California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a

public university A public university or public college is a university or college that is in state ownership, owned by the state or receives significant government spending, public funds through a national or subnational government, as opposed to a private unive ...

Monterey County, California Monterey County ( ), officially the County of Monterey, is a county located on the Pacific coast in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, its population was 439,035. The county's largest city and county seat is Salinas. Monte ...

. Its main campus is located on the site of the former

military base A military base is a facility directly owned and operated by or for the military or one of its branches that shelters military equipment and personnel, and facilitates training and operations. A military base always provides accommodations for ...

Fort Ord Fort Ord is a former United States Army post on Monterey Bay of the Pacific Ocean coast in California, which closed in 1994 due to Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) action. Most of the fort's land now makes up the Fort Ord National Monument, ...

, straddling the cities of Seaside and Marina, about one mile inland from

Monterey Bay Monterey Bay is a bay of the Pacific Ocean located on the coast of the U.S. state of California, south of the San Francisco Bay Area and its major city at the south of the bay, San Jose. San Francisco itself is further north along the coast, by ...

along the

Central Coast of California The Central Coast is an area of California, roughly spanning the coastal region between Point Mugu and Monterey Bay. It lies northwest of Los Angeles County and south of San Mateo and Santa Clara counties, and includes the rugged, undevelope ...

. CSUMB also has locations in the cities of

Monterey Monterey (; es, Monterrey; Ohlone: ) is a city located in Monterey County on the southern edge of Monterey Bay on the U.S. state of California's Central Coast. Founded on June 3, 1770, it functioned as the capital of Alta California under bot ...

and Salinas. Founded in 1994, CSUMB is part of the

California State University system The California State University (Cal State or CSU) is a public university system in California. With 23 campuses and eight off-campus centers enrolling 485,550 students with 55,909 faculty and staff, CSU is the largest four-year public universi ...

and is accredited by the

WASC Senior College and University Commission The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, the territories of Guam, American Sam ...

. The university is 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) stud ...

History

CSUMB was founded in 1994 with a student enrollment of 654 students. Classes began August 28, 1995. The founding president was

Peter Plympton Smith Peter Plympton Smith (born October 31, 1945) is an American educator and politician who served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from the U.S. state of Vermont, the 76th lieutenant governor of Vermont, and an education ...

. It was the 22nd campus in the California State University system. The university offers 23

bachelor's degrees A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

, 7

master's degrees A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

, and

teaching credential A United States teaching credential is a basic multiple or single subject credential obtained upon completion of a bachelor's degree, from a college or university that holds regional accreditation, and prescribed professional education requirement ...

s. As of the fall 2020 semester, the university had 6,276 undergraduate students, 595 graduate students and 186 full-time faculty members. The university operates on the semester system. The president is Eduardo M. Ochoa, who was appointed in May 2012. CSUMB, in conjunction with

Hartnell College Hartnell College is a public community college in Salinas, California. Established in 1920 as Salinas Junior College, Hartnell is one of 115 schools that constitute the California Community Colleges, one of the three higher education systems in ...

, developed CS-in-3, a three-year computer science program funded in part by grants from the Foundation established by Matsui Nursery. A donation of 210 acres of prime agricultural land to the Hartnell College Foundation, valued at US$20 million was granted thereafter.

Presidents

Demographics

Faculty

In the fall of 2020, of 482 teaching faculty, 262 held doctorates or another terminal degree, and 96 were members of minority groups. The faculty includes an

American Book Award The American Book Award is an American literary award that annually recognizes a set of books and people for "outstanding literary achievement". According to the 2010 awards press release, it is "a writers' award given by other writers" and "the ...

winner and six Fulbright scholars.

Students

As of spring 2020, the student body was 62% female and 38% male. 33% of students enrolled were under 21 years of age, 45% between 21 and 24, 14% between 25 and 30, 8% were 31 or older. The most common majors were business administration (13%),

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 between ...

