[11] Tracing its roots back to 1891 as an independent teachers college, UCSB joined the University of California system in 1944.

UCSB's campus sits on the oceanfront site of a converted WWII-era Marine Corps air station.

UCSB traces its origins back to the Anna Blake School, which was founded in 1891, and offered training in home economics and industrial arts.

[20] In 1944, intense lobbying by an interest group in the City of Santa Barbara led by Thomas Storke and Pearl Chase persuaded the State Legislature, Gov.

The original campus the regents acquired in Santa Barbara was located on only 100 acres (40 ha) of largely unusable land on a seaside mesa.

[34] Much of the campus's early architecture was designed by famed architect William Pereira and his partner Charles Luckman and made heavy use of custom tinted and patterned concrete blocks.

Situated at the center of campus, the Davidson Library in June 2013 broke ground on a significant addition and renovation project, which was completed in November 2015 with re-opening to the public in January 2016.

[40] The full-time, four-year undergraduate program comprises the majority of enrollments and has a liberal arts & sciences focus with high graduate coexistence.

[45] Corporate research partners in the College of Engineering include military contractors Raytheon Vision Systems, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

[46][47][48][49] From 2005 to 2009, UCSB was ranked fourth in terms of relative citation impact in the U.S. (behind MIT, Caltech, and Princeton University) according to Thomson Reuters.

[14] UCSB is also home to Microsoft Station Q, a research group working on topological quantum computing where American mathematician and Fields Medalist Michael Freedman is the director.

The College of Creative Studies offers students an alternative approach to education by supporting advanced, independent work in the arts, mathematics, and sciences.

The UCSB Multicultural Center hosts numerous activities yearly to support students of color and promote awareness of diversity issues on campus.

One, Santa Catalina (formerly Francisco Torres Towers), is located near the entrance to West Campus north of Isla Vista.

The two other residence halls, San Rafael and Manzanita Village, are located on the west side of campus and primarily house continuing and transfer students.

The Sierra Madre Villages, located by the West Campus Apartments, was completed in September 2015 and was the first residential complex certified as LEED platinum throughout the entire UC system.

SexInfo, which was started in 1976 by professors John and Janice Baldwin, is run by students doing advanced course work and research on sexuality through UCSB's Sociology Department.

SexInfo answers questions sent in by readers from all over the world, as well as regularly updates and posts articles on various topics related to human sexuality.

Hundreds of students participate in a large intramural program consisting of badminton, basketball, bowling, flag football, golf, floor hockey, indoor and outdoor soccer, racquetball, squash, running, softball, tennis, table tennis, ultimate frisbee, volleyball, inner-tube water polo, and kickball.

Because Campus Beach faces south and east and is shielded by the Santa Barbara Channel Islands, the surf is usually quite small.

However, a large north or west swell can wrap in to create great waves that are typically very clean and good for surfing.

Current UCSB faculty have received several prestigious awards, including six Nobel Prizes[93][94][95][96][97] and a Fields Medal.

Carol Greider, who won the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (2009), graduated from the College of Creative Studies with a B.A.

Robert Ballard, an oceanographer who discovered the RMS Titanic in 1985, graduated from UCSB in 1965 with a degree in chemistry and geology.

in drama in 1968 and who is honorary president of the UCSB Alumni Association, and Gwyneth Paltrow, who studied anthropology before dropping out to act.

from UCSB in 1982;[119] Brad Silberling, director of films like Moonlight Mile and Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events; and Gavin Garrison, who received a B.A.

in Global Studies in 2007 and now produces the Emmy-nominated television show Whale Wars; and Forrest Galante, wildlife biologist and star of Extinct or Alive on the Animal Planet Network.

Noah Harpster, writer, actor, producer and director, best known for writing A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, Transparent, Painkiller and acting in One Mississippi and For All Mankind, who received a B.F.A.

Television journalist Katy Tur of NBC and MSNBC received a degree in 2005, and Elizabeth Wagmeister of Page Six TV and Variety graduated with a B.A.

The United States Census Bureau has designated the UC Santa Barbara campus as a separate census-designated place (CDP) for statistical purposes.