The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
land-grant
A land grant is a gift of real estate—land or its use privileges—made by a government or other authority as an incentive, means of enabling works, or as a reward for services to an individual, especially in return for military service. Grants ...
research university
A research university or a research-intensive university is a university that is committed to research as a central part of its mission. They are the most important sites at which knowledge production occurs, along with "intergenerational kno ...
California
California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...
with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
10-university system. 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 undergraduate campus in the system, after
UC Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public university, public land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of Californi ...
and
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
Located on a
WWII
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
-era Marine air station, UC Santa Barbara is organized into three undergraduate colleges ( College of Letters and Science,
College of Engineering
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
,
College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
) and two graduate schools (
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education is a graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara which specializes in the field of education and counseling, clinical and school psychology. It is located in technology-enabled Education ...
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. KITP is one of the most renowned institutes for theoretical physics in the world, and brings theorists in physics and rela ...
and the Center for Control, Dynamical-Systems and Computation. UCSB has various organized research units (ORUs) researching
evolutionary psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...
,
neuroscience
Neuroscience is the scientific study of the nervous system (the brain, spinal cord, and peripheral nervous system), its functions and disorders. It is a multidisciplinary science that combines physiology, anatomy, molecular biology, development ...
,
marine science
Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, Wind wave, waves, and geophysical flu ...
, and more. According to the
National Science Foundation
The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent agency of the United States government that supports fundamental research and education in all the non-medical fields of science and engineering. Its medical counterpart is the National I ...
, UC Santa Barbara spent $235 million on research and development in fiscal year 2018, ranking it 100th in the nation. UCSB was the No. 3 host on the
ARPAnet
The Advanced Research Projects Agency Network (ARPANET) was the first wide-area packet-switched network with distributed control and one of the first networks to implement the TCP/IP protocol suite. Both technologies became the technical fou ...
and was elected to the
Association of American Universities
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...
in 1995.
Current UCSB faculty includes six
Nobel Prize
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfr ...
laureates, one
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
ist, 39 members of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, 27 members of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
, and 34 members of the
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences (abbreviation: AAA&S) is one of the oldest learned societies in the United States. It was founded in 1780 during the American Revolution by John Adams, John Hancock, James Bowdoin, Andrew Oliver, and ...
Public Ivy
"Public Ivy" is a term that refers to prestigious Public university, public colleges and universities in the United States that provide a collegiate experience similar to those in the Ivy League.Richard Moll in his book ''Public Ivys: A Guide to ...
. The faculty also includes two Academy and Emmy Award winners, and recipients of a
Millennium Technology Prize
The Millennium Technology Prize ( fi, Millennium-teknologiapalkinto) is one of the world's largest technology prizes. It is awarded once every two years by Technology Academy Finland, an independent foundation established by Finnish industries, ...
, an
IEEE Medal of Honor
The IEEE Medal of Honor is the highest recognition of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). It has been awarded since 1917, when its first recipient was Major Edwin H. Armstrong. It is given for an exceptional contribution ...
Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics
The Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics is one of the Breakthrough Prizes, awarded by the Breakthrough Prize Board. Initially named Fundamental Physics Prize, it was founded in July 2012 by Russia-born Israeli entrepreneur, venture capita ...
.
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
Thomas More Storke (November 23, 1876 – October 12, 1971) was an American journalist, politician, postmaster, and publisher. He was awarded with the famous Pulitzer Prize for Journalism in 1962. Storke also served as an interim United States S ...
and
Pearl Chase Pearl Chase was a civic leader in Santa Barbara, California. She is best known for her significant impact on the historic preservation and conservation of that city.
Early life
Chase was born in Boston, Massachusetts and moved to Santa Barbara ...
persuaded the State Legislature, Gov.
Earl Warren
Earl Warren (March 19, 1891 – July 9, 1974) was an American attorney, politician, and jurist who served as the 14th Chief Justice of the United States from 1953 to 1969. The Warren Court presided over a major shift in American constitution ...
, and the
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sy ...
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
Santa Barbara City College (SBCC) is a public community college in Santa Barbara, California. It opened in 1909 and is located on a campus.
History
Santa Barbara City College was established by the Santa Barbara High School District in 1909, ma ...
moved into the vacated State College buildings.Baker, Gayle, p. 83.
Originally, the regents envisioned a small, several thousand–student liberal arts college, a so-called "
Williams College
Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...
of the West", at Santa Barbara. Chronologically, UCSB is the third general-education campus of the University of California, after
Berkeley
Berkeley most often refers to:
*Berkeley, California, a city in the United States
**University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California
* George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher
Berkeley may also refer ...
and
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
(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 of largely unusable land on a seaside mesa. The availability of a portion of the land used as
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara
Marine Corps Air Station Santa Barbara (MCAS Santa Barbara) was a United States Marine Corps air station that was located in Goleta, California north of Los Angeles during World War II. It was also known as the Goleta Air Station in the 1940s. ...
until 1946 on another seaside mesa in
Goleta
Goleta or La Goleta may refer to:
* ''Goleta'' (spider), a spider genus
* Goleta, California, United States, a suburban city in Santa Barbara County
* La Goleta, the Spanish and Portuguese name for La Goulette
La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), i ...
, 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
A baby boom is a period marked by a significant increase of birth rate. This demographic phenomenon is usually ascribed within certain geographical bounds of defined national and cultural populations. People born during these periods are often ca ...
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
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
, Samuel B. Gould, was appointed in 1959.
In 1959, UCSB professor Douwe Stuurman hosted the English writer
Aldous Huxley
Aldous Leonard Huxley (26 July 1894 – 22 November 1963) was an English writer and philosopher. He wrote nearly 50 books, both novels and non-fiction works, as well as wide-ranging essays, narratives, and poems.
Born into the prominent Huxley ...
as the university's first visiting professor. Huxley delivered a lectures series called "The Human Situation".
In the late '60s and early '70s, 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 of 1970, multiple occasions of
arson
Arson is the crime of willfully and deliberately setting fire to or charring property. Although the act of arson typically involves buildings, the term can also refer to the intentional burning of other things, such as motor vehicles, wat ...
occurred, including a burning of the
Bank of America
The Bank of America Corporation (often abbreviated BofA or BoA) is an American multinational investment bank and financial services holding company headquartered at the Bank of America Corporate Center in Charlotte, North Carolina. The bank w ...
branch building in the student community of
Isla Vista
Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...
, during which time one male student, Kevin Moran, was shot and killed by police. UCSB's anti-Vietnam activity impelled then-Gov.
Ronald Reagan
Ronald Wilson Reagan ( ; February 6, 1911June 5, 2004) was an American politician, actor, and union leader who served as the 40th president of the United States from 1981 to 1989. He also served as the 33rd governor of California from 1967 ...
to impose a
curfew
A curfew is a government order specifying a time during which certain regulations apply. Typically, curfews order all people affected by them to ''not'' be in public places or on roads within a certain time frame, typically in the evening and ...
and order the
National Guard
National Guard is the name used by a wide variety of current and historical uniformed organizations in different countries. The original National Guard was formed during the French Revolution around a cadre of defectors from the French Guards.
Nat ...
to enforce it. Armed 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
The Association of American Universities (AAU) is an organization of American research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education. Founded in 1900, it consists of 63 universities in the United States ( ...
, an organization of leading research universities, with a membership consisting of 59 universities in the United States (both
public
In public relations and communication science, publics are groups of individual people, and the public (a.k.a. the general public) is the totality of such groupings. This is a different concept to the sociological concept of the ''Öffentlichkei ...
and
private
Private or privates may refer to:
Music
* " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation''
* Private (band), a Denmark-based band
* "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...
) and two universities in Canada.
On May 23, 2014, a killing spree occurred in
Isla Vista, California
Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at ...
, a community in close proximity to 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.
Elmer Noble
Elmer Ray Noble, (16 January 1909 – 8 March 2001) was professor of zoology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and an internationally recognized protozoologist and parasitologist.
Noble was born in Pyongyang, Korea, to American Meth ...
Vernon Cheadle Vernon Irvin Cheadle (February 6, 1910 – July 23, 1995) was an American botanist, educator and university administrator. He served as the second chancellor of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) from 1962 until 1977.
He was bor ...
*1977–1986:
Robert Huttenback
Robert Arthur Huttenback (March 8, 1928 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany – June 10, 2012, Camarillo, California) was the third Chancellor of UC Santa Barbara from 1977 to 1986. He was ousted from the post in July 1986 after allegations that he and h ...
*1986–1987:
Daniel G. Aldrich
Daniel Gaskill Aldrich, Jr. (July 12, 1918 – April 9, 1990) was the founding Chancellor (education)#United States, chancellor at the University of California, Irvine from 1962 to 1984. He also served as acting chancellor at the University of Ca ...