(11%),

computer science Computer science is the study of computation, automation, and information. Computer science spans theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, information theory, and automation) to practical disciplines (includi ...

(9%),

kinesiology Kinesiology () is the scientific study of human body movement. Kinesiology addresses physiological, anatomical, biomechanical, pathological, neuropsychological principles and mechanisms of movement. Applications of kinesiology to human healt ...

(8%), and

biology Biology is the scientific study of life. It is a natural science with a broad scope but has several unifying themes that tie it together as a single, coherent field. For instance, all organisms are made up of cells that process hereditary i ...

(8%). 43% of students came from

, Santa Cruz, and San Benito counties (all California counties) while 53% came from other parts of California, 2% from other U.S. states and 3% from outside the U.S. Nearly one third (32%) of students were low-income and just over half (53%) were first-generation college students. Distributed across class levels, 14% of students are freshmen, 12% sophomores, 27% juniors and 35% seniors; CSU Monterey Bay has a large proportion of transfer students. Graduate students make up 9%; 2% were seeking credentials and 1% were post-baccalaureate students. As of fall 2018 Cal State Monterey Bay has the second largest enrollment percentage of Americans of unknown race or ethnicity in the California State University system. Approximately 50% of CSUMB students live on campus.

Academics

The five most popular majors for 2019 graduates * Business,

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a Government agency, government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includ ...

Marketing Marketing is the process of exploring, creating, and delivering value to meet the needs of a target market in terms of goods and services; potentially including selection of a target audience; selection of certain attributes or themes to emph ...

, and Related Support Services at 15% *

Liberal Arts Liberal arts education (from Latin "free" and "art or principled practice") is the traditional academic course in Western higher education. ''Liberal arts'' takes the term '' art'' in the sense of a learned skill rather than specifically th ...

and Sciences, General Studies and

Humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

at 12% *

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 between ...

at 12% * Computer and

Information Sciences Information science (also known as information studies) is an academic field which is primarily concerned with analysis, collection, classification, manipulation, storage, retrieval, movement, dissemination, and protection of information. P ...

and Support Services at 9% * Parks, Recreation,

Leisure Leisure has often been defined as a quality of experience or as free time. Free time is time spent away from business, work, job hunting, domestic chores, and education, as well as necessary activities such as eating and sleeping. Leisur ...

, and Fitness Studies at 9%

Rankings

The 2022-2023 USNWR Best Regional Colleges West Rankings ranks Monterey 4 on top performers on social mobility, 7 on top public schools and 247 in

Nursing Nursing is a profession within the health care sector focused on the care of individuals, families, and communities so they may attain, maintain, or recover optimal health and quality of life. Nurses may be differentiated from other health ...

(tie). In 2021 Monterey ranked 17 on best

undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-le ...

Teaching.

Research

Under a cooperative agreement with the

NASA Ames Research Center The Ames Research Center (ARC), also known as NASA Ames, is a major NASA research center at Moffett Federal Airfield in California's Silicon Valley. It was founded in 1939 as the second National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) labora ...

, the university performs

remote sensing Remote sensing is the acquisition of information about an object or phenomenon without making physical contact with the object, in contrast to in situ or on-site observation. The term is applied especially to acquiring information about Eart ...

, ecosystem modeling, and

geospatial Geographic data and information is defined in the ISO/TC 211 series of standards as data and information having an implicit or explicit association with a location relative to Earth (a geographic location or geographic position). It is also ca ...

research for

earth system science Earth system science (ESS) is the application of systems science to the Earth. In particular, it considers interactions and 'feedbacks', through material and energy fluxes, between the Earth's sub-systems' cycles, processes and "spheres"— atmo ...

and health. CSUMB researchers work in 10 areas, including

coral reef A coral reef is an underwater ecosystem characterized by reef-building corals. Reefs are formed of colonies of coral polyps held together by calcium carbonate. Most coral reefs are built from stony corals, whose polyps cluster in groups. C ...

monitoring,

land use Land use involves the management and modification of natural environment or wilderness into built environment such as settlements and semi-natural habitats such as arable fields, pastures, and managed woods. Land use by humans has a long ...

