University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UC Santa Barbara joined the University of California system in 1944. It is the third-oldest campus in the system, after Berkeley, and UCLA.

UCSB's campus sits on the oceanfront site of a converted WWII-era Marine Corps air station. UCSB is organized into three undergraduate colleges (Letters and Science, Engineering, and Creative Studies) and two graduate schools (Education and Environment), offering more than 200 degrees and programs. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity" and is regarded as a Public Ivy. The university has 12 national research centers and institutes, including the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and NSF Quantum Foundry. According to the National Science Foundation, UC Santa Barbara spent $305.48 million on research and development in fiscal year 2023, ranking it 105th in the nation. UCSB was the No. 3 host on the ARPAnet and was elected to the Association of American Universities in 1995.

UCSB alumni, faculty, and researchers have included 11 Nobel Prize laureates, founders of more than 90 companies, 1 Fields Medalist, 50 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 34 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 56 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. The faculty also includes two Academy and Emmy Award winners and recipients of a Millennium Technology Prize, an IEEE Medal of Honor, a National Medal of Technology and Innovation, a Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics, and a Dan David Prize.

History

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, Gov. 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 constitutional amendment was passed in 1946 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 a 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.

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 one of the main national hotbeds of marxist, anti–Vietnam War political activism. A bombing at the school's faculty club in 1969 killed the caretaker, Dover Sharp. In the spring of 1970, multiple instances 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-Gov. Ronald Reagan to impose a curfew and order the National Guard to enforce it. Armed guardsmen were common on campus and in Isla Vista during this time.

Campus

UCSB is located on cliffs directly above the Pacific Ocean. UCSB's campus is completely autonomous from local government and has not been annexed by the city of Santa Barbara, and thus is not part of the city. While it appears closer to the recently formed city of Goleta, a parcel of the City of Santa Barbara that forms a strip of "city" through the ocean to the Santa Barbara airport, runs through the east entrance to the university campus. Although UCSB has a Santa Barbara mailing address, as do other unincorporated areas around the city, only this entry parcel is in the Santa Barbara city limits. The campus is divided into four parts: the Main (East) Campus of 708 acres (287 ha), which houses all academic units, plus the majority of undergraduate housing; Storke Campus; West Campus; and North Campus. The campuses surround the unincorporated community of Isla Vista.

UCSB is one of the few universities in the United States with its own beach. The campus, bordered on two sides by the Pacific Ocean, has miles of coastline, its own lagoon, and the rocky extension, Goleta Point, which is also known as "Campus Point". The campus has numerous walking and bicycle paths across campus, around the lagoon, and along the beach. It also owns and manages the Coal Oil Point nature preserve on the West Campus.

Much of the campus's early architecture was designed by famed architect William Pereira and his partner Charles Luckman and made heavy use of custom-tinted and patterned concrete blocks. This design element was carried over into many of the school's subsequent buildings.

The UCSB Libraries, consisting of the Davidson Library and the Arts Library, hold more than three million bound volumes and millions of microforms, government documents, manuscripts, maps, satellite and aerial images, sound recordings, and other materials. Situated at the center of campus, the Davidson Library in June 2013 broke ground on a significant addition and renovation project, which was completed in November 2015 with re-opening to the public in January 2016.

Campbell Hall is the university's largest lecture hall with 862 seats. It's also the main venue for the UCSB Arts & Lectures series, which presents special performances, films, and lectures for the UCSB campus and Santa Barbara community.

Storke Tower, completed in 1969, is the tallest steel/cement structure in Santa Barbara County. It can be seen from most places on campus, and it overlooks Storke Plaza. It is home to a five-octave, 61-bell carillon. KCSB 91.9 and the Daily Nexus have headquarters beneath Storke Tower.

Academics

UC Santa Barbara is a large, comprehensive, primarily residential doctoral university. The full-time, four-year undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments and has a liberal arts & sciences focus with high graduate coexistence. UCSB is organized into five colleges and schools offering 87 undergraduate degrees and 55 graduate degrees. The campus is the sixth-largest in the UC system by enrollment with 18,620 undergraduate and 3,065 graduate students. In 2015, UCSB was designated a Hispanic-Serving Institution.

