state initiative was passed, however, to stop subsequent conversions of State Colleges to University of California campuses. From 1944 to 1958 the school was known as Santa Barbara College of the University of California, before taking on its current name. When the vacated Marine Corps training station in Goleta was purchased for the rapidly growing college, Santa Barbara City College moved into the vacated State College buildings.

Originally, the Regents envisioned a small, several thousand-student liberal arts college, a so-called "Williams College of the West", at Santa Barbara. Chronologically, UCSB is the third general-education campus of the University of California, after Berkeley and UCLA (the only other state campus to have been acquired by the UC system). The original campus the Regents acquired in Santa Barbara was located on only 100 acres (40 ha) of largely unusable land on a seaside mesa. The availability of a 400-acre (160 ha) portion of the land used as Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara until 1946 on another seaside mesa in Goleta, which the Regents could acquire for free from the federal government, led to that site becoming the Santa Barbara campus in 1949. Originally, only 3000–3500 students were anticipated, but the post WWII baby boom led to the designation of general campus in 1958, along with a name change from "Santa Barbara College" to "University of California, Santa Barbara," and the discontinuation of the industrial arts program for which the State college was famous. A Chancellor, Samuel B. Gould, was appointed in 1959. All of this change was done in accordance with the California Master Plan for Higher Education.

In 1959, UCSB professor Douwe Stuurman hosted the English writer Aldous Huxley as the university's first visiting professor. Huxley delivered a lectures series called "The Human Situation".

In the late 1960s and early 1970s UCSB became nationally known as a hotbed of anti-Vietnam War activity. A bombing at the school's faculty club in 1969 killed the caretaker, Dover Sharp. In the spring 1970 multiple occasions of arson occurred, including a burning of the Bank of America branch building in the student community of Isla Vista, during which time one male student, Kevin Moran, was shot and killed by police. UCSB's anti-Vietnam activity impelled then Governor Ronald Reagan to impose a curfew and order the National Guard to enforce it. Weapon-carrying guardsmen were a common sight on campus and in Isla Vista during this time.

In 1995, UCSB was elected to the Association of American Universities, an organization of leading research universities, with a membership consisting of 59 universities in the United States (both public and private) and two universities in Canada.

On May 23, 2014, a killing spree occurred in Isla Vista, California, a community in close proximity of the campus. All six people killed during the rampage were students at UCSB. The murderer was a former Santa Barbara City College student who lived in Isla Vista.

Accreditation

Institutional Accreditation or Recognition - WASC Senior College and University Commission

Rankings

• The 2016 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked UC Santa Barbara as tied for the 37th best university (and 8th best public university) in the United States.
• UCSB also placed 6th among public universities in its list of colleges and universities that offer students the best education value.
• Money Magazine ranked UC Santa Barbara 93rd in the country out of the nearly 1500 schools it evaluated for its 2015 Best Colleges ranking.
• The Daily Beast ranked UC Santa Barbara 40th in the country out of the nearly 2000 schools it evaluated for its 2013 Best Colleges ranking.
• In 2015 Kiplingerranked UCSB 16th out of the top 100 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and 3rd in California.
• UC Santa Barbara was ranked 17th in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNet's Social Mobility Index college rankings

Student life @UC Santa Barbara

UCSB is a politically active campus. For the 2008 presidential election, UCSB won a national college competition for student voter registration by registering 10857 voters, or 51.5% of the student population. Over the years, many political parties and organizations have been known to be active on campus, such as the College Republicans, Campus Democrats, Green Party, Libertarians, NORML, and the Queer Student Union.

There are a variety of on campus centers offering social, recreational, religious, and preprofessional activities for students. The UCSB Multicultural Center puts on numerous activities every year to support students of color and promote awareness of diversity issues on campus. Other organizations and centers include the Daily Nexus, a daily newspaper, the La Cumbre Yearbook, the school radio station, KCSB 91.9, The Bottom Line, a weekly newspaper, and the Gaucho Free Press, the campus's conservative magazine. The UCSB Recreation Center also hosts a variety of activities, from Adventure Programs to ballroom dancing classes. Further UCSB Hillel offers a space for UCSB's large Jewish population and a place for Jewish students to come together in a unique building in Isla Vista. Students socialize at the Arbor, the UCen, the Coral Tree Cafe the Courtyard Cafe and for a special lunch, the Faculty Club.

