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Campus Overview Brief campus history The University of California, Santa Cruz, opened in 1965 and grew, one college at a time, to its current (2003-04) enrollment of about 15,000 students. Undergraduates pursue 60 majors supervised by divisional deans of humanities, physical & biological sciences, social sciences, and arts. Graduate students work toward graduate certificates, master's degrees, or Ph.D. degrees in 30 academic fields under the supervision of the divisional and graduate deans. The dean of the Jack Baskin School of Engineering oversees the campus's undergraduate and graduate engineering programs. Faculty and students Faculty and emeriti who have been attracted to Santa Cruz include 11 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 20 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and two members of the National Academy of Sciences' Institute of Medicine. Overall faculty strength enables UCSC to offer high-quality programs in letters, arts, and science. The September 2003 issue of Outside magazine ranked UCSC 1st out of 40 colleges "that turn out smart grads with top-notch academic credentials, a healthy environmental ethos, and an A-plus sense of adventure." In the US News & World Report rankings for 2001, four Ph.D. programs at UCSC--in geology, Third World literature, gender and literature, and astrophysics/space--were ranked among the best in the country. In competition with scholars throughout the United States, UCSC students and alumni have won National Science Foundation Fellowships, Fulbrights, and other prestigious awards in numbers that far exceed expectations for a campus of this size. Undergraduate academic life and the residential colleges All undergraduates, whether they live on campus or off, are affiliated with one of the UCSC colleges (Cowell, Stevenson, Crown, Merrill, Porter, Kresge, Oakes, Eight, Nine, and Ten). Although students take classes in any number of colleges and academic units throughout the campus, core courses within each college provide a common academic base for first-year and transfer students. In addition to their course work on campus, many UCSC students participate in fieldwork and exchange programs. Off-campus internships are an integral part of programs in community studies, economics, environmental studies, health sciences, Latin American and Latino studies, psychology, and teacher education. An undergraduate major in global economics requires international field study, a unique aspect of the program within the UC system. Students also can arrange to study at other UC campuses, at the University of New Hampshire or the University of New Mexico, in Sacramento, in Washington, D.C., or at host institutions affiliated with the UC Education Abroad Program in 35 countries. At the conclusion of work in their major, all UCSC seniors must pass a comprehensive examination or, in some majors, complete a senior thesis or equivalent body of work. Expanding programs in graduate studies Graduate study began at UCSC in 1966 with programs in astronomy, biology, and history of consciousness, a program that combines the humanistic disciplines with links to the social sciences, natural sciences, and arts. In 1967, graduate programs in chemistry, literature, and Earth sciences were introduced. Additional graduate programs have been established in anthropology, computer engineering, computer science, economics, education, environmental studies, history, linguistics, marine sciences, mathematics, music, physics, psychology, science communication, sociology, and theater arts. In 1998, UCSC began a Ph.D. program in ocean sciences. In 1999, M.S. and Ph.D. programs in environmental toxicology and a Ph.D. program in politics began recruiting students. In 2000, M.A. and Ph.D. programs in philosophy were launched. In 2002, a new Ph.D. program in education began recruiting students. In 2003, a new M.A. program in history and an M.F.A. program in digital arts and new media began. Expanding programs in engineering In 1997, UCSC began its first professional school, the Jack Baskin School of Engineering, and introduced a new undergraduate electrical engineering major, followed in 1998 by a major in information systems management. In 1999, UCSC's Applied Sciences Building was renamed the Jack Baskin Engineering Building. A "distance-learning" version of the M.S. in computer engineering, with a concentration in network engineering, is offered in Silicon Valley. In 2001, an undergraduate major in bioinformatics was launched and, in 2003, M.S. and Ph.D programs in bioinformatics were initiated. The school is in the process of hiring faculty, which has led to the new Electrical Engineering Department; an Applied Mathematics and Statistics Department is also being established. In 2003, retired engineer and philanthropist Jack Baskin gave additional funding for a new engineering building and to create an endowed chair in the Department of Biomolecular Engineering, which began in 2004. World-class research and grant funding In conjunction with graduate teaching and intellectual inquiry, the campus is home to two Organized Research Units: the Institute of Marine Sciences and Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. The University of California Observatories/Lick Observatory is a Multicampus Research Unit headquartered at UCSC. UC's Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics (IGPP), a Multicampus Research Unit, includes a branch on the UCSC campus established in 1999. UCSC also is one of several UC campuses sponsoring the Institute for Quantitative Biomedical Research (QB3), and the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society (CITRIS), two of the California Institutes for Science and Innovation established in 2000. Over the years, UCSC has been awarded a total of $772 million for contracts and grants within these units and in numerous other campus research programs (including nearly $80 million in 2002-03). Private support The ten UCSC colleges--each a separate community with its own buildings and administration--are built around a core of shared university facilities. These include the main and science/engineering libraries, performing arts buildings, visual arts studios, classrooms, computer facilities, and a complex of highly specialized buildings for the physical & biological sciences, and engineering. Athletic facilities are provided on the east and west sides of the campus. College Nine opened in 2000, and College Ten opened in 2002. Significant private funds--nearly $210 million through the 2002-03 year--have been donated to build or enhance academic, student-life, and other facilities at the campus, as well to fund programs, research, and scholarships. The campus was planned by architect John Carl Warnecke and landscape architect Thomas Church. Other noted architects--such as William Wurster, Joseph Esherick, Ernest Kump, Hugh Stubbins, Ralph Rapson, William Turnbull, and Kathy Simon--have designed campus buildings. Antoine Predock of Albuquerque was the architect for the award-winning Music Center, and SRG Partnership of Portland, Oregon, for the Seymour Center at Long Marine Laboratory. Institutional growth and academic opportunity UCSC is increasing both its enrollment and resources and diversifying its educational and research opportunities over the next decade. In pace with this growth will be the development of additional academic programs. Another major objective is to provide for a growing number of students, faculty, and staff of diverse ethnic backgrounds and cultural experiences. UCSC is moving forward with planning for a regional center at NASA Ames in Silicon Valley in order to respond to UC's increasing enrollment; intensify partnerships with the area's community colleges, state universities, and businesses; and develop exemplary distance learning. A 10-year, $30 million program establishing a University Affiliated Research Center (UARC) at NASA Ames was initiated in 2003. UARC will provide research and educational capabilities to meet NASA's requirements and to develop future human resources in science and technology. College Nine opened in 2000; College Ten in 2002. Other new construction includes the Seymour Center at Long Marine Laboratory, which opened in 2000; a new fitness center, which also opened in 2000; and a new Bay Tree Bookstore/student services building and a Graduate Student Commons, which opened in the "Quarry Plaza" on campus in 2001. The Center for Ocean Health at Long Marine Lab opened in 2001. The Center for Adaptive Optics and the Interdisciplinary Sciences Building on campus opened in 2002. A Physical Sciences Building and a second Engineering Building are under construction.
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