Where Dreams Come True
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The University of California, Santa Barbara, a major research institution which is, at its core, an outstanding undergraduate university.
Away from urban pressures, yet deeply involved in the intellectual and cultural issues of our time, it is a place where learning and living are as natural as the Santa Barbara coastline and the nearby Santa Ynez Mountains. It is a place that nourishes equally mind, body, and spirit.
For all its natural beauty, however, UCSB's uniqueness lies elsewhere. It is found in its superb learning environment, in the relaxed relationship between faculty and students, and, above all, in a deep-rooted commitment of professors to ensuring that all students reach their fullest potential.
While pursuing research at the highest levels, UCSB's faculty is passionately dedicated to teaching. They engage and challenge their students almost from the day of their arrival on campus. And the intellectual sparks may fly virtually anywherein the classroom, in one of UCSB's superbly equipped laboratories or music studios, or simply over lunch in the University Center. But these are not merely battles of wit. They are expressions of a conviction of UCSB professors that teaching and research go hand in hand, that the doors of knowledge can only be opened through real partnership between student and teacher.
In part, the easy, informal relationships between faculty and students reflect UCSB's relative youth. Unlike older institutions, UCSB has been able to explore less tradition-bound approaches to education. A University of California campus since 1944, it stresses close collaboration not only between students and teachers, but also across academic lines. You'll find chemists working alongside physicists, linguists collaborating with computer experts. To foster such cooperative scholarship, which may well be a model for the university of the 21st century, the National Science Foundation has established seven interdisciplinary research centers at UCSB.
As early as their freshman year, students will find themselves in the presence of world-renowned scholars. UCSB's 900 full-time faculty includes many members of leading academic societiesthe National Academy of Arts and Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineeringas well as fellows of the National Endowment for the Humanities, winners of the National
Medal of Science and the Nobel Prize. In the arts, sciences, and engineering, many of its departments are considered among the best in the nation by such measures as output of significant scholarly papers and peer opinion. So, too, is UCSB as a whole. Already ranked as a category 1 research university by the Carnegie Commission, UCSB is one of 61 elected members of the prestigious Association of American Universities. Recognized as a premier research institution, it ranks in the top two in research excellence and productivity among American public institutions.
At UCSB, living and learning are deeply intertwined. Extraordinarily rich in people and programs, the campus remains small enough for students to enjoy an intensely personal educational experience. It has an enrollment of an average of 18,500 students16,000 of them undergraduatesand a still-expanding physical plant that includes new buildings for engineering, the humanities, social sciences, the sciences, and recreation. Some 2,500 students reside on the campus itself; most of the rest live next door in the bustling student community of Isla Vista, with its shops, cafes, and parks. Bicycles are the preferred mode of transportation.
Once a small independent teachers' college, UCSB is today an integral part of the nine-campus University of California system. Chartered in 1868 as a land-grant college, the university is now widely regarded as the nation's pre-eminent public school system of higher education. The university has nearly 7,500 full-time faculty members and some 165,000 students, more than 90 percent of them Californians. About a fourth of the UC students are studying at the graduate professional level, including alumni of UCSB.
Responsibility for governing the system is vested in a corporate board of 26 gubernatorially appointed and elected members known as The Regents of the University of California. The Regents share authority with the University president, the chancellor of each campus, and the Academic Senate, representing the faculty. The latter includes 34 Nobel laureates, more than 900 Guggenheim fellows, and numerous members of national and international academic honor societies.
Relocated from its former site in Santa Barbara's Riviera section after World War II, UCSB occupies a picturesque 989-acre palm- and eucalyptus-lined plateau overlooking the Pacific that once served as a U.S. Marine Corps base. The flat terrain facilitates access for students with mobility impairments, who also get assistance from the Disabled Students Program. The campus is easily reachable by public transportation. It is adjacent to the Santa Barbara Municipal Airport, which offers flights to Los Angeles, San Francisco, Denver, Phoenix, and other cities. Highway 101, California's major coastal route, passes less than a mile from UCSB, with clearly marked turnoffs to the campus. Santa Barbara is also served by Amtrak and Greyhound Bus Lines, with regular shuttle buses between downtown Santa Barbara and the campus, nine miles away.
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UCSB's Donald C. Davidson Library is a major research facility. As a member of the Association of Research Libraries, the Center for Research Libraries, and the Research Libraries Group, it participates in cooperative programs and policy development with other major research libraries to provide collections and services for the UCSB community.
The library has approximately 2.5 million books and bound journals. The collection grows by about 50,000 volumes annually. In addition, the library has an excellent collection of maps, technical reports, satellite imagery, government documents, manuscripts, and microformat materials.
