College of Creative Studies
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The College of Creative Studies is the smallest of the three
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 ...
colleges at the
University of California, Santa Barbara The University of California, Santa Barbara (UC Santa Barbara or UCSB) is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara, California with 23,196 undergraduates and 2,983 graduate students enrolled in 2021–2022. It is part of the U ...
, unique within the University of California system in terms of structure and philosophy. Its small size, student privileges, and grading system are designed to encourage self-motivated students with strong interests in a field to accomplish original work as undergraduates. A former student has called it a “
graduate school Postgraduate or graduate education refers to Academic degree, academic or professional degrees, certificates, diplomas, or other qualifications pursued by higher education, post-secondary students who have earned an Undergraduate education, un ...
for undergraduates”. The college has roughly 350 students in eight
majors Jonathan Michael Majors (born September 7, 1989)Majors in is an American actor. He rose to prominence after starring in the independent feature film ''The Last Black Man in San Francisco'' (2019). In 2020, he garnered wider notice for portraying ...
and approximately 60 professors and lecturers. There is an additional application process to the standard UCSB admission for prospective CCS students, and CCS accepts applications for admissions throughout the year.


History

In the late 1960s, the
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 ...
of UCSB, Vernon I. Cheadle, was looking for an
alternative education Alternative education encompasses many pedagogical approaches differing from mainstream pedagogy. Such alternative learning environments may be found within state, charter, and independent schools as well as home-based learning environments. ...
program for undergraduate students which could embody the new thinking of the 60s and also attract attention to his growing university. He contacted a professor in the
English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...
department,
Marvin Mudrick Marvin Mudrick (1921–1986) taught at UC Santa Barbara from 1949 until his death in October 1986. He created the university's College of Creative Studies in 1967 and was its provost until forced out by Chancellor Robert Huttenback in 1984. He wr ...
, to come up with ideas for this new program. In 1967 the University of California allowed funding for Mudrick to start up the most promising of those ideas, the College of Creative Studies. The program started with approximately 50 students in 7 majors:
Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...
,
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 ...
,
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 ...
,
Mathematics Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...
,
Music Composition Musical composition can refer to an original piece or work of music, either vocal or instrumental, the structure of a musical piece or to the process of creating or writing a new piece of music. People who create new compositions are called c ...
,
Literature Literature is any collection of written work, but it is also used more narrowly for writings specifically considered to be an art form, especially prose fiction, drama, and poetry. In recent centuries, the definition has expanded to include ...
and
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 ...
. The
experiment An experiment is a procedure carried out to support or refute a hypothesis, or determine the efficacy or likelihood of something previously untried. Experiments provide insight into Causality, cause-and-effect by demonstrating what outcome oc ...
al program struck a chord with its students and faculty, and along with the powerful pushing of Mudrick as its provost, it secured its place at UCSB. The program grew over the years in student and faculty size and in 1975 found its home in a building at UCSB that dates from when the campus was a
World War II 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 ...
marine Marine is an adjective meaning of or pertaining to the sea or ocean. Marine or marines may refer to: Ocean * Maritime (disambiguation) * Marine art * Marine biology * Marine debris * Marine habitats * Marine life * Marine pollution Military * ...
base. In 1995 the college added the major of
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 Applied science, practical discipli ...
. In 2005, with the retirement of Provost William Ashby, the title of the Provost was changed to
Dean Dean may refer to: People * Dean (given name) * Dean (surname), a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin * Dean (South Korean singer), a stage name for singer Kwon Hyuk * Dean Delannoit, a Belgian singer most known by the mononym Dean Titles * ...
and the College was placed under the leadership of Dr.
Bruce Tiffney Bruce H. Tiffney is an American paleobotany, paleobotanist, professor, and the former dean of the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He graduated from Boston University with a degree in geology in 1971, a ...
. The Art department includes the only undergraduate
book arts Book arts may refer to: * Artist's books, works of art in the form of a book * Book illustration, illustration in a book * Book design, the art of designing a book * Bookbinding Bookbinding is the process of physically assembling a book of ...
program in the University of California system. Recently, the Physics program has become regarded as one of the best undergraduate Physics programs in the nation; its students attend graduate schools with percentages resembling those of
Ivy League The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schools ...
s. CCS students have won the UCSB Chancellor's Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Research several times in recent years. Literature students run ''Spectrum'', a literary magazine, and ''Into the Teeth of the Wind'', a poetry review.


