University of California, Santa Barbara

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The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is a coeducational public university located on the Pacific Ocean in Santa Barbara County, California.

Contents 1 History 2 Academics 3 Geography 4 Nobel Laureate professors 5 Athletics 6 Reputation 7 Accommodations for students 8 Other information 9 Notable people 10 External links

History

UCSB was founded in 1909 as a small normal school for training public school teachers, and four years later moved to a 13-acre (53,000 m²) campus in the Riviera area above town. By 1935, the school was called Santa Barbara State College, or "SB State". In 1944, SB State joined the University of California system and upgraded its curriculum to provide master's degrees. Ten years later, UCSBC, as it was then called, moved to a former World War II Marine air base and began building a new campus at its present site encompassing to the eastern point called Campus Point (also known as Pelican Point or Goleta Point) of a small peninsula. To the west is a residential area called Isla Vista, which was established in 1925 and 1926. An old helipad still exists at the cliffs near Campus Point to this day, as well as a few old roads formerly serving Marine coastal artillery positions. Campus Point was used by the Marines during World War II to practice assault landings. In 1958, UCSBC was renamed UCSB, and steadily progressed to a nationally ranked research university that currently offers almost 100 bachelor's programs, 50 master's programs and over 30 Ph.D. programs.

Academics

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The predecessor to UCSB, Santa Barbara State College, focused on teacher training, industrial arts, home economics, and foreign languages. 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 in 1944 during World War II. The State College system actually sued to stop the takeover, but the suit was not supported by the Governor. A state initiative was passed, however, to stop subsequent conversions of State Colleges to University of California campuses. Originally, the vision for the UC Santa Barbara Campus was a small, several thousand student liberal arts college, a so-called `Williams College of the West'. Chronologically, UCSB is only the 3rd general-education campus of the University of California, after Berkeley and UCLA. The post WWII baby boom, the availability of a relatively spacious ex-Marine Base in Goleta for a campus led to a change of plans in the late 1950's, when UCSB was designated a multicollege campus with a Chancellor instead of a Provost. UCSB now has three undergraduate colleges: the College of Letters & Science, the College of Engineering, and the College of Creative Studies. The College of Creative Studies offers students an alternative approach to education by allowing them to pursue advanced, independent work in the arts, mathematics, and sciences. The campus also has two professional schools, the Donald Bren School of Environmental Science and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education. UCSB also hosts eight National Research Centers, including the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (at which many of the world's prominent theoretical physicists, including Stephen Hawking, are regular visitors) and the Materials Research Laboratory. Five of these Centers are supported by the National Science Foundation. Its faculty includes 5 Nobel laureates, 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 27 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 21 members of the Academy of Arts and Sciences.

UCSB is third in applications received in the UC system, behind UCLA and UCSD, and was the fourth most selective in admissions in 2005. Image:UCSBDavidsonLibrary.jpg

Geography

UCSB's campus has not been annexed by the city of Santa Barbara and is not technically part of the city. It is actually closer to Goleta. The City of Santa Barbara runs a strip of "city" through the ocean to the Santa Barbara airport, which borders the university campus. Although UCSB has a Santa Barbara mailing address, as do other unincorporated areas around the city, it is not physically in Santa Barbara city limits. The campus is divided into three parts: Main campus, Storke campus, and West campus. The campuses surround the community of Isla Vista.

Nobel Laureate professors

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• David Gross, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2004
• Alan Heeger, Nobel Prize recipient, Chemistry, 2000
• Walter Kohn, Nobel Prize recipient, Chemistry, 1998
• Herbert Kroemer, Nobel Prize recipient, Physics, 2000
• Finn Kydland, Nobel Prize recipient, Economics, 2004

Athletics

The mascot of UCSB is the Gaucho. UCSB's sports teams compete in the Big West Conference, with the exception of the men's and women's water polo teams and the men's volleyball team, which are in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Santa Barbara is best known for its women's basketball and men's soccer teams. In 2004, the men's soccer team advanced to the NCAA championship match where it lost to Indiana University Bloomington on penalty kicks. In 2005, the women's basketball team won its unprecedented ninth straight Big West Conference Championship. The team had its best year in history during the 2004 season when it advanced to the NCAA Sweet 16 where it lost to eventual champion University of Connecticut.

The Gauchos men's basketball team had its best years in the late '80s and early '90s under coach Jerry Pimm. UCSB basketball and volleyball teams play at the Thunderdome. Image:Ucsb gauchos.jpg

UCSB's most famous athletic alumni are NBA player Brian Shaw, MLB all-star shortstop Michael Young, and MLB player Barry Zito. Sports radio and television personality Jim Rome is also a graduate of UCSB.

UCSB is one of several California-based universities to discontinue their football programs. The stadium, Harder Stadium, is still used for the UCSB soccer teams.