(acting)
*1987–1994:
Barbara Uehling
Barbara Uehling Charlton (June 12, 1932 – January 2, 2020) was an American educator and university administrator. She served as the 3rd chancellor and 17th chief executive officer of the University of Missouri campus in Columbia, Missouri. She w ...
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
, the title of the chief executive was changed to provost. In September 1958, the
Regents of the University of California
The Regents of the University of California (also referred to as the Board of Regents to distinguish the board from the corporation it governs of the same name) is the governing board of the University of California (UC), a state university sy ...
established Santa Barbara as a general university campus, and the official title of the chief executive was changed to
chancellor
Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...
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
Goleta or La Goleta may refer to:
* ''Goleta'' (spider), a spider genus
* Goleta, California, United States, a suburban city in Santa Barbara County
* La Goleta, the Spanish and Portuguese name for La Goulette
La Goulette (, it, La Goletta), i ...
, 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 west 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 , 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
Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...
.
UCSB is one of a 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 owns and manages Coal Oil Point nature preserve on the West Campus.
Much of the campus's early architecture was designed by famed architect
William Pereira
William Leonard Pereira (April 25, 1909 – November 13, 1985) was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco. Remarkably pro ...
and his partner
Charles Luckman
Charles Luckman (May 16, 1909 – January 26, 1999) was an American businessman, property developer, and architect known for designing landmark buildings in the United States such as the Theme Building, Prudential Tower, Madison Square Garden, ...
, and made heavy use of custom tinted and patterned concrete block. This design element was carried over into many of the school's subsequent buildings.
Recently, it has been announced that the campus will feature a new four-story building, set to be completed by 2023.
The lagoon is a large body of water adjacent to the coastline, between San Rafael and San Miguel Residence Halls. It was created from a former tidal salt marsh flat, and is fed by a combination of runoff and ocean water used by the Marine Science Building's aquatic life tanks; thus it's a unique combination of fresh and salt water.
The
UCSB Libraries
The University of California, Santa Barbara Library is the university library system of the University of California, Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara, California. The Library includes four facilities: Two libraries (the Main Library (Davidson Libr ...
, consisting of the Davidson Library and the Arts Library, hold more than three million bound volumes and millions of
microform
Microforms are scaled-down reproductions of documents, typically either films or paper, made for the purposes of transmission, storage, reading, and printing. Microform images are commonly reduced to about 4% or of the original document size. F ...
s, 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
Storke Tower is a landmark campanile (bell and clock tower) located on the campus of the University of California, Santa Barbara in the United States. Dedicated for use on September 28, 1969, the 61-bell carillon tower stands tall. It was desi ...
, completed in 1969, is the tallest steel/cement structure in
Santa Barbara County
Santa Barbara County, California, officially the County of Santa Barbara, is located in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 448,229. The county seat is Santa Barbara, and the largest city is Santa Maria.
Santa Barba ...
. It can be seen from most places on campus, and it overlooks Storke Plaza. It is home to a five-octave, 61-bell
carillon
A carillon ( , ) is a pitched percussion instrument that is played with a keyboard and consists of at least 23 cast-bronze bells. The bells are hung in fixed suspension and tuned in chromatic order so that they can be sounded harmoniou ...
Daily Nexus
The ''Daily Nexus'' is a campus newspaper at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
''Daily Nexus'' lineage can be traced to the Santa Barbara State College student newspaper, ''The Eagle'', of the 1930s. After the college becam ...
'' have headquarters beneath Storke Tower.
The UCSB Family Vacation Center, founded in 1969, is a summer family camp located on campus that draws over 2,000 guests each summer. The staff of over 50 includes many UCSB students who have been extensively trained as camp counselors.
Layout
The university (itself termed a campus of the University of California) is divided into two physical campuses: West Campus and East Campus. The vast majority of university facilities, including all lecture halls and laboratories, are in the East Campus. The two campuses are connected by a large strip (known as the North and Storke Campuses) to the north which contain university housing and athletic fields. Thus, the university surrounds Isla Vista on three sides. West Campus, aside from a few buildings dedicated to faculty housing, has largely been leased out to private organizations, and includes a school for the disabled (part of the Devereux Foundation) and a large nature preserve, the Coal Oil Point Reserve. The largest sand dunes on the south-facing coast of the Santa Barbara Channel are located here.
The East Campus centers around two quadrangles, separated from each other by the Davidson (main) Library and bus circle, and the life sciences buildings. Along the western quad are Storke Plaza and buildings housing the various arts, social sciences, and humanities departments. The Student Resource Building and the Events Center are also located along this quad. Surrounding the wider, park-like eastern quad are buildings housing the physical sciences departments and the College of Engineering. Directly to the south of, but not adjacent to, the eastern quad are the life sciences and psychology departments, as well as most of the on-campus housing. The southernmost section of the campus is dominated by the lagoon. The peninsula extending from the beach into the lagoon contains a labyrinth.
Bicycles
UCSB is known for its extensive biking system. A recent survey says that 53% of UCSB students get around by cycling. Bicycles have exclusive right of way on a series of specifically designated paths throughout East Campus.
Bicycle stand
A bicycle parking rack, usually shortened to bike rack and also called a bicycle stand, is a device to which bicycles can be securely attached for Bicycle parking, parking purposes. A bike rack may be free standing or it may be securely attache ...
s and lockers are ubiquitous. There is a bicycle registration service at the Community Service Organization (CSO) office in order to prevent theft and increase the likelihood of bike recovery. UCSB is unique among bicycle-heavy areas in that most travel is done within a small radius.
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 an 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
A Hispanic-serving institution (HSI) is defined in federal law as an accredited, degree-granting, public or private nonprofit institution of higher education with 25% or more total undergraduate Hispanic or Latino full-time equivalent (FTE) stude ...
.
Admissions
Admission to UC Santa Barbara is rated as "most selective" by '' U.S. News & World Report''.
UC Santa Barbara received 93,442 applications for admission to the Fall 2019 incoming freshman class; 27,719 were admitted, with an acceptance rate of 29.7%. The GPA and test scores for the middle 25%-75% of admitted students is as follows: range of enrolled freshmen
SAT
The SAT ( ) is a standardized test widely used for college admissions in the United States. Since its debut in 1926, its name and scoring have changed several times; originally called the Scholastic Aptitude Test, it was later called the Schol ...
scores was 630–730 for evidence-based reading and writing, 650–790 for math, while the ACT composite middle 50% range was 26–31.
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
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is a private land-grant research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Established in 1861, MIT has played a key role in the development of modern technology and science, and is one of the m ...
,
Caltech
The California Institute of Technology (branded as Caltech or CIT)The university itself only spells its short form as "Caltech"; the institution considers other spellings such a"Cal Tech" and "CalTech" incorrect. The institute is also occasional ...
, and
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...
) according to
Thomson Reuters
Thomson Reuters Corporation ( ) is a Canadian multinational media conglomerate. The company was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where it is headquartered at the Bay Adelaide Centre.
Thomson Reuters was created by the Thomson Corpora ...
.
UCSB hosts 12 National Research Centers, including the
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. KITP is one of the most renowned institutes for theoretical physics in the world, and brings theorists in physics and rela ...
, the
National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis The National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS) is a research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara, in Santa Barbara, California, Santa Barbara, California. Better known by its acronym, NCEAS (pronounced “n-seas ...
, the
Southern California Earthquake Center
The Southern California Earthquake Center (SCEC) is a collaboration of more than 1,000 scientists across 100 research institutions with a mission to: conduct research on earthquakes in Southern California and elsewhere by gathering data, conductin ...
, the
UCSB Center for Spatial Studies
The UCSB Center for Spatial Studies (spatial@ucsb) is a research center at the University of California, Santa Barbara. The center was founded in 2008 by Michael Goodchild, and focuses on spatial thinking across domains, spatial intelligence, ge ...
, an affiliate of the
National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis The National Center for Geographic Information and Analysis (NCGIA) was founded in 1988 and hosted at three member campuses: The University of California, Santa Barbara; the State University of New York at Buffalo; and the University of Maine.
The ...
, and the
California Nanosystems Institute
The California NanoSystems Institute (CNSI) is an integrated research center operating jointly at UCLA and UC Santa Barbara. Its missions are to foster interdisciplinary collaborations for discoveries in nanosystems and nanotechnology; train the ...
. 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
A topological quantum computer is a theoretical quantum computer proposed by Russian-American physicist Alexei Kitaev in 1997. It employs quasiparticles in two-dimensional systems, called anyons, whose world lines pass around one another to fo ...
where American mathematician and
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
ist
Michael Freedman
Michael Hartley Freedman (born April 21, 1951) is an American mathematician, at Microsoft Station Q, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1986, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the 4-dimensional gene ...
