Campuswide:

State-of-the-Art Facilities -- Cal State Northridge 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—are under construction during 2000. Those include new wings for the Oviatt Library, a new Arts, Media and Communication Building, and a new Health and Human Development Building.

Ph.D. Training Ground -- Cal State Northridge ranked first among 529 master’s level universities in its number of graduates who went on to earn Ph.D.s 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.

Students Cheer -- Cal State Northridge students have good things to say about their experience at the university. In a recent random and representative survey of CSUN students:
--78 percent rated CSUN’s quality of instruction as good/excellent.
--72 percent said they are proud of their accomplishments at CSUN.
--78 percent CSUN was their first choice of a university to attend.

Small Classes -- Cal State Northridge has small average class sizes, ranging from about 29 for lecture sections to 19 for laboratory sections as of 1998. In a recent student survey, small class size was one of the campus’ features most appreciated by students, with 84 percent indicating satisfaction.

Preparing Teachers -- Cal State Northridge is the leading public university in California in preparing students to obtain teaching credentials. The university had 1,054 single or multiple subject teaching credential documents issued to students/graduates during 1997-1998, more than any other Cal State or University of California campus, according to data from the California Commission on Teacher Credentialing.

Students of the World -- Students at Cal State Northridge constitute a veritable United Nations, with enrollment coming from more than 70 foreign countries. The university consistently ranks in the top 25 for master’s level universities based on the size of its foreign student population. Of the 862 foreign students enrolled in 1999-2000, the most by country came from Japan (161), Korea (91), and Taiwan (76).

Advanced Technology -- Cal State Northridge is a university committed to using advanced technology to aid in the education process. Virtually all CSUN students have campus-provided e-mail accounts, as do most faculty and staff, resulting in 33 million e-mail messages sent and received a year. The campus also has an inventory of about 7,000 computers, including about 2,000 spread among 98 labs during 1998-1999. And the university offers about two dozen online academic courses.

Serving the Deaf -- Cal State Northridge, one of the first mainstream universities to accept deaf students in the 1960s, now hosts one of the largest deaf student populations among U.S. universities. Nearly 300 deaf and hard-of-hearing students receive sign language interpreting, real-time captioning and other special services each year through the university’s renowned National Center on Deafness (NCOD).

Serving the Disabled -- The Center on Disabilities at Cal State Northridge, specializing in technology and its impact on those with disabilities, annually hosts the weeklong Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, the largest event of its kind drawing thousands of participants from around the world. The center also is known for operating one of the first and finest university computer access labs for students with disabilities.

Minority Students Excel -- Cal State Northridge is a university where minority students are welcome and can excel. The U.S. Education Department ranked CSUN among the top 100 universities nationwide in graduating Hispanic students at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. The university also places highly in Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education and Black Issues in Higher Education rankings for degrees awarded. The May 2000 edition of Hispanic Outlook ranked CSUN 10th in the nation for numbers of bachelor’s degrees awarded to Hispanic students during 1997-98.

Distinguished Faculty -- Eight Cal State Northridge faculty members have been awarded the prestigious Guggenheim Fellowship for research and creative activity during the institution’s history. And 58 Cal State Northridge faculty, including 22 just since 1980, have received Fulbright awards to conduct research or teach abroad.

Community Involvement -- Cal State 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.