, carbon modeling and

disease transmission In medicine, public health, and biology, transmission is the passing of a pathogen causing communicable disease from an infected host individual or group to a particular individual or group, regardless of whether the other individual was previo ...

Athletics

The Cal State–Monterey Bay (CSUMB) athletic teams are called the Otters. The university is a member of the Division II level of the

National Collegiate Athletic Association The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges ...

(NCAA), primarily competing in the

California Collegiate Athletic Association The California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) at the Division II level. All of its current members are public universities, and upon U ...

(CCAA) for most of its sports since the 2004–05 academic year; while its women's water polo teams compete in the

Western Water Polo Association The Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) is a single sport intercollegiate college athletic conference sponsoring men's and women's water polo. The WWPA is affiliated with the NCAA, and includes 15 member institutions, mostly in California, w ...

(WWPA). The Otters previously competed in the

California Pacific Conference The California Pacific Conference (Cal Pac) is a college athletic conference affiliated with the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The conference commissioner is Don Ott. Conference leadership is shared among the member in ...

(Cal Pac) of the

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to its st ...

(NAIA) from 1996–97 to 2003–04. CSUMB competes in 14 intercollegiate varsity sports: Men's sports include baseball, basketball, cross country, golf and soccer; while women's sports include basketball, cross country, golf, soccer, softball, track & field (indoor and outdoor), volleyball and water polo. CSUMB also has a coed sailing team which competes in the fall and spring (although the spring season is more important). The sailing team competes in the

Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference The Pacific Coast Collegiate Sailing Conference (PCCSC) is one of the seven conferences within the Inter-Collegiate Sailing Association, the governing body for collegiate competition in the sport of sailing. The PCCSC consists mostly of teams fro ...

(PCCSC).

Water polo

The

NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship The NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship has existed since the 2001 season. Seven conferences have teams competing in women's water polo: the Big West Conference, the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), the single-sport Golden Coast Conferen ...

of Effective Division I sport is open to members of all three NCAA divisions. Only CSU Monterey Bay and

CSU East Bay California State University, East Bay (Cal State East Bay, CSU East Bay, or CSUEB) is a public university in Hayward, California. The university is part of the 23-campus California State University system and offers 136 undergraduate and 60 pos ...

from the CCAA participate in the

Golf

The Otters of CSU Monterey Bay earned 1

NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships The NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championships, played in late May, is an annual competition in U.S. men's collegiate golf. From its inception through 2010, it was a 72-hole stroke play team competition, with an additional award for the lowest sco ...

in 2011.

Student life

Greek life

Fraternities A fraternity (from Latin ''frater'': "brother"; whence, " brotherhood") or fraternal organization is an organization, society, club or fraternal order traditionally of men associated together for various religious or secular aims. Fraternity ...

and

sororities Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...

in the Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) include: * Alpha Kappa Alpha African American interest sorority *

alpha Kappa Delta Phi alpha Kappa Delta Phi (), also known as aKDPhi, Kappa Delta Phi, KDPhi, is an international Asian-interest sorority founded at the University of California, Berkeley. alpha Kappa Delta Phi has 63 chapters located at numerous universities acros ...

Asian interest sorority *

Alpha Sigma Phi Alpha Sigma Phi (), commonly known as Alpha Sig, is an intercollegiate men's social fraternity with 181 active chapters and provisional chapters. Founded at Yale in 1845, it is the 10th oldest Greek letter fraternity in the United States. The ...

fraternity *

Gamma Zeta Alpha Gamma Zeta Alpha Fraternity, Inc. () was founded on December 3, 1987 at California State University, Chico in Chico, California. It is a Latino Interest fraternity that emphasizes Latino culture and the success of Latino males in higher education ...