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
Bachelor of Music (BM or BMus) is an academic degree awarded by a college, university, or conservatory upon completion of a program of study in music. In the United States, it is a professional degree, and the majority of work consists of prescr ...
degree. Graduate teaching involves seminar style classes and an emphasis on research and further study. UCSB confers
M.A.
A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...
, 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
Edd, or EDD may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Dolorous Edd, a character from ''A Song of Ice and Fire'' and its adaptation, ''Game of Thrones''
* Edd (''Ed, Edd n Eddy''), a character of the ''Ed, Edd n Eddy'' cartoon
* Edd the Duck, a puppet
...
degree. The university granted 5,812 bachelor's, 578 master's, and 354 Ph.D degrees in 2010–2011.
Rankings
UCSB is considered to be a "
Public Ivy
"Public Ivy" is a term that refers to prestigious Public university, public colleges and universities in the United States that provide a collegiate experience similar to those in the Ivy League.Richard Moll in his book ''Public Ivys: A Guide to ...
". The 2021 edition of '' U.S. News & World Report'' ranked UC Santa Barbara as tied for the 6th best public university and tied for the 30th best university in the United States. ''
Money
Money is any item or verifiable record that is generally accepted as payment for goods and services and repayment of debts, such as taxes, in a particular country or socio-economic context. The primary functions which distinguish money are as ...
'' magazine ranked UC Santa Barbara 30th in the U.S. out of the 744 schools it evaluated for its 2019 Best Colleges ranking. In 2019, ''
Kiplinger
Kiplinger ( ) is an American publisher of business forecasts and personal finance advice which is a subsidiary of Future plc.
Kiplinger Washington Editors, Inc., was a closely held company managed for more than nine decades by three generations ...
'' ranked UCSB 30th out of 174 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and fifth in California. UC Santa Barbara was ranked 32nd in the United States out of 1,380 colleges and universities by Payscale and CollegeNet's 2018 Social Mobility Index rankings.
Research impact rankings
The ''
Times Higher Education World University Rankings
The ''Times Higher Education World University Rankings'' (often referred to as the THE Rankings) is an annual publication of university rankings by the ''Times Higher Education'' (THE) magazine. The publisher had collaborated with Quacquarelli ...
'' ranked UCSB 48th worldwide for 2016–17, while the ''
Academic Ranking of World Universities
The ''Academic Ranking of World Universities'' (''ARWU''), also known as the Shanghai Ranking, is one of the annual publications of world university rankings. The league table was originally compiled and issued by Shanghai Jiao Tong University ...
'' (ARWU) in 2016 ranked UCSB 42nd in the world, 28th in the nation, and in 2015 tied for 17th worldwide in engineering.
In the United States National Research Council rankings of graduate programs, 10 UCSB departments were ranked in the top ten in the country: Materials, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, Marine Science Institute, Geography, History, and Theater and Dance. Among U.S. university Materials Science and Engineering programs, UCSB was ranked first in each measure of a study by the
National Research Council National Research Council may refer to:
* National Research Council (Canada), sponsoring research and development
* National Research Council (Italy), scientific and technological research, Rome
* National Research Council (United States), part of ...
of the
NAS
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
The Centre for Science and Technologies Studies at
Leiden University
Leiden University (abbreviated as ''LEI''; nl, Universiteit Leiden) is a Public university, public research university in Leiden, Netherlands. The university was founded as a Protestant university in 1575 by William the Silent, William, Prince o ...
in the Netherlands ranked UCSB as the seventh-best research university in the world based on mean normalized citation score, and as the second best in the world based on the proportion of the publications to the top 10% most frequently cited.
''The Global Research Report: United States'' published by Thomson Reuters in November 2010 rated UCSB's research fourth nationally in citation impact.
Among U.S. university economics programs, in 2010 UCSB was ranked sixth for experimental economics, third for environmental economics, and 12th for cognitive and behavioral economics by RePEc.
''
Washington Monthly
''Washington Monthly'' is a bimonthly, nonprofit magazine of United States politics and government that is based in Washington, D.C. The magazine is known for its annual ranking of American colleges and universities, which serves as an alternat ...
'' named UCSB as the 20th best national university in 2020, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.
Other rankings
In the United States National Research Council rankings of graduate programs, 10 UCSB departments were ranked in the top ten in the country: Materials, Chemical Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering,
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
, Marine Science Institute, Geography, History, and Theater and Dance.
''U.S. News & World Report''s 2016 rankings placed UCSB's graduate programs in Materials Engineering and Chemical Engineering the second and ninth best in the U.S., respectively; graduate school Physics was ranked 10th best, including the fifth-best program for Condensed Matter Physics, seventh-best program for Quantum Physics, seventh-best program for Elementary Particles/Field/String Theory, and eighth-best program for Cosmology/Relativity/Gravity. In terms of the social sciences, UCSB's graduate program in Sociology is ranked first for research in sex and gender, and the History department is ranked seventh for women's history.
UCSB's Department of Communication was recognized as top in the nation based on data from the National Research Council's study. Several areas in UCSB's Department of Communication have been Ranked Best in Nation by the National Communication Association. Specifically, UCSB's Department of Communication has been ranked first in the nation for Interpersonal and Small Group Communication, first in the nation for Intercultural/International Communication, second in the nation Organizational Communication, fourth in the nation for Communication and Technology, and 17th in the nation for Mass Communication.
UCSB's Department of Communication has been ranked third in the nation in terms of research productivity, according to a recent analysis of scholarly articles that have appeared in eight academic journals sponsored by the National Communication Association and the International Communication Association. In addition, UCSB's Department of Communication has been named one of the top high-impact departments in the nation.
In 2015, ''
QS World University Rankings
''QS World University Rankings'' is an annual publication of university rankings by Quacquarelli Symonds (QS). The QS system comprises three parts: the global overall ranking, the subject rankings (which name the world's top universities for the ...
'' ranked UCSB 129th in the world.
''
Forbes
''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...
'' magazine ranked the university 114th in the nation (and 50th best research university) in July 2016. This ranking focuses mainly on net positive financial impact, in contrast to other rankings, and generally ranks liberal arts colleges above most research universities.
PayScale's 2015–16 College Salary Report (ranking universities in terms of graduates' salary potential), UCSB came in first in computer science, seventh in engineering, 14th in Humanities, and 30th in Social Sciences.
UCSB was ranked third in ''
The Princeton Review
The Princeton Review is an education services company providing tutoring, test preparation and admission resources for students. It was founded in 1981. and since that time has worked with over 400 million students. Services are delivered by 4,0 ...
s 2015 list of top party schools.
Organization
Santa Barbara is one of the ten major campuses affiliated with the
University of California
The University of California (UC) is a public land-grant research university system in the U.S. state of California. The system is composed of the campuses at Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, Los Angeles, Merced, Riverside, San Diego, San Francisco, ...
. The University of California is governed by a 26-member
Board of Regents
In the United States, a board often governs institutions of higher education, including private universities, state universities, and community colleges. In each US state, such boards may govern either the state university system, individual col ...
, 18 of which are appointed by the
Governor of California
The governor of California is the head of government of the U.S. state of California. The governor is the commander-in-chief of the California National Guard and the California State Guard.
Established in the Constitution of California, the g ...
to 12-year terms, seven serving as ''
ex officio
An ''ex officio'' member is a member of a body (notably a board, committee, council) who is part of it by virtue of holding another office. The term '' ex officio'' is Latin, meaning literally 'from the office', and the sense intended is 'by right ...
'' 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
*
College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
*
College of Engineering
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education is a graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara which specializes in the field of education and counseling, clinical and school psychology. It is located in technology-enabled Education ...
College of Engineering
Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any advanced education and specializations that ...
, and the
College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
. 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
The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education is a graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara which specializes in the field of education and counseling, clinical and school psychology. It is located in technology-enabled 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 February 2015, UCSB opened The Confucius Institute on campus, one of about 400 installments located around the world. It will be aimed at promoting the study of
Chinese language
Chinese (, especially when referring to written Chinese) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and many minority ethnic groups in Greater China. About 1.3 billion people (or approximately 16% of the wor ...
,
culture
Culture () is an umbrella term which encompasses the social behavior, institutions, and norms found in human societies, as well as the knowledge, beliefs, arts, laws, customs, capabilities, and habits of the individuals in these groups.Tyl ...
,
history
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...
,
science
Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe.
Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...
,
politics
Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...
, and
economics
Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services.
Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
.