Philosophy

The
philosophy Philosophy (from , ) is the systematized study of general and fundamental questions, such as those about existence, reason, knowledge, values, mind, and language. Such questions are often posed as problems to be studied or resolved. Some ...
of the College of Creative Studies is that certain undergraduate students are capable of rigorously exploring and adding to their chosen field of knowledge. Students skip introductory courses as appropriate and are encouraged to accomplish original work throughout their time at the College: Literature students compile a portfolio of writing, art students put on a minimum of two shows displaying their work, music students perform their own compositions, and science students enter labs by their
sophomore In the United States, a sophomore ( or ) is a person in the second year at an educational institution; usually at a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. In ...
years to conduct research and write scholarly papers for publication. The College considers students to be the most important people involved, not the faculty or administration. It has a low student-teacher ratio, and each student is paired with a faculty adviser with whom they meet at least once a
quarter A quarter is one-fourth, , 25% or 0.25. Quarter or quarters may refer to: Places * Quarter (urban subdivision), a section or area, usually of a town Placenames * Quarter, South Lanarkshire, a settlement in Scotland * Le Quartier, a settlement ...
.


Privileges and grading system

CCS students have few
general education requirements In education, a curriculum (; : curricula or curriculums) is broadly defined as the totality of student experiences that occur in the educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view ...
and may take almost any course in the entire university, including graduate classes, provided they have permission from the instructor. They can drop classes up to the last day of instruction in the quarter, a privilege intended to encourage students to attempt taking many units and advanced classes without being penalized, in the event that they are unable to fulfill these commitments. In CCS classes, students do not receive letter grades. Instead, the College uses a sliding
unit Unit may refer to: Arts and entertainment * UNIT, a fictional military organization in the science fiction television series ''Doctor Who'' * Unit of action, a discrete piece of action (or beat) in a theatrical presentation Music * ''Unit'' (alb ...
scale where if a student completes all the work for a class at a satisfactory level, the student receives a full 4 units for most classes. If the student completes less work, he/she would receive fewer units, and if the student goes beyond expectations, a professor may give student more units. This system aims to promote a non-competitive atmosphere that focuses more on the student learning the material rather than learning how to take a test. CCS students are afforded many privileges to help in the pursuit of their education. *Fewer prerequisites: If a CCS student can show a capability of taking an upper division or graduate class, even without the prerequisites, the college greatly facilitates the process of getting the student in that class. *Drop class and change grading: CCS students may drop any class up until the last day of instruction. This privilege is given as a backup if a student happens to try taking advanced classes or more classes than the usual student. They may also change their grading between letter grade or pass/no-pass for classes outside CCS.Registration
, College of Creative Studies
*Priority registration: CCS students are among the first students at UCSB to sign up for classes each quarter. They sign up at the same time as
honors student An honors student or honor student is a student recognized for achieving high grades or high marks in their coursework at school. United States In the US, honors students may refer to: # Students recognized for their academic achievement on list ...
s and
athletes An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-develo ...
. *Higher unit cap: CCS students have a unit cap of 95.5 units per quarter. However, most students take between 15 and 25 units a quarter. *Building access: All CCS students have their access card registered at the CCS Advising Office and can enter the building with a registered card through the electronic locks at side entrances from 7:30 AM to 10:00 PM. *Computer Lab: CCS students have 24-hour access to their own computer lab where they have free
Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...
access,
printing Printing is a process for mass reproducing text and images using a master form or template. The earliest non-paper products involving printing include cylinder seals and objects such as the Cyrus Cylinder and the Cylinders of Nabonidus. The ea ...
and
photocopying A photocopier (also called copier or copy machine, and formerly Xerox machine, the generic trademark) is a machine that makes copies of documents and other visual images onto paper or plastic film quickly and cheaply. Most modern photocopiers u ...
. *
Library A library is a collection of materials, books or media that are accessible for use and not just for display purposes. A library provides physical (hard copies) or digital access (soft copies) materials, and may be a physical location or a vir ...
checkout: CCS students get quarter-long check-out from the UCSB library and may renew materials up to five times. * SURF: All CCS students are eligible to apply for the college's summer undergraduate research fellowships. The standard package for one student is a stipend of $4,000 supporting a 10-week project.CCS Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowships (SURF)
College of Creative Studies