Latino interest fraternity * Delta Sigma Theta African American interest sorority *Delta Omega Rho multicultural sorority *Epsilon Sigma Rho multicultural fraternity *Theta Alpha Sigma sorority *

Kappa Alpha Psi Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. () is a historically African American fraternity. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never restricted membership on the basis of color, creed ...

African American interest fraternity * Kappa Delta Chi Latina Founded sorority *

Kappa Sigma Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international fraternities with currently 318 active chapters and col ...

fraternity *

Lambda Theta Nu Lambda Theta Nu () is a Latina-based Greek letter intercollegiate sorority founded in 1986 at California State University, Chico. History Formation Eighteen Latina students at California State University, Chico banded together during what t ...

Latina interest sorority * Lambda Sigma Gamma multicultural sorority * Nu Alpha Kappa Latino interest fraternity * Sigma Theta Psi multicultural sorority *Sigma Omega Nu Latina interest sorority * Omega Delta Phi multicultural fraternity

Campus

The university's goal is to be carbon neutral by 2030, with a solar array, installed in 2010, currently meeting 16 percent of the university's needs. Additionally, the university's Dining Commons were awarded LEED Silver certification in 2011. The Dining Commons were designed to include

water efficiency Water efficiency is the practice of reducing water consumption by measuring the amount of water required for a particular purpose and is proportionate to the amount of essential water used.Vickers, Amy. “Water use and conservation." Amherst, MA ...

and natural and energy-efficient lighting.

Residence Halls

CSUMB offers housing in many areas around campus. On the main campus there are eight residence halls each renovated Army barracks. Willet, Cypress, Manzanita, Asilomar, Yarrow, Avocet, Tortuga, and Sanderling Halls surround the main quad on campus. Pinnacles and Vineyard Suites as well as Strawberry Apartments make up North Quad on the north end of campus. In fall of 2015, the university opened three new residence halls, called Promontory, all of which offering apartment size dormitories.

Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library

The Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library has of floor space. It is located at Divarty and Fifth streets, and diagonally across from the Chapman Science Center. A roundabout sits between the library and the science building. The Tanimura & Antle Family Memorial Library is certified LEED Silver and has been cited for a range of sustainable design strategies from daylighting and low-energy use to healthy carpets, water conservation, and high-recycled content materials. Aside from being the largest building on the CSUMB campus, it is the greenest in terms of energy usage. Up to 30% less electricity is needed, for example, because of floor-to-ceiling glass walls that let in natural light. Additionally, ventilation techniques operate through the floor instead of the ceiling, allowing cooler air to travel a lesser distance. The light let in from the atrium is indirect rather than direct sunlight.

Other locations

CSUMB has other locations within Monterey County, including CSUMB at Ryan Ranch (in

), CSUMB at North Salinas, and CSUMB at Salinas City Center. The National Steinbeck Center is located at CSUMB at Salinas City Center. CSUMB relies on Monterey–Salinas Transit for transportation among its various locations.

Notable alumni

Davion Berry Davion Christopher Lamont Berry (born November 1, 1991) is an American professional basketball player for Manama Club of the Bahraini Premier League. He played college basketball for the Weber State Wildcats where he was named Big Sky Conference ...

(born 1991) – basketball player in the

Bahraini Premier League The Bahraini Premier League is the main football competition in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Currently known as the Nasser bin Hamad Premier League, the first season was held in 1957. The winners of the domestic championship qualify for the AFC Cup. ...

* Jared Koenig (born 1994) – baseball player for the Oakland Athletics of

Major League Baseball 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), ...

(MLB)

Notes

References

External links

*
Official athletics website
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California State University, Monterey Bay California State University, Monterey Bay (CSUMB or Cal State Monterey Bay) is a public university in Monterey County, California. Its main campus is located on the site of the former military base Fort Ord, straddling the cities of Seaside and ...

Universities and colleges in Monterey County, California Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges Educational institutions established in 1994 1994 establishments in California