In 2008, the
Institute for Energy Efficiency The Institute for Energy Efficiency (IEE) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). IEE is an interdisciplinary research institute dedicated to the development of science and technologies that increase energy ef ...
was founded with the goal to establish a new, cross-disciplinary institute that would integrate the many diverse research projects in
energy efficiency
Energy efficiency may refer to:
* Energy efficiency (physics), the ratio between the useful output and input of an energy conversion process
** Electrical efficiency, useful power output per electrical power consumed
** Mechanical efficiency, a ra ...
and provide a focus for work in this area.
Academic year
The university runs on a
quarter system
An academic quarter refers to the division of an academic year into four parts.
Historical context
The modern academic quarter calendar can be traced to the historic English law court / legal training pupillage four term system:
* Hilary: Ja ...
. There are three terms in the normal academic year: fall, winter, and spring, as well as a summer term. At the beginning of each term, there are one to three days of pre-instructional activities, where faculty meet to discuss instructional plans. During this period, students acquaint themselves to the campus and have the opportunity to take placement tests. At the end of each term, one week is devoted to final exams and special academic activities. There are 146 days of instruction, with a minimum of 48 per term.
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
A green party is a formally organized political party based on the principles of green politics, such as social justice, environmentalism and nonviolence.
Greens believe that these issues are inherently related to one another as a foundation ...
,
Libertarians
Libertarianism (from french: libertaire, "libertarian"; from la, libertas, "freedom") is a political philosophy that upholds liberty as a core value. Libertarians seek to maximize autonomy and political freedom, and minimize the state's enc ...
,
NORML
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws (NORML ) is a social welfare organization based in Washington, D.C., that advocates for the reform of marijuana laws in the United States regarding both medical and non-medical use. Acc ...
,
Young Democratic Socialists of America
The Young Democratic Socialists of America (YDSA) is the youth section of the Democratic Socialists of America. The organization was known as Young Democratic Socialists (YDS) until 2017.
History
Formerly known as the Democratic Socialists o ...
, and 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
The ''Daily Nexus'' is a campus newspaper at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
''Daily Nexus'' lineage can be traced to the Santa Barbara State College student newspaper, ''The Eagle'', of the 1930s. After the college becam ...
'', 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.
The UCSB Recreation Center also hosts a variety of activities, from adventure programs to
ballroom dancing
Ballroom dance is a set of partner dances, which are enjoyed both socially and competitively around the world, mostly because of its performance and entertainment aspects. Ballroom dancing is also widely enjoyed on stage, film, and television.
...
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 Club and Guest House.
UCSB is also known for its annual free music festival,
Extravaganza
An extravaganza is a literary or musical work (often musical theatre) usually containing elements of burlesque, pantomime, music hall and parody in a spectacular production and characterized by freedom of style and structure. It sometimes also ha ...
. It is held at Harder Stadium in the spring and generally attracts around 8,000 people. Past performers have included
Nas
Nas (born 1973) is the stage name of American rapper Nasir Jones.
Nas, NaS, or NAS may also refer to:
Aviation
* Nasair, a low-cost airline carrier and subsidiary based in Eritrea
* National Air Services, an airline in Saudi Arabia
** Nas Air ( ...
E-40
Earl Tywone Stevens Sr. (born November 15, 1967), better known by his stage name E-40, is an American rapper. He is a founding member of the rap group The Click, and the founder of Sick Wid It Records. He has released 26 studio albums to date, a ...
Run-D.M.C.
Run-DMC (also spelled Run-D.M.C.) was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York City, founded in 1983 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. Run-DMC is regarded as one of the most influential acts in the history of ...
,
The Pharcyde
The Pharcyde (currently known as The Far Side) is an American alternative hip hop group, formed in 1989, from South Central Los Angeles. The original four members of the group are Imani (Emandu Wilcox), Slimkid3 (Trevant Hardson), Bootie Brown ...
,
Social Distortion
Social Distortion is an American punk rock band formed in 1978 in Fullerton, California. The band currently consists of Mike Ness (lead vocals, lead guitar), Jonny Wickersham (rhythm guitar, backing vocals), Brent Harding (bass, backing voca ...
Drake
Drake may refer to:
Animals
* A male duck
People and fictional characters
* Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family name
* Drake (given name), a list of people and fictional characters with the given name
* ...
,
Dada Life
Dada Life are a Swedish DJ duo formed in 2006, which consists of Olle Cornéer and Stefan Engblom. They have released three albums, a number of singles and remixes and one compilation. The duo had early chart success in Belgium and the Netherlan ...
,
Jane's Addiction
Jane's Addiction is an American rock band from Los Angeles, formed in 1985. The band consists of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, drummer Stephen Perkins and bassist Eric Avery. Jane's Addiction was one of the first bands from t ...
, and
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. (born October 20, 1971), known professionally as Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg and briefly Snoop Lion), is an American rapper. His fame dates back to 1992 when he featured on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, " ...
, among many others.
The Nu chapter of Phrateres, a non-exclusive nonprofit social-service club, was installed here in 1939. Between 1924 and 1967, 23 chapters of Phrateres were installed in universities across North America.
Greek life
Housing
There are eight
residence halls
A dormitory (originated from the Latin word ''dormitorium'', often abbreviated to dorm) is a building primarily providing sleeping and residential quarters for large numbers of people such as boarding school, high school, college or university s ...
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.
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 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
The Channel Islands ( nrf, Îles d'la Manche; french: îles Anglo-Normandes or ''îles de la Manche'') are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two Crown Dependencies: the Bailiwick of Jersey, ...
:
Santa Rosa
Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose.
Santa Rosa may also refer to:
Places Argentina
*Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city
* Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca
* Santa Rosa, La Pampa
* S ...
, 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
Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) is a
green building certification program used worldwide. Developed by the non-profit U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC), it includes a set of rating systems for the design, construction ...
platinum throughout the entire UC system. UC Santa Barbara is the only campus in the UC system with any "LEED for Homes" certifications.
Billionaire
Charles Munger
Charles Thomas Munger (born January 1, 1924) is an American billionaire investor, businessman, and former real estate attorney. He is vice chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, the conglomerate controlled by Warren Buffett; Buffett has described Mung ...
has promised the university a $200 million donation on condition that it builds an 11-story dormitory, to be called Munger Hall, following his design, which assigns each of 4,536 residents a small individual room, 94% without natural light, in order to house more students and to encourage socialization in common areas. UCSB's acceptance of the proposal, presented in October 2021, led to the resignation of architect Dennis McFadden from the campus design review committee, followed by protests from students and from others including the
AIA AIA or A.I.A. or Aia may refer to:
Aia
* Aia, a small town in the Basque province of Gipuzkoa, Spain
* Aia, current Kutaisi, ancient capital of Colchis
* Aia, another name for Aea (Malis), an ancient town in Greece
* ''Aia'', the collected ed ...
. In October 2022, the plan was modified to eliminate two floors, reducing the capacity of the building to 3,500.
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
Isla Vista is an unincorporated community and census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Barbara County, California in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. The majority of residents are college students at t ...
. An estimated average for rent costs is $500 to $800 a month to share a bedroom, and includes trash pickup and water utilities. Parking on UCSB's campus is restricted during the day to students living farther than 2 miles from campus, so many Isla Vista residents often bike to class. Low-cost housing is limited, with the cheapest source being the
Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative
The Santa Barbara Student Housing Coop (SBSHC) is a student housing cooperative designed to provide affordable housing for students attending post-secondary institutions in Santa Barbara County. It is a member of NASCO. The first coop was establ ...
.
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. Since the early '60s, Isla Vista has had a reputation of being a party environment. UCSB is also affiliated with the
Santa Barbara Student Housing Cooperative
The Santa Barbara Student Housing Coop (SBSHC) is a student housing cooperative designed to provide affordable housing for students attending post-secondary institutions in Santa Barbara County. It is a member of NASCO. The first coop was establ ...
in Isla Vista, which seeks to provide low rent co-op housing regardless of gender, race, social, political, or religious affiliation, thereby influencing the community to eliminate prejudice and discrimination in the community.
Services
There are a number of academic resources offered by the university, including a
writing center Writing centers provide students with assistance on their papers, projects, reports, multi-modal documents, web pages, and other writerly needs across disciplines. Although writing center staff are often referred to as Tutors, writing centers are p ...
, open
computer lab
A computer lab is a space where computer services are provided to a defined community. These are typically public libraries and academic institutions. Generally, users must follow a certain user policy to retain access to the computers. This usu ...
s, a
machine shop
A machine shop or engineering workshop (UK) is a room, building, or company where machining, a form of subtractive manufacturing, is done. In a machine shop, machinists use machine tools and cutting tools to make parts, usually of metal or plast ...
, a career and counseling center, and drop-in academic advising.
