Welcome to University of California- Santa Cruz

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Welcome / Quarry Plaza

Tour stop audio transcript

Welcome to the University of California Santa Cruz! UC Santa Cruz is consistently ranked in the top 1% in the world for research influence, and that translates into amazing opportunities for our students. We'll be exploring our academic divisions and opportunities, our student support services and student life. Feel free to pause along the way to enjoy our 2000 acres of beautiful ocean vistas, redwood forests and unique architecture. Quarry Plaza is a space that's all about community, engagement and entertainment. Meet your friends at the rock, explore our Baytree Bookstore, or enjoy lunch in the sun. Experience some of the reasons why 88% of our Freshmen return as Sophomores. Here you'll find our Student Union Assembly and Lounge, a space where students help to shape campus priorities and come together as our University Student Government. It's also the center for our Engaging Education Outreach and Retention Program and our Student Organization Advising and Resources, which oversees 150 different clubs on campus. Quarry Plaza is home to four of our ethnic resource centers, offering community, study space and programming for all of our students. Throughout the year, the resource centers host programs and events that connect students, staff, faculty, and community members. UC Santa Cruz also provides community and assistance through our Women's, Cantu Queer, and Disability Resource Centers.

Cowell College

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We are at Cowell College, one of our ten unique residential colleges, where you can live and study with students from all of our 66 majors, and transition from high school to university with the support of faculty and staff. Our colleges are small living and learning communities that intermingle in many ways to form our student body of 19,700 students. Residential colleges are not major specific and offer housing, dining, academic and event space, along with tutoring and student governance. Choose your college by theme, by location or even by the look and feel of the community. No matter which residential college you choose, you'll be a part of the University of California Santa Cruz.

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Humanities

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Our Humanities Division offers more than 12 different majors focused on the human experience, including linguistics, which is consistently ranked as one of the top programs in the country. Our Humanities Institute is a hub for academic research, cross-discipline collaboration, and public engagement. We incubate ideas and foster innovation by funding projects, centers, and research clusters that enable faculty and students to work on some of the biggest problems of our day. Humanities also houses our internationally acclaimed Dickens Project, a collaboration of 33 universities around the globe which studies the Victorian era to better understand our contemporary times. As a Humanities major, you can study cultures from around the world, and build skills in critical analysis, creative thinking, and communication.

Merrill College

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Set at the northern edge of campus among tall redwoods, Merrill College prides itself on its friendly, engaging and accepting community. Merrill's central goals are to promote respect for all world cultures, and for the individual cultural heritage of each Merrill student in particular. In each of our residential colleges there are a variety of themed housing options, based on a student's academic interests, hobbies or backgrounds. Examples of themed housing at Merrill College include Social Justice, Indigenous People, Leadership, and an Academic Study-Intensive floor. If you are interested in learning more about the wide variety of themed housing options we offer across all of our residential colleges, visit housing-dot-UCSC-dot-edu.

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College Nine

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College Nine's theme, International and Global Perspectives, recognizes the importance of cultural competency in today's world, and focuses on issues such as economic globalization, environmental degradation, human rights, and international and ethnic conflicts. College Nine attracts students from all over the world to learn from one another, and make connections through service, retreats, and leadership programs. Here, the International Living Center brings together American and International students to work, live, study, and socialize, forming bonds that last well beyond the college experience. College Nine students are well-prepared to take their place in a global community.

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Social Sciences

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Our Social Sciences Division focuses on social justice in a changing world, with 8 doctoral programs, two masters programs and 12 bachelor degrees. We're proud of the research we undertake here. UC Santa Cruz is 1st in the nation for publication research productivity, and our Economics department was ranked 8th in the world for International Finance. The Social Sciences Division covers a wide variety of programs, including some of our most popular: Psychology, Business Management Economics, and Sociology. It is also where you will find interdisciplinary studies like Environmental and Legal Studies, and Anthropology. Many of our students travel to Washington, DC to study in our UCDC program, where they can work at internships and earn credit at a variety of government, non-profit, and media institutions.

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Dining Hall

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Students at UC Santa Cruz have plenty of fresh, appetizing choices at our 5 dining halls and 10 eateries on campus. When you think dining hall, don't think cafeteria food—think fresh, sustainable and delicious. Approximately 28% of the produce used by our dining hall is from our own 30 acre organic farm, where students can participate in the Farm and Garden's Apprenticeship and learn organic gardening and small-scale farming techniques. There is at least one dining hall open during late evenings, and wifi available so you can eat, study, and socialize on your schedule. Our dining halls are an example of our commitment to sustainability. We are trayless, saving over 300,000 gallons of water annually, and each hall is a green-certified business. In fact, US News and World Report named us one of the most eco-friendly college campuses in America.

Health, Safety, & Student Support

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At UC Santa Cruz we care about the health and safety of our students. Our focus is on wellness, but if you need medical attention, Cowell Student Health Center is right here on campus. You can come here for routine or same day care, counseling, nutritional advice, health promotion programs, x-rays, lab and pharmacy services. As you walk the campus you'll see a system of blue lights, marking call boxes for students who feel they need an escort, emergency services or other assistance. You can also hop on a loop bus, one of the shuttles that circle our campus on regular schedules. Loop and Metro buses are also free for UC Santa Cruz students. Academic wellness and support can be found at our Academic Resource Center, offering 24 hour computer labs, learning support, tutoring and time management plans. Finally, student care extends to Slug Support. There are food pantries for our budget-conscious students, farm produce give-aways at Quarry Plaza, and our Swipes for Slugs Program, where students can donate their unused meal plan dollars to others.

