University of California, Santa Barbara campus

Last updated
University of California, Santa Barbara campus
General information
TypeUniversity campus
Town or city Santa Barbara, California
CountryUnited States
The Storke Tower and the University Center in front of the UCSB Lagoon. Ucsbuniversitycenterandstorketower.jpg
The Storke Tower and the University Center in front of the UCSB Lagoon.

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) campus is located around 10 miles west of downtown Santa Barbara in Santa Barbara County, California.

Contents

Overview

A view over the school's lagoon to one of the Channel Islands UCSB 06.JPG
A view over the school's lagoon to one of the Channel Islands
Henley Gate (eastern entrance) at dawn UCSB Henley Gate dawn.JPG
Henley Gate (eastern entrance) at dawn

The University of California, Santa Barbara is located on cliffs directly above the Pacific Ocean. UCSB's campus is autonomous from local government and has not been annexed by the city of Santa Barbara. [1] [2] A parcel of the City of Santa Barbara that forms a strip of through the ocean to the Santa Barbara airport, runs through the west entrance to the university campus. UCSB has a Santa Barbara mailing address, as do other unincorporated areas around the city. The campus is divided into four parts: the Main (East) Campus of 708 acres (287 ha), which houses all academic units plus the majority of undergraduate housing, Storke Campus, West Campus, and North Campus. The campuses surround the community of Isla Vista.

UCSB is one of the few universities in the United States with its own beach. The campus, bordered on three sides by the Pacific Ocean, has miles of coastline as well as its own lagoon. Goleta Point, also known as Campus Point, is a rocky extension into the ocean. The campus has numerous walking and bicycle paths across campus, around the lagoon, and along the beach.

Much of the campus's early architecture was designed by architect William Pereira and his partner Charles Luckman, and made heavy use of custom tinted and patterned concrete blocks. This design element was carried over into many of the school's subsequent buildings. Many of the older campus buildings are being replaced with newer, more modern facilities.

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 run-off and ocean water used by the Marine Science Building's aquatic life tanks; thus, it is a combination of fresh and salt water.

Layout

The university is divided into two physical campuses, a 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 contains 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 mentally disabled and a large nature preserve. 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 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 an elaborate labyrinth.

Bicycles

UCSB is known for its extensive biking system. Bicycles have exclusive right of way on paths throughout East Campus. Bicycle stands and lockers are ubiquitous. [3] UCSB is unique among bicycle-heavy areas in that most travel is done within a small radius. [4]

Buildings and structures

Davidson Library

The UCSB Libraries, consisting of the Davidson Library and the Arts Library reached 3 million bound volumes in 2010. [5] The Donald C. Davidson Library is named after Donald C. Davidson, who was a University Librarian from 1947 to 1977. It is UCSB's main library, holding the general collection and several special collections: The Sciences and Engineering Library, the Map and Imagery Laboratory, the Curriculum Laboratory, the East Asian Library, and the Ethnic and Gender Studies Library. The university's Department of Special Collections is also part of the Davidson Library. The Special Collections hold rare books and manuscripts and several collections, which include the Performing Arts Collection, the Wyles Collection on the American West, the Skofield Printers' Collection, and the California Ethnic and Multicultural Archives.

Storke Tower

Storke Tower Storke Tower, UCSB.jpg
Storke Tower

Storke Tower is a landmark campanile (bell and clock tower) located in the center of the UCSB campus. It can be seen from most places on campus, and it overlooks Storke Plaza. Dedicated for use on September 28, 1969, the 61-bell carillon tower stands 175 ft (53 m) tall. The bells range in size from 13 to 4,793 pounds, with the largest bell carrying the university seal and university motto.

Storke Tower is the tallest steel/cement structure in Santa Barbara County. [6]

Ocean Science Education building

The new Ocean Science Education building will house the Outreach Center for Teaching Ocean Science (OCTOS) and incorporate the educational outreach program of UCSB's Marine Science Institute (MS) and the Channel Islands National Marine Sanctuary (CSMS) [7] OCTOS is designed to expand science education for kindergarten through 12th graders. It will also provide opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students, who will be voluntary guides, to learn about teaching science.

The project will cost an estimated $20 million, $8 million of which has already been provided by the federal government. The remaining $12 million will reportedly be made available through private funds raised by the university. [8] The building was supposed to be completed in August 2011 but the university terminated their contract with their contractor because he was many months behind schedule and did not complete the building by the projected date. So at this time, the project remains unfinished.