The UCSB Recreation Center provides classes and facilities for students and faculty. The center has swimming pools,
racquetball
Racquetball is a racquet sport and a team sport played with a hollow rubber ball on an indoor or outdoor court. Joseph Sobek invented the modern sport of racquetball in 1950, adding a stringed racquet to paddleball in order to increase velo ...
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 healthcare, and provides emergency medicine and contraceptives. The university is the only UC campus with its own paramedic rescue unit. It's 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
Human sexuality is the way people experience and express themselves sexually. This involves biological, psychological, physical, erotic, emotional, social, or spiritual feelings and behaviors. Because it is a broad term, which has varied ...
through UCSB's
Sociology
Sociology is a social science that focuses on society, human social behavior, patterns of Interpersonal ties, social relationships, social interaction, and aspects of culture associated with everyday life. It uses various methods of Empirical ...
Department. 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.
Athletics
The mascot of UCSB is the
Gaucho
A gaucho () or gaúcho () is a skilled horseman, reputed to be brave and unruly. The figure of the gaucho is a folk symbol of Argentina, Uruguay, Rio Grande do Sul in Brazil, and the south of Chilean Patagonia. Gauchos became greatly admired and ...
and the school colors are blue and gold. UCSB's sports teams compete in the
Big West Conference
The Big West Conference (BWC) is an American collegiate athletic conference whose member institutions participate in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's Division I. The conference was originally formed on July 1, 1969, as the Pacific ...
, with the exception of 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
The Mountain Pacific Sports Federation (MPSF) is a college athletic conference with members located mostly in the western United States, although it now has members as far east as Pennsylvania. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I ...
. Santa Barbara is best known for its men's swimming and men's soccer teams. In 2006, UCSB won their first NCAA men's soccer title and its second overall NCAA championship (1979 water polo) in school history.
While there are some 400 students in ICA, there are over 700 in club sports teams, including Alpine racing, cycling,
fencing
Fencing is a group of three related combat sports. The three disciplines in modern fencing are the foil, the épée, and the sabre (also ''saber''); winning points are made through the weapon's contact with an opponent. A fourth discipline, s ...
,
field hockey
Field hockey is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with ten outfield players and a goalkeeper. Teams must drive a round hockey ball by hitting it with a hockey stick towards the rival team's shooting ci ...
,
lacrosse
Lacrosse is a team sport played with a lacrosse stick and a lacrosse ball. It is the oldest organized sport in North America, with its origins with the indigenous people of North America as early as the 12th century. The game was extensively ...
rugby
Rugby may refer to:
Sport
* Rugby football in many forms:
** Rugby league: 13 players per side
*** Masters Rugby League
*** Mod league
*** Rugby league nines
*** Rugby league sevens
*** Touch (sport)
*** Wheelchair rugby league
** Rugby union: 1 ...
, sailing, soccer,
triathlon
A triathlon is an endurance multisport race consisting of Swimming (sport), swimming, Cycle sport, cycling, and running over various distances. Triathletes compete for fastest overall completion time, racing each segment sequentially with the t ...
,
ultimate frisbee
Ultimate, originally known as ultimate Frisbee, is a non-contact team sport played with a frisbee flung by hand. Ultimate was developed in 1968 by AJ Gator in Maplewood, New Jersey. Although ultimate resembles many traditional sports in its ath ...
,
water ski
Water skiing (also waterskiing or water-skiing) is a Surface water sports, surface water sport in which an individual is pulled behind a boat or a Cable skiing, cable ski installation over a body of water, skimming the surface on two skis or ...
, and
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...
. Many of these teams are highly regarded and compete against Intercollegiate teams from across the U.S. For example,
rowing
Rowing is the act of propelling a human-powered watercraft using the sweeping motions of oars to displace water and generate reactional propulsion. Rowing is functionally similar to paddling, but rowing requires oars to be mechanically atta ...
has produced several national team members including nine-time National Rowing Team member Amy Fuller, winner of several Olympic and World Championship medals, and currently head of the
UCLA
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
Rowing Program. The UCSB cycling team has also produced several national team members, Olympians, and members of numerous U.S. and international professional teams.
Hundreds of students participate in a large intramural program consisting of badminton, basketball, bowling, flag football, golf, floor hockey, indoor and outdoor soccer, racquetball, squash, running, softball, tennis, table tennis, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, inner-tube water polo, and kickball.
Surfing also draws many students to UCSB. The on-campus beaches include a number of decent surfing sites, including "Poles," "Campus Point," "Depressions" and "Sands" and "Devereaux Point" on West Campus. Because Campus Beach actually faces south and east, and is shielded by the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, the surf is usually quite small. However, a large north or west swell can wrap in to create great waves that are typically very clean and good for surfing. UCSB has a surf team that competes in National Scholastic Surfing Association competitions and is generally considered one of the best in the nation. They continued their reputation by winning a record 14th national title at the college level in 2010's finals.
People
Notable faculty
Current UCSB faculty have received several prestigious awards, including six
Nobel Prizes
The Nobel Prizes ( ; sv, Nobelpriset ; no, Nobelprisen ) are five separate prizes that, according to Alfred Nobel's will of 1895, are awarded to "those who, during the preceding year, have conferred the greatest benefit to humankind." Alfre ...
and a
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
. In addition, there are 29 members of the
National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences (NAS) is a United States nonprofit, non-governmental organization. NAS is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and the Nati ...
, 27 members of the
National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering (NAE) is an American nonprofit, non-governmental organization. The National Academy of Engineering is part of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, along with the National Academy ...
Allison Anders
Allison Anders (born November 16, 1954) is an American independent film director whose films include ''Gas Food Lodging'', ''Mi Vida Loca'' and ''Grace of My Heart''. Anders has collaborated with fellow UCLA School of Theater, Film and Televisio ...
, American film and television director
*
Tanya Atwater
Tanya Atwater (born 1942) is an American geophysicist and marine geologist who specializes in plate tectonics. She is particularly renowned for her early research on the plate tectonic history of western North America.
Early life and education
At ...
, professor of
Geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
, known for work on plate tectonics
* Stanley Awramik, professor of
Geology
Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Ear ...
, bio-geologist and expert on Precambrian deposits and the
origin of life
In biology, abiogenesis (from a- 'not' + Greek bios 'life' + genesis 'origin') or the origin of life is the natural process by which life has arisen from non-living matter, such as simple organic compounds. The prevailing scientific hypothes ...
* Alison Brysk, Mellichamp chair in global governance, Global Studies Department
*
Charles Bazerman
Charles Bazerman (born 1945) is an American educator and scholar. He was born and raised in New York. He has contributed significantly to the establishment of writing as a research field. Best known for his work on genre studies and the rhetor ...
, Distinguished Professor of Education at the
Gevirtz Graduate School of Education
The Gevirtz Graduate School of Education is a graduate school at the University of California, Santa Barbara which specializes in the field of education and counseling, clinical and school psychology. It is located in technology-enabled Education ...
and
College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
Writing & Literature faculty, 2020 Exemplar Award Winner from the Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC) and founder of the International Society for the Advancement of Writing Research and its international conference, Writing Research Across Borders (WRAB).
*
Walter Holden Capps
Walter Holden Capps (May 5, 1934 – October 28, 1997) was an American academic and politician. He served as a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 22nd congressional district from January ...
(1934–1997), also known as Walter H. Capps. Religious Studies professor. U.S. Representative from California 22nd District (Democrat), 1997; (defeated, 1994) died in office 1997.
* Nick Carter, 1928 Olympian, track coach (1939–1958)
* Michael G. Crandall, professor emeritus of mathematics, winner of the Leroy P. Steele Prize for Seminal Contribution to Research
*
Leda Cosmides
Leda Cosmides (born May 1957) is an American psychologist, who, together with anthropologist husband John Tooby, helped develop the field of evolutionary psychology.
Biography
Cosmides originally studied biology at Radcliffe College/Harvard Univ ...
, Distinguished Professor of Psychological & Brain Sciences, co-founder of modern
Evolutionary Psychology
Evolutionary psychology is a theoretical approach in psychology that examines cognition and behavior from a modern evolutionary perspective. It seeks to identify human psychological adaptations with regards to the ancestral problems they evolv ...
Electrical Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
, principal investigator for UCSB ARPAnet
* Dimitrije Dordevic (1922–2009), professor of Balkan History
* Renzo Fenci (1914–1999), professor of Fine Art from 1947 until 1954.
*
Matthew P. A. Fisher
Matthew P. A. Fisher is an American theoretical physicist and Professor of Physics at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and is known for several major contributions to condensed matter physics. He completed his bachelor's degree in en ...
