N NORTHRIDGE THIS IS CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY? California State University, Northridge exists to help students realize their educational goals. The University's first priority is to promote the welfare and intellectual progress of students. Part of the 23-campus California State University system, Cal State Northridge is the only public university located in Los Angeles' San Fernando Valley (If incorporated, the area with 1.7 million residents would be the fifth largest city in the United States). Northridge celebrated its 40th anniversary in 199899, having educated more than 165,000 alumni. The main Northridge campus covers 356 acres and has about four million square feet of facilities, including about two dozen major buildings and more than 100 in total. Campus physical assets are valued at more than $613 million. The physical heart of the campus is the Oviatt Library with more than one million volumes. Cal State Northridge also operates a satellite campus in adjoining Ventura County. Cal State Northridge, accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges, is one of the largest higher education institutions in California and is the third-largest public university (2005 enrollment) in L.A. County after UCLA and Long Beach State. CSUN enrolls just over 33,000 students in Fall 2003, with about 1,900 faculty and a staff of nearly 2,100.
CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE HISTORY In fall 1956, the San Fernando Valley campus of the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences (later Cal State Los Angeles) was established on the present Northridge site. Soon after, the state Legislature passed Assembly Bill 971, which provided for the campus to separate from its parent college. On July 1, 1958, the founding date of the present university, the institution became San Fernando Valley State College, with about 3,300 students and 104 faculty. On June 1, 1972, the college was renamed California State University, Northridge, by action of the state Legislature and the Board of Trustees of the California State University.
NORTHRIDGE NOTABLES ➤ CSUN is headed toward becoming one of the most modern university campuses in the country. Six new buildings worth more than $70 million each with
state-of-the-art facilities have finished or are under construction, including new wings for the Oviatt Library and a new Arts, Media and Communication Building. Renovations have also just been completed to the University Student Union. ➤ Cal State Northridge has small average class sizes, ranging from about 29 for lecture sections and 19 for laboratory sections. In the recent student survey, small class size was one of the campus' features most appreciated by students, with 84 percent indicating satisfaction.
THE COLLEGES AT CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE Arts, Media and Communication Business Administration and Economics
Extended Learning Health and Human Development Humanities
Education
Science and Mathematics
Engineering and Computer Science
Social and Behavioral Sciences
NORTHRIDGE MATADORS 56 2011-12 WOMEN’S BASKETBALL MEDIA GUIDE
➤ Cal State Northridge ranked first among 529 master's level universities in its number of graduates who went on to earn Ph.Ds in the social sciences and psychology, according to a recent National Science Foundation report. The university also ranked second in mathematics and among the top dozen such campuses in biology, computer sciences, engineering and physical sciences. ➤ Northridge students have good things to say about their experience at the university. In a recent survey of Cal State Northridge students: 86 percent said they were satisfied with their overall experience at Cal State Northridge; 87 percent said they were satisfied with the overall quality of instruction; and about two-thirds said they would choose CSUN again as a university. ➤ Northridge has been a leader in involving its students in community service learning, where academic learning is merged with meaningful community work. The university launched a Center for Community Service Learning that has helped create more than 40 new courses since its inception in 1998. CSUN students have taught computer skills to pregnant and at-risk teens and helped establish an after school children's literature/literacy program.