UCSB's library collection is housed in two buildings: the Davidson Library and the Arts Library. Davidson Library houses the general collection as well as several specialized units and services, which offer materials on specific subject areas or in specialized formats. Examples include the Science and Engineering Library (which provides more than 5,000 current serial subscriptions, 300,000 volumes, and 550,000 technical reports), the Map and Imagery Laboratory, the Curriculum Laboratory, and the Ethnic and Gender Studies Library. Also located in the Main Library is the Department of Special Collections, which houses rare books and manuscripts as well as several distinguished collections, including the Wyles Collection on the American West, the Skofield Printers' Collection, and other in-depth research collections.
Some of the special services in the Davidson Library include computerized access to the catalogs of all UC libraries; computerized access to citations in bibliographic data bases of recent science and engineering literature; terminals connected to the main computer center; and a Kurzweil Reading Machine for the blind, jointly owned and operated with the Disabled Students Program.
The Arts Library is a full-service branch library that supports academic programs in art and music. In addition to the substantial book and journal collections, special materials include more than 60,000 phonograph records and a collection of music scores.
Computing facilities on campus are readily available to all registered UCSB students. Instructional Computing (IC) has an Open Access lab with both Macintosh and IBM computers for student use. Access to instructional labs are designated by course requirements. Computing facilities set aside for the use of classes are IC labs (Power Mac 7200, G3, and G4 Labs; Pentium 166, 200, and 333 Labs; Open Access Lab; and New Media Center in Kerr Hall), the Humanities and Social Sciences Computing facility (limited to faculty, staff, and graduate students), the Life Sciences Computing Facility, the Oceanography computing facility, the Storke Pentium lab, and the Engineering Computing Infrastructure (ECI). Hours and restrictions vary with individual labs. For additional information visit our web site: http://www.ic.ucsb.edu. (will open in a new browser window).
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Instructional Development enhances teaching and research with its two branches of Instructional Consultation and Instructional Resources.
The Office of Instructional Consultation offers expertise in various teaching methods, curriculum development, testing, and evaluation. The Instructional Improvement Program provides financial backing to faculty involved in innovative instructional projects. All of this enables faculty to teach in the most effective manner and to bring to students the fruits of their latest research.
Instructional Resources provides numerous technological aids to support the educational process. Sophisticated student learning and language laboratories, comprehensive media production, and presentation support are among the many services offered.
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The newly renovated University Art Museum is located in the shadow of Storke Tower, adjacent to the University Center. Three galleries are devoted to the Museum's permanent collections and two feature regularly changing exhibitions. The exhibition program, balanced between historical and contemporary art, architecture, and design traditions, features art and artists of diverse global cultures. Exhibitions complement academic programs, particularly in the arts and humanities, and interdisciplinary projects are encouraged. At the end of each academic year, the museum showcases the work of undergraduate students in the Department of Art Studio. Student internships and courses in museum practices are offered through the Department of the History of Architecture and Art.
The permanent collections include approximately 7,000 art objects, ranging from ancient terra cottas to old master drawings to contemporary sculpture, with work produced in Europe, America, Africa, and Asia. The Sedgwick Collection of 15th- 16th- and 17th-century European paintings and the Morgenroth Collection of Renaissance medals and plaquettes are features in the new "Age of Discovery: Europe in the Renaissance" Gallery. The Architecture and Design Collection contains the archives of 40 Southern-California based architects, landscape architects, urban planners, and designers.
The University Art Museum is accredited by the American Association of Museums. It is open Tuesday, 12:00-8:00 p.m., Wednesday-Sunday, 12:00-5:00 p.m., and is closed on Monday and major holidays. Call the Museum at (805) 893-2951 for information on tours and special programs.
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Arts & Lectures serves the university and the community by presenting more than 100 public events each year. These events enhance the intellectual life of the campus and provide unique and varied cultural experiences.
Each year, more than 20 professional artists and ensembles perform in Campbell Hall and give master classes, lecture demonstrations, and workshops on campus and in the community. Dance, music, and theater events range from classical to popular to avant-garde.
Arts & Lectures also presents distinguished speakers who lecture on subjects of enormous diversity from science and industry to outdoor adventure, history, the arts, and current headlines. Numerous award-winning authors give readings of their work. Of broad general interest, the lectures are often cosponsored with other organizations and programs.
Each quarter Arts & Lectures screens more than a
dozen films; many are Santa Barbara premieres. The films cover a wide range
of style and content and often complement academic courses. Frequently, filmmakers
are on hand to introduce their films and answer audience questions.
Arts & Lectures also sells advance tickets for the
Departments of Dramatic Art and Music as well as the Multicultural Center, which
offer extensive and varied performances in classical and contemporary music,
theater, and dance.
The Arts & Lectures Ticket Office is located in Building 402 and is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Telephone: (805) 893-3535 v/tdd.
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