, professor of physics, is known for several major contributions to
condensed matter physics
Condensed matter physics is the field of physics that deals with the macroscopic and microscopic physical properties of matter, especially the solid and liquid phases which arise from electromagnetic forces between atoms. More generally, the sub ...
*
Michael Freedman
Michael Hartley Freedman (born April 21, 1951) is an American mathematician, at Microsoft Station Q, a research group at the University of California, Santa Barbara. In 1986, he was awarded a Fields Medal for his work on the 4-dimensional gene ...
, 1986
Fields Medal
The Fields Medal is a prize awarded to two, three, or four mathematicians under 40 years of age at the International Congress of the International Mathematical Union (IMU), a meeting that takes place every four years. The name of the award ho ...
Kip Fulbeck
Lawrence Keith "Kip" Fulbeck is an American artist, spoken word performer, filmmaker and author. Fulbeck's work explores identity politics.
His mixed race ethnic background is English, Welsh, Irish and Cantonese. He is best known for his work a ...
, professor of art, author, and artist exploring
Hapa
Hapa is a Hawaiian word for someone of multiracial ancestry. In Hawaii, the word refers to any person of mixed ethnic heritage, regardless of the specific mixture.: "Thus, for locals in Hawai’i, both hapa or hapa haole are used to depict p ...
identity
*
Michael Gazzaniga
Michael S. Gazzaniga (born December 12, 1939) is a professor of psychology at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the USA, where he heads the new SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind. He is one of the leading researchers in cognitive ...
, director of the SAGE Center for the Study of the Mind and professor of
Psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
, leading researcher in the field of
cognitive neuroscience
Cognitive neuroscience is the scientific field that is concerned with the study of the biological processes and aspects that underlie cognition, with a specific focus on the neural connections in the brain which are involved in mental proces ...
* Colin Gardner, professor of Integrative Studies/Critical Theory, Departments of Art, Film & Media Studies, Comparative Literature, and the History of Art and Architecture
*
Howard Giles
Howard Giles (born December 22, 1946) is a British-American social psychologist and a Distinguished Research Professor of Communication at the Department of Communication, University of California, Santa Barbara.
He was the chair of the departmen ...
, professor of
Communication
Communication (from la, communicare, meaning "to share" or "to be in relation with") is usually defined as the transmission of information. The term may also refer to the message communicated through such transmissions or the field of inquir ...
, creator of
communication accommodation theory
Communication accommodation theory (CAT) is a theory of communication developed by Howard Giles. This theory concerns "(1) the behavioral changes that people make to attune their communication to their partner, (2) the extent to which people percei ...
*
Michael Frank Goodchild
Michael Frank Goodchild (born February 24, 1944) is a British-American geographer. He is an Emeritus Professor of Geography at the University of California, Santa Barbara. After nineteen years at the University of Western Ontario, including th ...
, professor of
Geography
Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...
, winner of the 2007
Lauréat Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud
The ''Prix International de Géographie Vautrin Lud'', known in English as the Vautrin Lud Prize, is the highest award in the field of geography. Established in 1991, the award is named after the 16th Century French scholar . The award is given in ...
Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
The Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics (KITP) is a research institute of the University of California, Santa Barbara. KITP is one of the most renowned institutes for theoretical physics in the world, and brings theorists in physics and rela ...
and 2004 Nobel laureate in
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and of
Materials
Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...
and 2000 Nobel laureate in
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
*
Robert Hetzron
Robert Hetzron, born Herzog (31 December 1937, Budapest – 12 August 1997, Santa Barbara, California), was a Hungarian-born linguist known for his work on the comparative study of Afro-Asiatic languages, as well as for his study of Cushitic ...
(1938–1997), linguist and professor of Germanic, Oriental and Slavic Languages.
*
C. Warren Hollister Charles Warren Hollister (November 2, 1930 – September 14, 1997) was an American author and historian. He was one of the founding members of the University of California Santa Barbara history department. He specialized in English medieval histor ...
sinologist
Sinology, or Chinese studies, is an academic discipline that focuses on the study of China primarily through Chinese philosophy, language, literature, culture and history and often refers to Western scholarship. Its origin "may be traced to the ex ...
and emeritus professor of History
*
Tania Israel
Tania Israel (born 1966)Tania Israel.' (n.d.). Psychology's Feminist Voices. Retrieved July 29, 2020.
is an American psychologist and professor in the Gevirtz Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB). He ...
, professor of Counseling, Clinical, and School Psychology, and specialist mental health and LGBTQ peoples and communities.
*
Jacob Israelachvili
Jacob Nissim Israelachvili, (19 August 1944 – 20 September 2018) was an Israeli physicist and chemical engineer who was a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Personal life
He was born in ...
, professor of
Chemical Engineering
Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials int ...
and
Materials
Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...
, elected fellow of the
Royal Society of London
The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
, 1988
Jacob Israelachvili
Jacob Nissim Israelachvili, (19 August 1944 – 20 September 2018) was an Israeli physicist and chemical engineer who was a professor of chemical engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB).
Personal life
He was born in ...
* Heejung Kim, professor of psychological and brain sciences
* Charles Kolstad, chair of the Economics Department and professor of Environmental Economics
*
Walter Kohn
Walter Kohn (; March 9, 1923 – April 19, 2016) was an Austrian-American theoretical physicist and theoretical chemist.
He was awarded, with John Pople, the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1998. The award recognized their contributions to the unde ...
, founding director, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics, research professor of Physics and 1998 Nobel laureate in Chemistry
*
Herbert Kroemer
Herbert Kroemer (; born August 25, 1928) is a German-American physicist who, along with Zhores Alferov, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for "developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics". Kroemer ...
, professor of
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Electrical engineering is an engineering discipline concerned with the study, design, and application of equipment, devices, and systems which use electricity, electronics, and electromagnetism. It emerged as an identifiable occupation in the l ...
and of Materials and 2000 Nobel laureate in Physics
*
Finn E. Kydland
Finn Erling Kydland (born 1 December 1943) is a Norwegian economist known for his contributions to business cycle theory. He is the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P. Simmons ...
, professor of Economics and 2004 Nobel laureate in Economics
*
L. Gary Leal
Leslie Gary Leal (born 18 March 1943) is the Warren & Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He is known for his research work in the dynamics of complex fluids.
Leal was elected a me ...
, Warren & Katharine Schlinger Professor of Chemical Engineering
* Luis Leal (1907–2010),
Mexican-American
Mexican Americans ( es, mexicano-estadounidenses, , or ) are Americans of full or partial Mexican heritage. In 2019, Mexican Americans comprised 11.3% of the US population and 61.5% of all Hispanic and Latino Americans. In 2019, 71% of Mexica ...
writer and literary critic
*
Nelson Lichtenstein
Nelson Lichtenstein (born November 15, 1944) is a professor of history at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and director of the Center for the Study of Work, Labor and Democracy. He is labor historian who has written also about 20t ...
, labor historian, MacArthur Foundation Chair in History
*
Bruce H. Lipshutz Bruce H. Lipshutz (born 1951) is an American chemist. He is a professor at the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Biography
Lipshutz received his undergraduate degree in chemistry from Binghamton University in 1973. His graduate work was supe ...
, professor of
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
Biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
*
George Lipsitz
George Lipsitz is an American Studies scholar and professor in the Department of Black Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and the author of over half a dozen books, including ''The Possessive Investment in Whiteness''. He is ...
critical race theory
Critical race theory (CRT) is a cross-disciplinary examination, by social and civil-rights scholars and activists, of how laws, social and political movements, and media shape, and are shaped by, social conceptions of race and ethnicity. Goa ...
and
whiteness studies
Whiteness studies is the study of the structures that produce white privilege, the examination of what whiteness is when analyzed as a race, a culture, and a source of systemic racism, and the exploration of other social phenomena generated by the ...
*
Harold Lewis
Harold ("Hal") Warren Lewis (born October 1, 1923 at the Center for History of Physics,
, emeritus professor of
Physics
Physics is the natural science that studies matter, its fundamental constituents, its motion and behavior through space and time, and the related entities of energy and force. "Physical science is that department of knowledge which r ...
and former department chairman
*
Leonard Marsak
Leonard Marsak (1924–2013) was a scholar of Modern European History, especially intellectual history.
Biography
After military service during World War II, Marsak earned his B.S. in Literature at Cornell University in 1948, (and studied for a se ...
(1924–2013), historian of modern Europe
*
N. Scott Momaday
Navarre Scott Momaday (born February 27, 1934) is a Kiowa novelist, short story writer, essayist, and poet. His novel ''House Made of Dawn'' was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction in 1969, and is considered the first major work of the Native ...
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
and recipient of the
National Medal of Arts
The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...