UCSB is also known for its annual free music festival, Extravaganza. It is held at Harder Stadium in the spring and generally attracts around 8,000 people. Past performers have included Nas, T.I., E-40, Sublime, Run-D.M.C., The Pharcyde, Social Distortion, Jack Johnson, Drake and Snoop Dogg amongst many others.

The Nu chapter of Phrateres, a non-exclusive, non-profit social-service club, was installed here in 1939. Between 1924 and 1967, 23 chapters of Phrateres were installed in universities across North America.

Housing

There are eight residence halls at UCSB, seven of which are located at the main campus. One, Santa Catalina, is located near the entrance to West Campus north of Isla Vista.

Santa Catalina has its own dining commons, Portola Dining Commons, as well as a heated swimming pool, two lounges, numerous study rooms, two recreational rooms, a gym, as well as tennis courts and an expansive lawn. Because Santa Catalina is nearly 1 mi (1.6 km) off-campus, it has its own campus police station as well as housing offices and Res-Net support center.

The Main Campus residence halls are found in two different locations. On the east end of campus are the residence halls named after five of the Channel Islands: Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Miguel and San Nicolas. There are two dining commons located near the Channel Islands residence halls. The Ortega Dining Commons is located between San Miguel and the University Center (UCen), and the De La Guerra Dining Commons (DLG) is located between Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and San Nicolas.

The two other residence halls, San Rafael and Manzanita Village, are located on the west side of campus and primarily house continuing and transfer students. The Carrillo Dining Commons is located in Manzanita Village, right next to San Rafael Hall. Manzanita Village was completed in 2002, and is the newest residence hall on campus.

In addition, the university also has four housing complexes for graduate students and their families: San Clemente Villages for single graduate students, Santa Ynez Apartments, El Dorado Apartments, Westgate Apartments, and family student housing: West Campus Apartments and the Storke Apartment complexes. There is also Faculty Housing at the West Campus Point and new construction underway at the North Campus. The Sierra Madre Villages, located by the West Campus Apartments, was completed in September 2015 and was the first residential complex certified as LEED platinum throughout the entire UC system. UC Santa Barbara is the only campus in the UC system with any "LEED for Homes" certifications.

Private residence halls are also available to UCSB students. Tropicana Del Norte, located directly adjacent to the Main Campus, houses UCSB students in 51 furnished suites and has an on-site dining hall and heated pool.

Students may also choose to rent housing in the bordering community of Isla Vista. An estimated average for rent costs is US$500–$800/month to share a bedroom, and includes trash pickup and water utilities. Low-cost housing is limited, with the cheapest source being the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative.

Other sources of housing include the Greek System, and outlying communities (i.e. Goleta, Santa Barbara, Isla Vista, Montecito). Some students live in Isla Vista, which is immediately adjacent to campus. Isla Vista since the early 1960s has a reputation of being a party environment. UCSB is also affiliated with the Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative in Isla Vista, which seeks to provide low rent co-op housing regardless of gender, race, social, political, or religious affiliation, and thereby influencing the community to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the community.

Services of UC Santa Barbara

There are a number of academic resources offered by the university, including a writing center, open computer labs, a machine shop, a career and counseling center, and drop-in academic advising.

A large Recreation Center provides classes and facilities for students and faculty. The Center has swimming pools, racquetball courts, a rock wall, and exercise machines. The University Center has facilities for meetings and presentations, and also contains a bookstore, restaurants, and a cashier.

UCSB has a health clinic. Students with ailments or seeking medical assistance may consult a physician at the clinic. The clinic also offers basic health care and provides emergency medicine and contraceptives. The university is the only UC campus with its own Paramedic Rescue Unit. It is staffed by full-time professional paramedics and part-time undergraduate EMTs.

SexInfo, which was started in 1976 by Professors John and Janice Baldwin, is run by students doing advanced course work and research on sexuality through UCSB's SociologyDepartment. The site is dedicated to providing accurate information about sexuality in a way that is both informative and personal. SexInfo answers questions sent in by readers from all over the world, as well as regularly updates and posts articles on various topics related to human sexuality. This program helps students getting their degree in psychology.