California State University, Northridge

California State University, Northridge (CSUN), colloquially known as C-SUN or Cal State Northridge, is a state-funded university in Northridge, California, USA. It is part of the California State University System, and was formerly the San Fernando Valley State College. CSUN hosts the International Conference on Technology and Persons with Disabilities each year. The university (http://www.collegeview.com/college/collegesearch/online_tours/index.jsp) is nearing completion of a massive rebuilding project after an earthquake destroyed a significant portion of the campus.

One of the few remaining orange groves in the San Fernando Valley is found on campus. The large eucalyptus trees at the edge of the campus have survived development attempts by campus designers.

Contents

1 Academics 2 Library 3 Groups and Organizations 3.1 Traditional festivities 3.2 Community services 3.3 C.S.U.N. Speech & Debate 3.4 Athletics 3.5 Student Organizations 4 Northridge Trivia 4.1 Northridge earthquake 4.2 CSUN sculpture 4.3 Notable alumni 4.4 Points of interest 5 External links

Academics

On May 1, 2005, the L.A. Daily News reported that CSUN will be lowering its general education credit requirements from 58 credits to 48, in order to improve the university's embarrassingly low on-time graduation rate. In 2003, only 3.8 percent of the student body graduated within four years, and only 32 percent graduated within six years.

There are eight colleges (http://www.csun.edu/%7Epresofc/quickfacts.html) within the university, including the [Michael D. Eisner] College of Education. CSUN's admissions program is somewhat (http://www.csun.edu/~hfanr055/reg/ftfadmr2.html) rigorous, especially in the increasingly competitive climate of California's educational systems, but especially in the graduate school (http://www.csun.edu/~hfanr055/new/masters.htm) the belief is that you can get in and then you have to prove you belong.

Library

The Oviatt library (http://library.csun.edu/) serves the campus, as well as surrounding community colleges. The Oviatt also has a very interesting retreival system that consists of a computer where you enter the title you want, and an electronic claw gets the book from the archieve.

The Communications Studies department also has a library, the Aronstam library (http://www.csun.edu/CommunicationStudies/aronstam.html), devoted to communication studies research and scholarship for undergraduate, graduate, and faculty members.

Groups and Organizations

Traditional festivities

Native Americans have used the campus to converge on for ceremonies, on a yearly basis.

The Drama department celebrates year-end by staging the local version of Yosemite's Bracebridge Dinner. The artistic events (http://www.cvpa.csun.com/atthePAC.html) that occur on the campus are often very distinguished and popular. Also, the university has a prominent band, especially the jazz band.

Community services

• KCSN radio
• Daily Sundial college newspaper

The Daily Sundial is the university's financially independent and student-run newspaper publication. The 8,000-circulation Sundial is distributed free of charge in newsstands across campus. The publication has ties to the university's Journalism Department, but is both completely ad-supported and run by a student editorial and production team. The publication has won several college journalism awards, and competes annually in the Society of Professional Journalism and Hearst college journalism award competitions.

• Communicating Common Ground
• Communication for Youth Institute

The Communicating Common Ground project is designed to alleviate tensions between the Latino/a and Armenian student populations. The community service learning project represents a coordinated effort between CSUN's Communication Studies (http://www.csun.edu/coms) department and Grant High School.

C.S.U.N. Speech & Debate

The C.S.U.N. Speech and Debate Society (http://www.csun.edu/~forensics/) is an intercollegiate forensics program committed to excellence. The team is comprised of both Inter-Collegiate policy debate and individual events and travels throughout the state and country.

Athletics

CSUN fields 18 sports (http://www.gomatadors.com/) at the NCAA Division I level. CSUN fields both men's and women's teams in basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, swimming, track and field, and volleyball. CSUN has a men's baseball team, and women's softball, tennis, and water polo teams.

CSUN was a member of the Big Sky Conference until 2000. It joined the Big West Conference in 2001. It also dropped football in 2001. The football team played at the North Campus Stadium.

Student Organizations

CSUN is a very multi-cultural university, which is evident in the multitude of ethnic and cultural student organizations. Some of them are:

CSUN Armenian Student Association - Founded in 1976
CSUN Movimiento Estudiantil Chicana/o de Aztlan - Founded in 1968

Northridge Trivia

Northridge earthquake

This campus was heavily damaged by the 1994 earthquake, including entire sections of the main library, art building, etc., but classes continued in alternative structures. The art courtyard survived.

CSUN sculpture

Travellers approaching the campus from the east, (via the San Diego (405) Freeway, for example) will see an abstract sculpture at the edge of the orange grove at the southeastern corner of the campus, which can be read from several directions as an acronym for the university. This sculpture is an impossible shape, and does not read as CSUN from a northwest view (However, that area is covered with trees and is not often walked upon).

Notable alumni

• Stephen Bollenbach - President of Hilton Hotels
• Richard Chapleau - 1995 California Teacher of the Year
• Bill Griffeth, Sue Herera, and Ron Insana - all from the cable TV station CNBC
• Florence Griffith Joyner - Olympic Athlete
• Adam Kennedy - Baseball player for the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim
• Linda Lingle - Governor of Hawaii
• Cheech Marin - Actor (Cheech and Chong)
• Jeri Taylor - Co-creator of Star Trek Voyager
• Alex Yemenidjian - Chairman/CEO of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Inc.
• Debra Winger - Actor

Points of interest

• California State University at Northridge Botanic Garden

External links

• Official site (http://www.csun.edu/)
• University Library Portal (http://library.csun.edu/)
• Official Northridge athletics site (http://www.gomatadors.com/)

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