The building

The College of Creative Studies is housed in its own single story building, number 494, located between campus
dorms 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 ...
, a dining commons, and the University Center. The building was built during World War II and shares the title as the oldest building at UCSB with the other buildings left from when the campus was a marine base. The building contains classrooms, art studios, faculty and administrative offices, an art gallery, computer labs, print and wood shops and a small 100 person theater. For most of its life it was painted brown, but in early 2005 the administrative offices were painted yellow, the college proper was painted green and the Old Little Theatre was painted red. The building acts as a "home base" for its students, who spend time in the building studying and socializing. Students are allowed to personalize the building, so the walls have stickers and art, classrooms contain couches and modified desks and there are a few roaming stuffed animals. Although many students and staff members are fond of the building, the college has outgrown it and is looking for funds to renovate it and/or build new facilities.


Notable alumni and faculty

CCS alumni include: * Art: Carol Bennett,
Macduff Everton Macduff Everton (born August 13, 1947) is an American photographer, known for his work with the Maya primarily on the Yucatán Peninsula. Early life and education Macduff Everton was born on August 13, 1947 in Pearl River, New York to missiona ...
, Mary Heebner,
Peggy Oki Peggy E. Oki (born April 10, 1956) is an American skateboarder, surfer, artist, and environmental activist. She was an original member of the Z-Boys and competed with the Zephyr Competition Team in the 1970s. She was the only female member of th ...
,
Halsey Rodman Halsey Rodman (born 1973) is an artist based in New York City. Rodman was born in Davis, California. He makes Installation art, installations containing assemblage art, assemblages, video art, videos, photography, text and figurative sculpture, wh ...
, * Biology:
Angela Belcher Angela M. Belcher is a materials scientist, biological engineer, and the James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. ...
(awarded 2004 MacArthur "Genius" Fellowship),
Carol W. 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 ...
(shared the
Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine is awarded yearly by the Nobel Assembly at the Karolinska Institute for outstanding discoveries in physiology or medicine. The Nobel Prize is not a single prize, but five separate prizes that, according ...
in 2009),UCSB Alumna Carol W. Greider: Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine
UCSB
Richard Anthony Jefferson Richard Anthony Jefferson (born 1956) is an American-born molecular biologist and social entrepreneur who developed the widely used reporter gene system GUS, conducted the world's first biotech crop release, proposed the Hologenome theory of evol ...
(named to Scientific American's 50 Most Influential Technologists),
John La Puma John J. La Puma is an Italian-American internist, chef, and author. Early life and education La Puma was born in New York City around 1960–1961, one of six children. His family relocated to Santa Barbara, California in 1967, where La Puma a ...
,
Marlene Zuk Marlene Zuk (born May 20, 1956) is an American evolutionary biology, evolutionary biologist and Ethology, behavioral ecologist. She worked as professor of biology at the University of California, Riverside (UCR) until she transferred to the Univ ...
(member 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 ...
),
Ronald Vale Ronald David Vale (born 1959) is a biochemist and cell biologist. He is a professor at the Department of Cellular and Molecular Pharmacology, University of California, San Francisco. His research is focused on motor proteins, particularly kinesi ...
(discovered
kinesin A kinesin is a protein belonging to a class of motor proteins found in eukaryotic cells. Kinesins move along microtubule (MT) filaments and are powered by the hydrolysis of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) (thus kinesins are ATPases, a type of enzy ...
, winner of the 2017
Shaw Prize The Shaw Prize is an annual award presented by the Shaw Prize Foundation. Established in 2002 in Hong Kong, it honours "individuals who are currently active in their respective fields and who have recently achieved distinguished and signifi ...
in Life Science and Medicine) * Computer Science:
Jay Freeman Jay Ryan Freeman (born November 27, 1981) is an American businessman and software engineer. He is known for creating the Cydia software application and related software for jailbroken iOS—a modified version of Apple's iOS iOS (formerly iP ...
(founder of
Cydia Cydia is a graphical user interface of APT (Advanced Package Tool) for iOS. It enables a user to find and install software not authorized by Apple on jailbroken iPhones, iPads and iPod Touch devices. It also refers to digital distribution pla ...
) * Physics:
Alex Filippenko Alexei Vladimir "Alex" Filippenko (; born July 25, 1958) is an American astrophysicist and professor of astronomy at the University of California, Berkeley. Filippenko graduated from Dos Pueblos High School in Goleta, California. He received a Ba ...
, Mika McKinnon * Literature:
Susie Cagle Susie Cagle is an Americans, American journalist and editorial cartoonist whose work has appeared in ''The American Prospect'', ''AlterNet'', ''The Awl'', ''Good (magazine), GOOD'', and others. Cagle is based in Oakland, California. She has repo ...
,
Parry Gripp Parry P. Gripp (born September 22, 1967) is an American musician and singer-songwriter. He is the lead vocalist and guitarist for the pop punk band Nerf Herder from its formation in 1994. Gripp has written numerous novelty songs for children, and ...
,
Christine Lehner Christine Lehner (born 1952) is an American novelist and short story writer. Early life and education Lehner was born in 1952 in Massachusetts. She attended the College of Creative Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara and gr ...
,
Chanel Miller Chanel Elisabeth Miller (born June 12, 1992) is an American writer and artist based in San Francisco, California and New York City. She was known anonymously after she was sexually assaulted on the campus of Stanford University in 2015 by Broc ...
,
Nathan Thrall Nathan Thrall is an American author, essayist, and journalist based in Jerusalem. Thrall is the author of ''The Only Language They Understand: Forcing Compromise in Israel and Palestine'' (Metropolitan/Henry Holt, 2017; Picador, 2018) and a contri ...
,
Ethlie Ann Vare Ethlie Ann Vare (born March 8, 1953) is a journalist and screenwriter best known for her work on television shows including ''CSI: Crime Scene Investigation'', Gene Roddenberry's '' Andromeda'' and ''Silk Stalkings'', along with books including '' ...
* Music Composition:
Paul Chavez Paul Chavez (born 1 July 1964) is an American composer of dance music, and a sound designer for installation and theater. He often composes under the project name FeltLike. Chavez has worked in the Los Angeles, California area since 1990 where h ...
,
Stephen Malinowski Stephen Anthony Malinowski is an American composer, pianist, educator, software engineer, and inventor. He was born on August 6, 1953 in Santa Monica, California. He is best known for his musical animations and his computer program, the Musi ...
CCS faculty have included: * Art:
Charles Garabedian Charles Garabedian ( hy, Չարլզ Կարապետյան, December 29, 1923 – February 11, 2016) was an American-Armenian artist known for his paintings and drawings rich in references to Greek and Chinese symbolism. His artwork reveals a deep ...
, John McCracken * Literature:
Laure-Anne Bosselaar Laure-Anne Bosselaar is a Belgian-American poet, translator, professor, and former poet laureate of Santa Barbara, California. She is the author of four collections of poetry, most recently, ''These Many Rooms'' (Four Way Books, 2019). Her collec ...
,
Marvin Mudrick Marvin Mudrick (1921–1986) taught at UC Santa Barbara from 1949 until his death in October 1986. He created the university's College of Creative Studies in 1967 and was its provost until forced out by Chancellor Robert Huttenback in 1984. He wr ...
, Max Schott, Barry Spacks, Elizabeth Wong