Art, Design and Architecture Museum

Art, Design and Architecture Museum Art, Design, & Architecture Museum at UCSB.jpg
Art, Design and Architecture Museum

The Art, Design and Architecture Museum [9] was Built in 1959, the museum was originally a gallery for art education at UC Santa Barbara. [10] Today the AD&A contains a fine art collection of over 8,500 works.

Other than the 8,500 original works the AD&A also possesses over 1,000,000 architectural drawings, historic photographs, writings, scrapbooks, and three-dimensional objects in the Architecture and Design Collection. [10]

The museum's digital collections were enhanced during the COVID-19 crisis so they were accessible while quarantine was in place. [11]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goleta, California</span> City in California, United States

Goleta is a city in southern Santa Barbara County, California, United States. It was incorporated as a city in 2002, after a long period as the largest unincorporated populated area in the county. As of the 2000 census, the census-designated place (CDP) had a total population of 55,204. A significant portion of the census territory of 2000 did not include the newer portions of the city. The population of Goleta was 32,690 at the 2020 census. It is known for being close to the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), campus.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Isla Vista, California</span> Place in California, United States

Isla Vista is an unincorporated community in Santa Barbara County, California, in the United States. As of 2020 census, the community had a population of 15,500. For statistical purposes, the United States Census Bureau has defined the community as a census-designated place (CDP). The majority of residents are college students at the University of California, Santa Barbara, or Santa Barbara City College. The beachside community of Isla Vista lies on a flat plateau about 30 feet (9 m) in elevation, separated from the beach by a bluff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, Santa Barbara</span> Public university in Santa Barbara, California

The University of California, Santa Barbara is a public land-grant research university in Santa Barbara County, California, United States. Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers' college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944. It is the third-oldest undergraduate campus in the system, after UC Berkeley and UCLA.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">College of Creative Studies</span> Undergraduate college at the University of California, Santa Barbara

The College of Creative Studies (CCS) 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, 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 for undergraduates”. The college has roughly 350 students in nine majors and approximately 60 professors and lecturers. There is an additional application process to the standard UC Santa Barbara admission for prospective CCS students, and CCS accepts applications for admissions throughout the year.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">California State University Channel Islands</span> Public university near Camarillo, California, U.S.

California State University Channel Islands is a public university in Ventura County, California. Located near the city of Camarillo, it opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system. CSUCI is located on the Central Coast of California, at the intersection of the Oxnard Plain and northernmost edge of the Santa Monica Mountains range. The Channel Islands are nearby where the university operates a scientific research station on Santa Rosa Island.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Thomas M. Storke</span> American journalist

Thomas More Storke was an American journalist, politician, postmaster, and publisher. He won the Pulitzer Prize in 1962. Storke also served as an interim United States Senator, appointed to serve between the resignation of William Gibbs McAdoo in November 1938 and the January 1939 swearing-in of Sheridan Downey, who had been elected to succeed McAdoo.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Merrill College</span> Residential college of the University of California, Santa Cruz

Merrill College is a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The theme of the college, and the name of its freshman core course, is "cultural identities and global consciousness."

<span class="mw-page-title-main">A. Quincy Jones</span> American architect

Archibald Quincy Jones was a Los Angeles–based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goleta Slough</span> Wetland in Santa Barbara County, California

The Goleta Slough is an area of estuary, tidal creeks, tidal marsh, and wetlands near Goleta, California, United States. It primarily consists of the filled and unfilled remnants of the historic inner Goleta Bay about 8 miles (13 km) west of Santa Barbara. The slough empties into the Pacific Ocean through an intermittently closed mouth at Goleta Beach County Park just east of the UCSB campus and Isla Vista. The slough drains the Goleta Valley and watershed, and receives the water of all of the major creeks in the Goleta area including the southern face of the Santa Ynez Mountains.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Storke Tower</span> Bell tower in Santa Barbara, California, US

Storke Tower is a landmark campanile 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 175 ft (53 m) tall. It was designed by the San Francisco architecture firm Clark and Morgan.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Campus of the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign</span>

The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is an academic research institution that is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois System. Since its founding in 1867, it has resided and expanded between the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana in the State of Illinois. Some portions are in Urbana Township.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University of California, Santa Barbara Library</span> Library in United States

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 and two annexes. The library has some three million print volumes, 30,000 electronic journals, 34,450 e-books, 900,055 digitized items, five million cartographic items, more than 3.7 million pieces of microform, 167,500 sound recordings, and 4,100 manuscripts. The library states that it holds 3.2 miles (5.1 km) of manuscript and archival collections.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coastal Science Campus</span>

The Coastal Science Campus of the University of California, Santa Cruz consists of five main institutions: UC Santa Cruz's Long Marine Laboratory, UC Santa Cruz's Coastal Biology Building, the NOAA Southwest Fisheries Science Center, the Seymour Marine Discovery Center, and the California Marine Wildlife Veterinary Care and Research Center.