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School of Engineering

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The Baskin School of Engineering offers majors in 7 different departments leading to 10 undergraduate and 13 graduate degrees, many of them interdisciplinary. We are proud to be the home of the Human Genome project, where David Haussler first unraveled the mysteries of human DNA, and then shared his results with the world. Josh Stuart is using our Cancer Genomics hub to reclassify cancers and pinpoint therapies, and Allison Fletcher's engineering work is supporting exciting advances in neuroscience. Our game design program was the first in the UC system, a rigorous education that includes computer science, art, narrative, and digital media. Our 1200 engineering students benefit from a 10:1 student to faculty ratio and corporate sponsored senior design projects. Our graduates have gone on to work at some of the most prestigious companies in Silicon Valley, just 45 minutes from our campus.

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Physical & Biological Sciences

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Welcome to Science Hill! Here we're doing exciting work across 14 majors, including diverse fields like Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Math, and Physics. Our faculty is working at the leading edge of science. Henry Noller was awarded the breakthrough prize in life sciences for his work on the genetic code, and Sandra Faber earned the National Medal of Science for her groundbreaking work in Astronomy. Time magazine recognized former Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan as one of the most influential people in the world for her work with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In fact, twenty of our faculty are members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, which honors excellence and leadership in scholarship. Their accomplishments translate to real research opportunities for our students, with over 70% of our undergraduates participating in research during their time here

Coastal Science Campus

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Make sure to visit our Coastal Science Campus, 100 acres perched on the edge of the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. Here you'll find our state-of-the-art 40,000 square foot facility including classroom space and seawater plumbed research laboratories for studying live marine life. The campus also features greenhouses for research supporting habitat restoration, and underwater observatories. The research opportunities here are wide-ranging. Students may participate in studying the mitigation of oil spills, document the existence of rhythm in sea mammals or search for solutions for pressure related illnesses in divers.

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Porter College

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The Porter College community here on the Western side of campus is home to Freshmen, Continuing Students, and Transfer Students, a growing part of our student population. In addition to Porter College, many transfer students find community at Family Student Housing or our University Town Center in downtown Santa Cruz. We offer numerous programs to support transfer, re-entry and readmitted students. For example, programs like STARS, Services for Transfer and Re-entry Students help our students from pre-admission questions through post-graduation planning. Our goal is to help students build connections with their peers and the UC Santa Cruz campus. We support our Vets through the Veteran and Education Team Support Program, designed to help Vets transition into academic life. We are also pleased to support the Smith Society and their commitment to students who are current or former foster youth.

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Rachel Carson College

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With a theme of "Environment and Society", the name Rachel Carson College is truly fitting. Our most recently named college, the first in over 35 years, honors Rachel Carson, author of Silent Spring and a well-known biologist and environmental scientist. A collaborative project between Rachel Carson College's Sustainable Living Undergraduate Program and Cabrillo College's Construction and Energy Management Program has resulted in Ecotopia House, a Tiny House project exploring low-environmental impact housing that can be easily replicated at an affordable price point. Visitors who are impassioned about the environment may want to visit our 135 acre arboretum, where our students can rest, relax, or study our exotic plant collection.

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Oakes College

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Poised at the edge of a natural preserve, Oakes College provides unmatched beauty and serenity. At Oakes we celebrate multiculturalism, and you'll find an environment where our differences are not a barrier, but an invitation to growth and cultural understanding. Students at every residential college undertake a core course during their time on campus. At Oakes college, students explore the connections between educational quality, diverse ways of thinking, and social justice. Our ten beautiful residential colleges, which also include Kresge, Crown, College 10 and Stevenson, provide our students with diverse choices in living spaces. That's why almost half of our student body live on campus...97% of our first year students! Make sure to access our residential college link to learn more about the ten diverse residential communities at UC Santa Cruz.

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The Arts

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The Arts at UC Santa Cruz are represented in their many forms...19 music groups, four distinct theatre venues, including a student-run theater company, and well-lit studios and classrooms. Our departments include, Digital Arts & New Media, Film & Digital Media, Games & Playable Media, History of Art and Visual Culture, and Music and Theater Arts. The creative environment flourishes on our campus. In the last five years our faculty and alumni have been recognized in many art circles, including the Grammy's, the Emmy's, the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Sundance Film Festival, the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes. Our students go on to work in diverse areas, including Alumnus Axel Alonso, the former editor in chief at Marvel comics, Cary Fukunaga, Director of Sin Nombre and True Detective, and Marti Noxon, writer and producer for Mad Men, Grey's Anatomy and Glee.

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McHenry Library

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Opened in 1965 to serve our first 650 students, McHenry Library is located in the center of our campus. The library offers students a wide variety of study spaces, media services, learning technologies, presentation rooms, delicious café foods and spacious lawns to enjoy our beautiful Northern California weather. In addition, the library houses several important collections in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, including diverse offerings like historic maps, the Lick Observatory archives and of course the Grateful Dead Archives! Our students also have access to The Science and Engineering Library, housing important collections in the natural and physical sciences, and engineering. Game Design majors from the School of Engineering can take advantage of our state of the art gaming facility, to explore their field of study and test their creations. Together, our libraries house over 1.5 million volumes and are part of the UC Interlibrary loan system.

Athletics & Recreation

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UC Santa Cruz has many options for competitive sports, as well as just plain fun. We are an NCAA Division III school, and field teams in tennis, soccer, basketball, volleyball, cross country and more. Our school also competes in club and intramural sports like rugby, equestrian, racquetball, cycling, and baseball, to name a few. All of our sports are cheered on by our mascot—the Banana Slug—which lives in the redwood forest surrounding the campus! Finally, if you are interested in fitness on an individual level you can take advantage of our many PE classes, our wellness center or low cost rentals for sailing, scuba diving, camping and more. At UC Santa Cruz, there are countless ways to enjoy the beautiful California Coast.

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