*
William W. Murdoch
William W. Murdoch (born 1939) is a Charles A. Storke II professor of population ecology at the University of California, Santa Barbara. Over the years, his research has focused primarily on the subjects of population regulation, predator–prey ...
, Charles A. Storke II professor of
population ecology
Population ecology is a sub-field of ecology that deals with the dynamics of species populations and how these populations interact with the environment, such as birth and death rates, and by immigration and emigration.
The discipline is importa ...
, recipient of the 1990
Robert H. MacArthur Award
The Robert H. MacArthur Award is a biennial prize given by the Ecological Society of America to ecologists for their pivotal contributions to their field. The acceptance speeches of many recipients have been given at the annual meeting of the soci ...
, and AAAS Fellow known for his research in population regulation, biological control, and predator-prey relationships
*
Shuji Nakamura
is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is rega ...
, professor of Materials and 2014 Nobel laureate in Physics, Japanese inventor of the bright green, white and blue
GaN
The word Gan or the initials GAN may refer to:
Places
*Gan, a component of Hebrew placenames literally meaning "garden"
China
* Gan River (Jiangxi)
* Gan River (Inner Mongolia),
* Gan County, in Jiangxi province
* Gansu, abbreviated ''Gā ...
LED
A light-emitting diode (LED) is a semiconductor Electronics, device that Light#Light sources, emits light when Electric current, current flows through it. Electrons in the semiconductor recombine with electron holes, releasing energy i ...
s and a blue laser. Recipient of the Millennium Technology Prize from the Finnish government in 2006
*
John Nathan
John Weil Nathan (born March 1940) is an American translator, writer, scholar, filmmaker, and Japanologist. His translations from Japanese into English include the works of Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburō Ōe, Kōbō Abe, and Natsume Sōseki. Nathan is ...
, Takashima Professor of Japanese Cultural Studies and Emmy award-winning director of several documentaries
John Nathan
John Weil Nathan (born March 1940) is an American translator, writer, scholar, filmmaker, and Japanologist. His translations from Japanese into English include the works of Yukio Mishima, Kenzaburō Ōe, Kōbō Abe, and Natsume Sōseki. Nathan is ...
*
Joachim Remak
Joachim Remak (1920 Berlin – Santa Barbara, Cal., 2001) was a historian of Modern Europe, especially of Germany and World War I.
Born in Berlin, Germany, he fled Nazi Germany in 1938 for the United States. He earned his B.A. and M.A. in history ...
(1920–2001), historian of modern Europe
*
Jeffrey Burton Russell
Jeffrey Burton Russell (born 1934) is an American historian and religious studies scholar.
Early life
Russell received his undergraduate degree from the University of California, Berkeley in 1955 and his PhD from Emory University in 1960.
Care ...
, professor emeritus, historian of medieval Europe
*
Paul Spickard
Paul R. Spickard (born 1950) is an American historian and the author of several books on the subject of race and ethnicity, particularly multiracialism. His work was formative in rearticulating and moving beyond a black-white paradigm of race a ...
, history professor, named Distinguished Lecturer by
Organization of American Historians
The Organization of American Historians (OAH), formerly known as the Mississippi Valley Historical Association, is the largest professional society dedicated to the teaching and study of American history. OAH's members in the U.S. and abroad inc ...
, 2001 recipient of The Loving Prize for research on mixed racial and cultural experiences
* Jeffrey C. Stewart, Black Studies professor, recipient of the 2018
National Book Award
The National Book Awards are a set of annual U.S. literary awards. At the final National Book Awards Ceremony every November, the National Book Foundation presents the National Book Awards and two lifetime achievement awards to authors.
The Nat ...
for Nonfiction and 2019
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
in Biography
* Galen D. Stucky, E. Khashoggi Industries, LLC Professor in Letters and Science, professor of
Chemistry
Chemistry is the science, scientific study of the properties and behavior of matter. It is a natural science that covers the Chemical element, elements that make up matter to the chemical compound, compounds made of atoms, molecules and ions ...
and
Biochemistry
Biochemistry or biological chemistry is the study of chemical processes within and relating to living organisms. A sub-discipline of both chemistry and biology, biochemistry may be divided into three fields: structural biology, enzymology and ...
,
Materials
Material is a substance or mixture of substances that constitutes an object. Materials can be pure or impure, living or non-living matter. Materials can be classified on the basis of their physical and chemical properties, or on their geologic ...
Departments
* James A. Thomson, adjunct professor of Molecular, Cellular & Developmental Biology, "father of stem-cell research"
*
John Tooby
John Tooby (born 1952) is an American anthropologist, who, together with psychologist wife Leda Cosmides, helped pioneer the field of evolutionary psychology.
Biography
Tooby received his PhD in Biological Anthropology from Harvard University i ...
, Distinguished Professor of Anthropology, co-founder of modern Evolutionary Pschology
*
Frank Wilczek
Frank Anthony Wilczek (; born May 15, 1951) is an American theoretical physicist, mathematician and Nobel laureate. He is currently the Herman Feshbach Professor of Physics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Founding Direct ...
mathematician
A mathematician is someone who uses an extensive knowledge of mathematics in their work, typically to solve mathematical problems.
Mathematicians are concerned with numbers, data, quantity, structure, space, models, and change.
History
On ...
and a
Nobel laureate
The Nobel Prizes ( sv, Nobelpriset, no, Nobelprisen) are awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Swedish Academy, the Karolinska Institutet, and the Norwegian Nobel Committee to individuals and organizations who make out ...
.
*
Anthony Zee
Anthony Zee (, b. 1945) (Zee comes from /ʑi23/, the Shanghainese pronunciation of 徐) is a Chinese-American physicist, writer, and currently a professor at the Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics and the physics department of the Univers ...
, theoretical physicist and
Pulitzer Prize
The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
nominee. Known for applying quantum field theory to such problems as RNA folding and visual processing.
File:Professor Shuji Nakamura (Cropped) (2).jpg,
Shuji Nakamura
is a Japanese-born American electronic engineer and inventor specializing in the field of semiconductor technology, professor at the Materials Department of the College of Engineering, University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), and is rega ...
, Nobel Prize in Physics (2014)
File:Finn E Kydland 2015 (cropped).jpg,
Finn E. Kydland
Finn Erling Kydland (born 1 December 1943) is a Norwegian economist known for his contributions to business cycle theory. He is the Henley Professor of Economics at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He also holds the Richard P. Simmons ...
, Nobel Memorial Prize in Economics (2004)
File:David Gross LANL.jpg, David J. Gross, Nobel Prize in Physics (2004)
File:Heeger, Alan J. (1936).jpg, Alan J. Heeger, Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2000)
File:Herbert Kroemer (cropped).jpg,
Herbert Kroemer
Herbert Kroemer (; born August 25, 1928) is a German-American physicist who, along with Zhores Alferov, received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2000 for "developing semiconductor heterostructures used in high-speed- and opto-electronics". Kroemer ...
, Nobel Prize in Physics (2000)
Notable alumni
UC Santa Barbara alumni have become notable in many varied fields, both academic and otherwise.
Carol Greider
Carolyn Widney Greider (born April 15, 1961) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Distinguished Professor in the department of molecular, cell, and developmental biology ...
, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2009), graduated from the
College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three undergraduate colleges at the University of California, Santa Barbara, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, studen ...
with a B.A. in biology in 1983.
Robert Ballard
Robert Duane Ballard (born June 30, 1942) is an American retired Navy officer and a professor of oceanography at the University of Rhode Island who is most noted for his work in underwater archaeology: maritime archaeology and archaeology of ...
, oceanographer who discovered the
RMS Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British passenger liner, operated by the White Star Line, which sank in the North Atlantic Ocean on 15 April 1912 after striking an iceberg during her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United ...
in 1985, graduated from UCSB in 1965 with a degree in chemistry and geology.
Actors who have studied at UCSB include
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
winner
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
, who received a B.A. in drama in 1968 and who is honorary president of the UCSB Alumni Association, and
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
, who studied anthropology before dropping out to act.
Filmmakers who have studied at UCSB include Academy Award nominee Don Hertzfeldt, who received a B.A. in Film Studies in 1998;
Gregg Araki
Gregg Araki (born December 17, 1959) is an American filmmaker. He is noted for his heavy involvement with the New Queer Cinema movement. His film ''Kaboom (film), Kaboom'' (2010) was the first winner of the Cannes Film Festival Queer Palm.
Ear ...
, director of films like ''
Mysterious Skin
''Mysterious Skin'' is a 2004 coming-of-age film written and directed by Gregg Araki, adapted from Scott Heim's 1995 novel of the same name. The film tells the story of two pre-adolescent boys who both experienced sexual abuse as children, and h ...