The main campus of the University of California, Riverside (UCR) is located within the city of Riverside in western Riverside County, three miles (5 km) east of downtown, and comprises 1,112 acres (4.50 km2) bisected by the Interstate 215/State Route 60 freeway. Nearly half of the total area is devoted to agricultural teaching and research fields, most of which are located west of the freeway.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration</span>

The Cheadle Center for Biodiversity and Ecological Restoration (CCBER) is a research center under the Office of Research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) whose mission is to preserve regional biodiversity and restore ecosystems on campus lands. CCBER has three main functions: curation and preservation of natural history collections, native coastal ecosystem and habitat restoration on campus lands, and education and outreach for both UCSB students and local community schools.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Goleta Point</span> Peninsula in California, United States

Goleta Point is a small peninsula at the southern end of the Gaviota Coast on the central coast in the U.S. state of California. It is located 3 miles (4.8 km) southwest of the city of Goleta. Situated within the campus of University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), it is characterized by a beach cliff, crashing waves, and a view of the Channel Islands across the Santa Barbara Channel. The rock formation is frequented by shorebirds.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Cornell Central Campus</span>

Central Campus is the primary academic and administrative section of Cornell University's main campus in Ithaca, New York. It is bounded by Libe Slope to its west, Fall Creek to its north, and Cascadilla Creek to its south.

Esherick Homsey Dodge and Davis is a United States-based architecture, interiors, planning and urban design firm. EHDD is ranked among the top 20 architecture firms in the San Francisco Bay Area where it is headquartered, and is recognized for collaboration, commitment to innovation and investigation, and responsiveness to location, light, and climate.

The University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB) traces its roots back to the 19th century, when it emerged from the Santa Barbara School District, which was formed in 1866 and celebrated its 145th anniversary in 2011. UCSB's earliest predecessor was the Anna S. C. Blake Manual Training School, named after Anna S. C. Blake, a sloyd-school which was established in 1891. From there, the school underwent several transformations, most notably its takeover by the University of California system in 1944.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">University Hall (Ohio State University)</span> Campus building of Ohio State University

University Hall is the main academic building at the Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. The building houses classrooms for several of the university's colleges and includes a museum on the ground floor.

References

  1. University of California, Santa Barbara (1990). "UCSB Long Range Development Plan – 1990" (PDF). Page 16. University of California, Santa Barbara. Archived from the original (PDF) on June 29, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
  2. University Of California Santa Barbara (1990). "Open Space Habitat Management Plan for the Ellwood-Devereux Coast: Reports and Documents". University Of California Santa Barbara. Archived from the original on August 11, 2007. Retrieved September 16, 2007.
  3. http://www.as.ucsb.edu/bikes/AS_BIKESMap_2010.pdf [ dead link ]
  4. ":: UCSB Public Safety :: Police Department - Rescue 7 - CSO -". Archived from the original on 2012-02-06. Retrieved 2012-07-24.
  5. "The Santa Barbara Independent UCSB Library Celebrates 3 Millionth Book". Independent.com. November 9, 2010. Retrieved January 22, 2011.
  6. "CARPING ABOUT VENOCO", Santa Barbara Independent, April 27, 2006
  7. "Futuristic Marine Science Teaching Facility to be Built on UCSB Campus" . Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  8. Pollock, Ana (January 11, 2010). "Ocean Science Education Building Breaks Ground". Santa Barbara Independent. Retrieved 16 August 2012.
  9. "University of California Humanities Research and Scholarship Opportunities" (PDF). University of California Office of the President. Retrieved 2024-03-15.
  10. 1 2 UAM Website Archived July 17, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
  11. Grega, Josh (2020-04-28). "UCSB's Art, Design, & Architecture Museum enhancing online exhibits while gallery is closed due to coronavirus". Santa Barbara News-Press. Retrieved 2020-09-24.