University of California, Santa Barbara

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) is a coeducational public university located in Santa Barbara County, California. UCSB's campus was annexed by the city of Santa Barbara and thus is technically part of the city, though it is closer in proximity to Goleta. The campus is divided into three parts: Main campus, Storke campus, and West campus. The campuses surround the community of Isla Vista. It is one of ten University of California campuses.

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Contents

1 History 2 Academics 3 Athletics 4 Reputation 5 Campus 5.1 Academic buildings 5.1.1 Cheadle Hall 5.1.2 CCS Trailer 5.1.3 Kerr Hall 5.1.4 South Hall 5.2 Residence halls 5.3 Other 6 Notable people 7 External links

History

UCSB was founded in 1909 as a small 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 ("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 (an old helipad still exists on campus point) and began building a new campus at its present site. In 1958, UCSBC was renamed UCSB, and steadily progressed to a nationally ranked research university that currently offers almost 100 bachelor's, 50 master's and over 30 Ph.D. programs.

Academics

UCSB was originally a small independent teacher's college, but it was designated a University of California campus after World War II during the UC's postwar expansion and was relocated and rebuilt accordingly. 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, 14 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 26 members of the National Academy of Engineering, and 12 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.

Athletics

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, which are often among the best in the country. 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's most famous athletic alumnus are NBA player Brian Shaw, who has played for the Boston Celtics, Miami Heat, Orlando Magic and Los Angeles Lakers, and MLB all-star shortstop Michael Young who plays for the Texas Rangers.

UCSB was one of several California-based universities to discontinue their football programs during the 1990s.

SportsRadio and television personality Jim Rome is also a graduate of UCSB.

Since 1998, UCSB athletics have gotten huge support from a booster club, the Gaucholocos founded by the UCSB student body. The Gaucholocos were originally known as the Gauchoholics but changed its name due to negative connotations, especailly since UCSB already has a reputation as a party school. The Gaucholocos 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 David Letterman Show.

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 wear denim shorts along with a golden yellow UCSB basketball jersey and a Gaucholoco t-shirt underneath. Many of the cheers and antics used by the Gaucholocos are considered to be some of the most original cheers and entertaining West of the Mississippi.

Reputation

In the past, UCSB had a well-deserved reputation as a "party school," though the administration has made major efforts in recent years to combat that stereotype. See the article on Isla Vista for more information.

In recent years, a number of professors in UCSB have won Nobel Prizes in different subject areas. [1] (http://www.ucsb.edu/nobel/index.shtml) Additionally, UCSB is the only institution to have two nobel prize winners in the same year on two separate occasions.

Despite being known as a laid back campus, UCSB is actually a politcally active campus. Many social science classes at UCSB still discuss about the Bank of America burning in Isla Vista during the 70s, and how National Guards were ordered to stablize the campus and Isla Vista. The UCSB Campus Democrats and the UCSB College Republicans are also amongst the most active organizations on campus. While the College Republicans have been known to attract notable conservative speakers to the campus, such as Oliver North, Ann Coulter, and UC Regent Ward Connerly, the Campus Democrats on the other hand have been known for their grassroot campaign by helping local, statewide, and national candidates elected including Walter Capps and wife Lois Capps to Congress. Despite their political rivalries, each year the Campus Democrats and College Republicans would have a barbecue and play each other in one of UCSBs favorite past time, in a Slosh Ball game (softball with a keg of beer on the second base, runner must chug down a beer before advancing to third). 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.

Through records by the Santa Barbara County Registrar, UCSB has actually registered more voters over the years then campuses with higher enrollment and well-known political activities like UCLA and UC Berkeley. This has prompted conservative north Santa Barbara County crying for succession, especially after the result in the 2002 recall election of County Supervisor Gail Marshall.The voters of north Santa Barbara County in the Santa Ynez Valley claims that the high number of registered voters and turn-out in UCSB and Isla Vista does not reflect the sentiments of their part of the county. This is due to the fact that the north part of the county is mainly dominated by agricultural and land developing interest, while voters in UCSB and Isla Vista mainly vote according to environmental concerns.

UCSB was named one of America's 25 Hottest Colleges of 2005 by Newsweek. [2] (http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1177) It is currently ranked 45th among national universities (13th among public national universities) by US News and World Report. [3] (http://www.usnews.com/usnews/edu/college/rankings/rankindex_brief.php) Admissions are fairly selective, with a freshman admissions average GPA of 3.99 and a SAT of 1260 for the Fall 2005 class. [4] (http://www.ia.ucsb.edu/pa/display.aspx?pkey=1277)

During the last National Research Council assessments---in 1995---the following UCSB departments held the following 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

Campus

Academic buildings

Cheadle Hall

The Office of the Chancellor and the main office of the College of Letters and Science are in this building.

CCS Trailer

The CCS Trailer is the headquarters of the College of Creative Studies (CCS), which is a small, special college in UCSB. The trailer is officially known as trailer #494. It houses the offices of the Dean of CCS; a lounge, a computer room and classrooms for CCS students.

Kerr Hall

Home to the Learning Labs, Television Services, Media Equipment, and Instructional Resources.

South Hall

South Hall is located next to the picturesque Storke Bell Tower. It houses the Department of Mathematics, the Department of English, the Department of Black Studies, and the Department of Chicano and Chicana Studies. Two stories high.

Residence halls

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. The Main campus Residence Halls are found in two different locations. On the east end of campus are the residence halls named after the five channel islands: Santa Rosa, Santa Cruz, Anacapa, San Miguel 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. Manzanita Village was completed in 2002.

Other

• 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's source of water is a combination of run-off and ocean water used by the Marine Science Building's aquatic life tanks.
• The Daily Nexus is the campus newspaper.

Notable people

• See List of University of California, Santa Barbara people

External links

• UCSB official website (http://www.ucsb.edu/)

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