[16] On October 13, 1984, Edward Cooperman, a physics professor, was shot and killed by his former student, Minh Van Lam, in McCarthy Hall.

[17] On August 19, 2019, Steven Shek Keung Chan, a retired budget director working as a consultant in the international student affairs office, was found dead from multiple stab wounds in a campus parking lot.

Clayes III Performing Arts Center, in honor of a $5 million pledge made to the university by the trustees of the Joseph A.W.

Although established in the late 1950s, much of the initial construction on campus took place in the late 1960s, under the supervision of artist and architect Howard van Heuklyn, who gave the campus a striking, futuristic architecture (buildings like Pollak Library South, Titan Shops, Humanities, McCarthy Hall).

In order to generate power for the university and become more sustainable, the campus installed solar panels on top of a number of buildings.

The panels, which generate up to 7–8 percent of the electrical power used daily, are atop the Eastside Parking Structure, Clayes Performing Arts Center and the Kinesiology and Health Science Building.

The university opened a satellite campus in Irvine, California in 1989, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of the original Fullerton location.

[26] CSUF announced plans in May 2010 to buy the lot occupied by Hope International University, but this deal fell through.

[28] After community opposition, the Fullerton planning commission indefinitely postponed any action on the project in February 2016.

The purpose of the center is to provide opportunities to conduct research, receive instruction and experience the Mojave Desert environment.

[32] USNWR departmental rankings[39] CSUF participates in the NCAA Division I Big West Conference and MPSF.

Cal State Fullerton Athletics boasts 31 national championships covering 11 sports and dating back to its first in 1967.

[47][48] CSUF alumni include: an astronaut who, as of June 2024[update], is participating in her third trip to space; a speaker of the California Assembly;[49] other politicians and Academy Award-winning directors, actors, producers, and cinematographers; award-winning journalists, authors, and screenwriters; nationally recognized teachers; presidents and CEOs of leading corporations; international opera stars, musicians, and Broadway stars; professional athletes and Olympians; doctors, scientists and researchers; and social activists.

An active alumni association keeps them connected through numerous networking and social events, and also sponsors nationwide chapters.