page_title: California State University Channel Islands
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: California State University Channel Islands / History
caption_attribution_description: English: CSUCI Main Entrance Sign
context_page_description: California State University Channel Islands is a public university in Ventura County, California. CI opened in 2002 as the 23rd campus in the California State University system, succeeding the Ventura County branch campus of CSU Northridge. CI is located midway between Santa Barbara and Los Angeles near Camarillo, at the intersection of the Oxnard Plain and northernmost edge of the Santa Monica Mountains range. The Channel Islands are nearby where the university operates a scientific research station on Santa Rosa Island. CI faculty include artist Jack Reilly and biologist Sean Anderson.
  The university is a Hispanic-serving institution. Channel Islands offers 53 types of Bachelor's degrees, 6 different graduate degrees, 19 teaching credentials, and an Ed.D degree. In the fall of 2018, the university enrolled the largest number of students in its history with 7,095 undergraduate and postgraduate students. Since its establishment, the university has awarded nearly 7,000 degrees. In the fall of 2018, the university had 435 faculty, of which 143 were on the tenure track.
context_section_description: The first buildings of the campus were built in 1934 as part of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal during the Great Depression, a public works project to house the Camarillo State Mental Hospital and provide work for the unemployed. Construction teams utilized several thousand laborers over the course of three years in their endeavor to create everything from the hospital itself to a power plant, local utilities, and animal husbandry/farm facilities that would eventually support a vibrant complex of patients and staff numbering into the thousands during normal weekday operations.  The hospital operated from 1936 to 1997.
  Planning for the University began in 1965, when State Senator Robert J. Lagomarsino co-authored Senate Bill 288 calling for establishment of a four-year public college in Ventura County, and Governor Pat Brown signed a bill authorizing a study for a state college for the county. In 1974, Dr. Joyce Kennedy established the UC/CSU Ventura Learning Center in Ventura as a partnership between UC Santa Barbara and California State University, Northridge. She went on to serve as director of the CSUN Ventura Campus for more than fifteen years. The Ventura Learning Center became the CSUN Ventura Campus in 1988.
  In 1996, J. Handel Evans began as Planning President charged with beginning development of a public, four-year university in the region. In September 1997, on the recommendation of the Chancellor and a community task force appointed by the Governor, the CSU Board of Trustees voted unanimously to accept the former Camarillo State Hospital site for the purpose of transforming it into the CSU's 23rd campus. In July 1996, the CSU Board of Trustees formally adopted the name California State University Channel Islands for the new University. In September 1997, Governor Wilson signed into law S.B. 623 (Jack O'Connell) providing for the financing and support of the transition of the site for use as a university campus. The state legislature and the CSU Board of Trustees provided funds to begin the conversion of the facility from a state hospital into a college campus. In 1997, the hospital closed and the patients were moved into the state-local system. In August 1999, The Ventura Learning Center moved to the Camarillo site as CSUN-CI, a satellite facility for CSU Northridge.
  The school chose red and silver as their colors for the university. The red is consistent with the tradition of the region, and the silver is for the dolphin, the University mascot.  The campus is situated on land historically inhabited by the Chumash.
  The CSU Board of Trustees appointed Richard R. Rush as President of California State University Channel Islands and he started on June 18, 2001. Dr. Rush's formal inauguration was held on April 19, 2002. While establishing the University structures, Dr. Rush has overseen and participated in the hiring of faculty and the university's senior staff. In addition, he has directed the development of the university's strategic, academic, and physical master plans.  On August 16, 2002, CI opened to upper division transfer students and in the fall of 2003, accepted its first freshman class. As of January 2006, the first named school of the campus was the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics. On May 17, 2007, CI graduated its inaugural freshman class and received its initial accreditation for seven years, the maximum period allowed by the WASC. The campus is under continuing construction to accommodate the projected growth of the university.  While there are about 7,000 registered students, projected enrollment for the year 2025 is 15,000 full-time students.  Dr. Rush retired in August 2016, after 15 years as the campus's first president. He was succeeded by Dr. Erika D. Beck, who previously served as Provost and Executive Vice President of Nevada State College.
caption: CSU Channel Islands Entrance Sign
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