Admissions

Admission to UC Santa Barbara is rated as "most selective" by U.S. News & World Report. UC Santa Barbara no longer uses SAT or ACT scores in admission decisions or for scholarships.

UC Santa Barbara had an acceptance rate of 33.0% for the 2024 incoming freshman class. 110,266 applied, 36,347 were admitted, and 5,008 enrolled. The average High School GPA was 4.3.

Research activity

According to the UCSB Office of Research, UC Santa Barbara budgeted $235.3 million on research and development in fiscal 2020, with the National Science Foundation contributing $60.5 million; Department of Defense-$40 million; UC General Fund-$28 million; Industry- $19.5 million; National Institutes of Health-$17 million; Department of Energy-$9 million; Non-Profit-$8.7 million; Other-$20 million. Corporate research partners in the College of Engineering include military contractors Raytheon Vision Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

From 2005 to 2009, UCSB was ranked fourth in terms of relative citation impact in the U.S. (behind MIT, Caltech, and Princeton University) according to Thomson Reuters.

UCSB hosts 12 National Research Centers, including the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, the National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis, the Southern California Earthquake Center, the UCSB Center for Spatial Studies, an affiliate of the National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis, and the California Nanosystems Institute. Eight of these centers are supported by the National Science Foundation. UCSB is also home to Microsoft Station Q, a research group working on topological quantum computing where American mathematician and Fields Medalist Michael Freedman is the director.

Teaching and degrees

The focus of the University of California is on research. Like all University of California campuses, UCSB prioritizes academic development over vocational learning. Undergraduate teaching is centered on lectures, with larger lecture classes having sections. Sections may be tutorial style, or they may be set up as seminars or discussions. For undergraduates, UCSB confers both B.A. and B.S. degrees. Music majors may pursue a Bachelor of Music degree. Graduate teaching involves seminar-style classes and an emphasis on research and further study. UCSB confers M.A., M.S., and Ph.D. degrees. Those studying music may pursue a MM or DMA degree. Students pursuing a career in education may receive a MEd or EdD degree. The university granted 5,812 bachelor's, 578 master's, and 354 Ph.D. degrees in 2010–2011.

Organization

Santa Barbara is one of the ten major campuses affiliated with the University of California. The University of California is governed by a 26-member board of regents, 18 of which are appointed by the Governor of California to 12-year terms, seven serving as ex officio members, and a single student regent. The position of chancellor was created in 1952 to lead individual campuses. The Board of Regents appointed Henry T. Yang to be the fifth chancellor of the university in 1994.

Colleges and schools

UC Santa Barbara has three 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 supporting advanced, independent work in the arts, mathematics, and sciences. The campus also has two professional schools: the Bren School of Environmental Science & Management, located in Bren Hall, and the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education.

Institutes and programs

Founded in 1973, the Institute for Social, Behavioral, and Economic Research (ISBER), originally the Community and Organization Research Institute (CORI), is the research unit for work in the social sciences. In 1990, it absorbed the Social Process Research Institute (SPRI), and its work now includes the humanities.

In 2008, the Institute for Energy Efficiency was founded to establish a new, cross-disciplinary institute that would integrate the many diverse research projects in energy efficiency and provide a focus for work in this area.

Student activities and traditions

Social

UCSB is a politically active campus. For the 2008 presidential election, UCSB won a national college competition for student voter registration by registering 10,857 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, Young Democratic Socialists of America, and Queer Student Union.

There are a variety of on-campus centers that offer social, recreational, religious, and preprofessional activities for students. The UCSB Multicultural Center hosts numerous activities yearly 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 school radio station, KCSB 91.9; The Bottom Line, a weekly newspaper; and The Gaucho Free Press, the campus's conservative magazine.

Housing

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

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 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.

Athletics

The mascot of UCSB is the Gaucho and the school colors are blue and gold. UCSB's sports teams compete in the Big West Conference, except for the men's water polo, men's and women's swimming, and the men's volleyball teams, which are in the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation. Santa Barbara is best known for its men's swimming and men's soccer teams. In 2006, UCSB won its first NCAA men's soccer title and second overall NCAA championship (1979 water polo) in school history.

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