References


External links


CCS Website
* "Professor Urges New College of Creativity: School Designed to Encourage Original Work Proposed for UC at Santa Barbara", April 3, 1966 in the ''LA Times'' * "'Write, compose, invent,' new college tells gifted", Feb 17, 1968 in ''The Christian Science Monitor''
"About Long Hair"
by William F. Buckley Jr., Jun 30 1970, ''The News and Courier''
"How to build a creative scientist"
November 1985, ''OMNI Magazine''

1995, California Higher Education Policy Center * "Experiencing 4 Degrees of Graduation: Student tackles physics, math, history and literature during his four years at UC Santa Barbara", Jun 2, 2001 in the ''LA Times''
"Will his shouts from the window attract a real superset of prime candidates?"
November 15, 2002 in ''Times Higher Education'' (about a CCS Math professor)
College of Creative Studies Receives Major Gift for Undergraduate Student Research
UCSB press release from 2006
CCS Marine Biology Program Admits 13-Year-Old Whiz Kid
(2006), ''Daily Nexus'' * "Still in a class by itself: UCSB's College of Creative Studies marks 40 years of top-flight academics", ''Goleta Valley Voice'' (2007) {{authority control University of California, Santa Barbara colleges and schools Universities and colleges in Santa Barbara County, California Alternative education Educational institutions established in 1967 1967 establishments in California