'' and ''
The Doom Generation
''The Doom Generation'' is a 1995 black comedy thriller film written and directed by Gregg Araki. The film follows two troubled teenage lovers, Amy Blue (Rose McGowan) and Jordan White (James Duval), who pick up a young handsome drifter named Xavi ...
'', who got his B.A. from UCSB in 1982;
Brad Silberling
Bradley Mitchell Silberling (born September 8, 1963) is an American television director, television and film director whose credits include the feature films ''Casper (film), Casper'' (1995), ''City of Angels (film), City of Angels'' (1998), ''M ...
Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events
''Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events'' (also simply known as ''A Series of Unfortunate Events'') is a 2004 American adventure black comedy film directed by Brad Silberling from a screenplay by Robert Gordon, based on the first th ...
''; and Gavin Garrison, who received a B.A. in Global Studies in 2007 and now produces the
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
-nominated television show ''
Whale Wars
''Whale Wars'' is a weekly American Reality television#Documentary-style, documentary-style reality television series that premiered on November 7, 2008 on the Animal Planet cable channel. The program followed Paul Watson, founder of the Sea Shep ...
''; and
Forrest Galante
Forrest Galante (born March 31, 1988) is an American outdoor adventurer, television personality, and conservationist. He works in the field of wildlife biology, specializing in the exploration of animals on the brink of extinction. He is the hos ...
, wildlife biologist and star of
Extinct or Alive
''Extinct or Alive'' is an American wildlife documentary television programme produced for Animal Planet by Hot Snakes Media of New York City, the United States. It is hosted by conservationist and television personality Forrest Galante, who tra ...
on the Animal Planet Network.
Musicians who have attended include
Robby Krieger
Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and "L ...
, guitarist in The Doors, singer-songwriter Jack Johnson, singer and guitarist for
The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band that formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and frie ...
,
Jeffrey Foskett
Jeffrey Foskett (February 17, 1956) is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as a touring and studio musician for Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys since the 1980s. Foskett was described as the Beach Boys' "vice principal" ...
, and electro-house musician
Steve Aoki
Steven Hiroyuki Aoki (, ; born November 30, 1977), best known as Steve Aoki, is an American DJ, record producer, music programmer, and record executive.
.
Chairman of the
Oracle Corporation
Oracle Corporation is an American multinational computer technology corporation headquartered in Austin, Texas. In 2020, Oracle was the third-largest software company in the world by revenue and market capitalization. The company sells da ...
Knut Vollebæk
Knut Vollebæk (born 11 February 1946 in Oslo) is a former Norwegian diplomat to the United States, (2001–2007, and centrist politician ( Norwegian Christian Democratic Party). He is currently a member of the International Commission on Missi ...
, former
foreign minister of Norway
The Minister of Foreign Affairs ( nb, Utenriksministeren, nn, Utanriksministeren) is a Council of State (Norway), councilor of state and chief of the Norway's Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Norway), Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 14 October 202 ...
, graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1973.
Athletes who have studied at UCSB include swimmer and four-time Olympic gold medalist
Jason Lezak
Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...
, NBA player and head coach
Brian Shaw
Brian Keith Shaw (born March 22, 1966) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is an assistant coach for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He could play both guard positions, but wa ...
, and UCLA basketball coach Cori Close. Television journalist
Katy Tur
Katherine Bear Tur (born October 26, 1983) is an American author and broadcast journalist working as a correspondent for NBC News. Tur is an anchor for MSNBC Reports, where since 2021 she has hosted ''Katy Tur Reports'' on MSNBC. She has also re ...
of NBC and MSNBC received a degree in 2005, and
Elizabeth Wagmeister
Elizabeth Ivy Wagmeister (born July 20, 1990) is an American journalist, reporter, and writer. She is the chief correspondent at ''Variety'', and co-host of “Actors on Actors,” produced by PBS SoCal and Variety Media. She was named onto ' ...
of ''Page Six TV'' and ''Variety'' graduated with a B.A. in communications in 2012.
File:GREIDER Carol 2014 - Less vignetting.jpg,
Carol Greider
Carolyn Widney Greider (born April 15, 1961) is an American molecular biologist and Nobel laureate. She joined the University of California, Santa Cruz as a Distinguished Professor in the department of molecular, cell, and developmental biology ...
, Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2009)
File:GwynethPaltrowTIFF00 adj.jpg,
Gwyneth Paltrow
Gwyneth Kate Paltrow (; born ) is an American actress and businesswoman. She is the recipient of various accolades, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, and a Primetime Emmy Award.
Paltrow gained notice for her early work in films ...
,
Academy Award
The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...
-winning actress
File:Michael Douglas Deauville 2013.jpg,
Michael Douglas
Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...
, Academy Award-winning actor and producer
File:The Doors (1971) (Robby Krieger).png,
Robby Krieger
Robert Alan Krieger (born January 8, 1946) is an American guitarist and founding member of the rock band the Doors. Krieger wrote or co-wrote many of the Doors' songs, including the hits "Light My Fire", "Love Me Two Times", " Touch Me", and "L ...
, rock
guitarist
A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...
and
songwriter
A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...
in
The Doors
The Doors were an American Rock music, rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1965, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and drummer John Densmore. They were among the most controversial and influential ro ...
File:Jack Johnson 2014.jpg, Jack Johnson, singer-songwriter and former professional surfer
File:Jason Lezak 2.jpg,
Jason Lezak
Jason Edward Lezak (born November 12, 1975) is an American former competitive swimmer and swimming executive. As a swimmer, Lezak specialized in the 50-meter and 100-meter freestyle races. His pro career lasted for nearly fifteen years, spannin ...
,
swimmer
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
and four-time
Olympic
Olympic or Olympics may refer to
Sports
Competitions
* Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896
** Summer Olympic Games
** Winter Olympic Games
* Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece b ...
gold medalist
File:Benjamin Bratt - parade Grand Master.jpg,
Benjamin Bratt
Benjamin Bratt (born December 16, 1963) is an American actor and producer who has worked in film and on television. He had supporting roles in the 1990s in such box office hits as ''Demolition Man'' (1993), ''Clear and Present Danger'' (1994), ...
, American actor
File:Reza aslan 2013.jpg,
Reza Aslan
Reza Aslan ( fa, رضا اصلان, ; born May 3, 1972) is an Iranian-American scholar of sociology of religion, writer, and television host. A convert to evangelical Christianity from Shia Islam as a youth, Aslan eventually reverted to Islam b ...
,
Iranian-American
Iranian Americans are United States citizens or nationals who are of Iranian ancestry or who hold Iranian citizenship.
Iranian Americans are among the most highly educated people in the United States. They have historically excelled in busine ...
author, commentator and religious scholar
File:Leroy Chiao Astronaut.jpg,
Leroy Chiao
Leroy Chiao (born August 28, 1960) is an American chemical engineer, retired NASA astronaut, entrepreneur, motivational speaker, and engineering consultant. Chiao flew on three Space Shuttle flights, and was the commander of Expedition 10, where ...
, former
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA ) is an independent agency of the US federal government responsible for the civil space program, aeronautics research, and space research.
NASA was established in 1958, succeeding t ...
astronaut
An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...
, entrepreneur, and motivational speaker
File:Barbara Rush.jpg, Barbara Rush,
Golden Globe Award
The Golden Globe Awards are accolades bestowed by the Hollywood Foreign Press Association beginning in January 1944, recognizing excellence in both American and international film and television. Beginning in 2022, there are 105 members of t ...
-winning actress
File:Barry Zito at Giants at Dodgers 2008-09-21.JPG,
Barry Zito
Barry William Zito (born May 13, 1978) is an American former professional baseball pitcher. He played 15 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB) for the Oakland Athletics and San Francisco Giants. His pitching repertoire consisted of a curveball ...
, 3-time
MLB
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL), ...
All-Star
pitcher
In baseball, the pitcher is the player who throws ("pitches") the baseball from the pitcher's mound toward the catcher to begin each play, with the goal of retiring a batter, who attempts to either make contact with the pitched ball or draw ...
Demographics
The
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of the ...
has designated the UC Santa Barbara campus as a separate
census-designated place
A census-designated place (CDP) is a concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only.
CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counterparts of incorporated places, such ...
(CDP) for statistical purposes. It first appeared as a CDP in the 2020 Census with a population of 9,710.
2020 census
''Note: the US Census treats Hispanic/Latino as an ethnic category. This table excludes Latinos from the racial categories and assigns them to a separate category. Hispanics/Latinos can be of any race.''
See also
*
2014 Isla Vista killings
The 2014 Isla Vista killings were a series of misogynistic terror attacks in Isla Vista, California. On the evening of May 23, 22-year-old Elliot Rodger
killed six people and injured fourteen others—by gunshot, stabbing and vehicle ramm ...