Since 1998, UCSB athletics have received support from a booster club, the Gaucho Locos, founded by the UCSB student body. The Gaucho Locos were originally known as the Gauchoholics but changed its name due to negative connotations, especially since UCSB already has a reputation as a party school. The Gaucho Locos could be spotted at UCSB athletic events with their signature golden yellow t-shirts with a top ten list on their back, similar to the ones on The Late Show with David Letterman.

The Locos are also accompanied by their famous mascot, "The Fantom of the Dome" a man with a Zorro mask and a black cape, who usually wears denim shorts along with a golden yellow UCSB basketball jersey and a Gaucholoco t-shirt underneath.

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Reputation

In the past, UCSB had a reputation as a "party school," though the administration has made major efforts in recent years to combat that stereotype. In April 2006, Playboy Magazine named UCSB the #2 party school in its College Girl Edition, featuring several UCSB female students posing for the feature. In 2005, the Princeton Review ranked it as the #4 party school in the nation, up from #22.

In recent years, a number of professors in UCSB have won Nobel Prizes in different subject areas. [1] Additionally, UCSB is the only institution to have two Nobel Prize winners in the same year on two separate occasions.

UCSB is also a politically active campus. Many social science classes at UCSB still discuss the Bank of America arson in Isla Vista during the 70s, and how the National Guard was ordered to stabilize the campus and Isla Vista. The UCSB Campus Democrats and the UCSB College Republicans are also among the most active organizations on campus. Over the years, other political parties and organizations have also been known to be extremely active on campus, such as the Green Party, Libertarians, NORML, and the Queer Student Union.

UCSB was named one of America's 25 Hottest Colleges of 2005 by Newsweek. [2] It is currently ranked 45th among national universities (12th among public national universities) by US News and World Report [3]. Admissions are classified as "Most Selective" by US News, with a freshman admissions average GPA of 4.0 and average SAT of 1260 for the Fall 2005 class. [4]

During the last National Research Council assessments in 1995, the following UCSB departments held national ranks: Geography #4, Materials #8, Religion #9, Physics #10, Chemical Engineering #14, Electrical Engineering #19, Ecology #20, Geology #20, Sociology #23, and Chemistry #33.

UCSB also boasts the first Environmental Studies program in the country, and is widely regarded as a top school for this field.

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Accommodations for students

There are eight residence halls at UCSB, seven of which are located at the Main campus, and one of which, Francisco Torres, is located near the entrance to West campus north of Isla Vista. Francisco Torres has its own dining commons.

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, and the De La Guerra Dining Commons better known as DLG which is located between Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, and San Nicolas, it was referenced in the Jack Johnson song Bubbletoes.

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 dorm on campus.

UCSB does not require freshmen to live on campus, but the vast majority choose to either live in university-owned housing or in university-affiliated housing.

Students may also choose to rent housing in the bordering community of Isla Vista. Rent varies but is generally high. An estimated average for rent costs is $600-$800 US/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 Co-Operative.

Other sources of housing include the Fraternity/Sorority system, and outlying communities (i.e. Goleta, Santa Barbara, Montecito).

Other information

• Storke Tower is the tallest building for miles. It's home to a five octave, 61 bell carillon.
• The Daily Nexus is the campus newspaper.
• KCSB 91.9 broadcasts from beneath Storke Tower.
• The Lagoon is a large body of water near the coast line, between San Rafael and San Miguel Residence Halls. It is fed by a combination of run-off and ocean water used by the Marine Science Building's aquatic life tanks, thus, it is a combination of fresh and salt water.
• ARPANET, the world's first electronic computer network, was established on October 29, 1969 between nodes at at UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute, in Menlo Park, CA. [5]. In addition to SRI and UCLA, UCSB and the University of Utah were part of the original four network nodes. By December 5, 1969, the entire 4-node network was connected.
• Students (especially at other UC campuses) joke that UCSB stands for "University of Casual Sex and Beer" and "U Can Study Buzzed".
• UCSB is the only campus in the state of California to offer an undergraduate B.S. degree in Pharmacology.

Notable people

• Finn E. Kydland [6], Professor of Economics and 2004 Nobel Prize Laureate in Economics
• David J. Gross [7], Director of the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and 2004 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics
• Alan J. Heeger [8], Professor of Physics and of Materials and 2000 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry
• Herbert Kroemer [9], Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering and of Materials and 2000 Nobel Prize Laureate in Physics
• Walter Kohn [10], Founding director, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, Research Professor of Physics and 1998 Nobel Prize Laureate in Chemistry
• See List of University of California, Santa Barbara people

External links

• Official website
• Official athletics website
• Daily Nexus Online
• UCSB Wiki
• Greek Life
• Associated Students UCSB

Template:Big West Conferencede:University of California, Santa Barbara fr:Université de Californie à Santa Barbara ja:カリフォルニア大学サンタバーバラ校 zh:聖塔芭芭拉加利福尼亞大學