California State University - Los Angeles

California State University, Los Angeles, or CSULA is in the heart of the LA metropolitan area just five miles east of the city. The school is in the University Hills district, and the campus faces the lofty San Gabriel Mountains.

An act of the California legislature established CSULA on July 2, 1947 under the name of Los Angeles State College to be located on the same campus as Los Angeles City College(LACC). The Legislature reconstituted LASC to become the Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences in 1949. California State College's Board of Trustees changed the name to California State College at Los Angeles in 1964 and again to California State College, Los Angeles in 1968 after it became a part of the California State College System. The school was awarded University Status in 1972. The institution was renamed a final time to California State University, Los Angeles.

The college shared its campus with Los Angeles City College from 1947 to 1955 before its present 175 acre location. CSULA has been accredited since 1954 by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges. CSULA started the first Chicano Studies Department in the nation in 1968. In 1993, the California State University Chancellor and Trustees approved development of CSULA Charter School of Education. It was the first one of its kind in the nation. In September of 2000, Governor Gray Davis chose the CSULA campus for a press conference when he signed the historic bills that expanded the CSULA Grant program.

Program choices at the university are vast. CSULA students can choose a program of study from 129 types of Bachelor's degrees, 112 Master's degree and 3 Doctoral degrees which includes is a Ph.D. in special education (Ed.D.), Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and Doctor of Education (Ed.D. The School of Education CSULA has a program of 22 different teaching credentials.

Classes at CSULA are taught the year around using the quarter system. The four quarters are each 11 weeks long. The academics are organized into eight colleges that houses four schools for a total of about 50 academic departments, interdisciplinary programs and divisions.

CSULA has several notable programs, honors and awards. It is home to the award-winning Luckman Jazz Orchestra, a NASA-funded SPACE program, a humanities center supported by the Rockefeller Foundation and a critically acclaimed environmental research center funded by the National Science Foundation. The School of Nursing is considered as the state's best. The undergraduate business program was ranked one of the best in the nation by U.S. News and World Report.

The College of Engineering, together with the computer science and technology classes has been recognized internationally for building advanced vehicles. The Solar Eagle team has built three cars that competed in solar car races in Australia and the United States and won the 1997 world championship.

CSULA has a comprehensive athletic program for men and women with sports from tennis to volley ball and any more. The school has more than 11 acres of athletic facilities.

A long list of Notable alumni include several members of the House of Representatives, Best-selling authors, artists and film producers.