Located in California's premier wine country 50 miles north of San Francisco, Sonoma State is a small campus with big ideas.With a tradition of promoting intellectual and personal growth, leadership opportunities and technological proficiency, SSU offers its students a friendly, safe and informal atmosphere on a beautiful campus setting. Currently, campus housing accommodates students in both apartment and residential suite style facilities.
While SSU generally accepts all qualified students who apply from high schools in its service area, 80 percent of the freshmen and 55 percent of the junior transfer students come from outside the North Bay region. With 35 percent of its student body living on campus, it is one of the most residential campuses within the system. Sonoma State is proud of its many outstanding achievements:
Quick Facts
- President: Dr. Ruben Armiñana
- Founded: 1960
- Mascot: Seawolves
- Accreditation: Western Association of Schools and Colleges
- Member: Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges
- Mid-size campus (8,900 students, 86% undergraduates)
- 63/37% female to male ratio
- 3,000 residential students
- Top 10 majors (by number of applicants):
- Pre/Business
- Biology
- Kinesiology
- Communications
- Psychology
- Hutchins
- Pre-Nursing
- English
- Criminal Justice
- History
- Graduate 2,200 students per year
- 45 bachelor’s degree programs; 16 master’s degree programs
- 9 credential programs; 8 certificate programs
- 269 richly-landscaped acres, 50 miles north of San Francisco
Academic Profile
The SSU educational experience fosters intellectual, cognitive, social and personal growth. The faculty and staff provide close mentoring relationships and an education that fosters ethical exploration, civic engagement, social responsibility, and global awareness combined with a solid foundation in an academic discipline. Many classes average fewer than 40 students, allowing close interaction between students and faculty.
SSU has a commitment to graduating students who have the ability to think critically and ethically and can effectively use information technology. There is a strong move to develop a global perspective in much of the curriculum to prepare students for the needs of the 21st century workplace.
The University is comprised of six schools: Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, Education, Extended Education, Social Sciences and Science and Technology. Degrees are offered in 45 majors and 48 minors at the bachelor's level and 15 at the master's level. The University offers a joint master’s degree in mathematics with San Francisco State University and a joint doctorate in educational administration with California State University, Sacramento and the University of California, Davis. There are nine credential programs and eight undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. SSU also offers one of the only Wine Business programs in the country.
Accreditation
Sonoma State University is accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) and the California State Board of Education. The School of Education is accredited at the state and national levels by CCTC and NCATE. The School of Business and Economics is accredited by AACSB-International, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business. Many departments and programs are individually accredited.
Alumni Association
SSU has an active Alumni Association that maintains a continuing connection between University and its 53,000 alumni, sponsoring educational projects, programs and activities to continue the relationship students have with their university.
Athletics
The Department of Intercollegiate Athletics sponsors 13 sports: five for men and eight for women. SSU is a member of the NCAA Division II and competes in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the premier intercollegiate Division II athletic association in the country. The Seawolves earned three NCAA West Region championships in 2007-08. Forty-seven student-athletes earned Academic All-Conference and men's golf ranked No. 1 in the nation. Baseball placed third at the College World Series. Jarin Todd of men's golf was named NCAA Golfer of the Year for second straight year. Both baseball and golf won CCAA championships in 2008. Four baseball players were selected in the Major League Baseball draft. The men's golf team won the 2009 NCAA Division II Men's Golf National Championship. It is the third national championship in the history of the school and the first for the men's golf program.
Awards and Honors
One of the most requested campuses in the CSU system and regularly named a “Best Value”and "Most Green" College by Princeton Review, SSU has also been named one of the “most wired” campuses in the nation by Forbes magazine. It is the only California university that is a member of the Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges, the prestigious group of 25 universities and colleges across the nation committed to providing superior liberal arts and sciences education to their students.
Buildings and Learning Centers
The Jean and Charles Schulz Information Center is named after Peanuts cartoon creator Charles Schulz and his wife. It holds one of the largest libraries in the CSU system and the state of California with more than 400,000 volumes. A unique 750,000-volume automated-retrieval system is one of only four in the country. It also houses a valued collection of Jack London’s writings, original letters and memorabilia.
The 59,000 square foot Recreation Center, designed with high standards for sustainable building methods, houses state-of-the-art aerobic equipment, a climbing wall, exercise and dance studios, two gyms, a large weight lifting and machine area, locker rooms and a spa. Known as a ” building that teaches,” the Environmental Technology Center is a demonstration of sustainable architecture and energy efficiency that results in it consuming only 50% of the energy of similar structures.
Opening in the next few years, the Green Music Center has been designed to become one of the great concert halls of the world and is modeled after Seiji Ozawa Hall at Tanglewood in Massachusetts (the summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra).
The Cerent Engineering Science Laboratories house state-of-the-art equipment for research and teaching in computer and engineering sciences and students have unique opportunities to work with high tech companies in the area.
The university also owns and operates the 411-acre Fairfield Osborn Preserve nearby and the 3,200 acre Galbreath Wildland Preserve in Mendocino County. Both offer major opportunities for research in the natural sciences rare for students.
Degree/Program Offerings
The University offers 9 credential programs and eight undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. Basic teaching credential programs in education include multiple subject, multiple subject BCLAD, single subject, administrative services, reading/language arts (certificate or specialist), special education (mild/moderate or moderate/severe), pupil personnel services (via the Counseling Department).
The university is comprised of six schools: Arts and Humanities, Business and Economics, Education, Extended Education, Science and Technology and Social Sciences. Degrees are offered in 41 majors and 46 minors at the bachelor's level and 14 at the master's level. The university offers a joint master’s degree in mathematics with San Francisco State University and a joint doctorate in educational administration with California State University, Sacramento and the University of California, Davis. It also offers nine credential programs and eight undergraduate and graduate certificate programs. Sonoma State offers one of the only wine business programs in the country.
Ethnicity Profile*
*Summarized from CSU Statistical Abstract.
African American |
2% |
American Indian |
1% |
Asian American/Pacific Islander |
5% |
Latino |
12% |
White, Non Latino |
68% |
Did Not State |
12% |
Founders of SSU
According to a 1994 article by Gaye LeBaron, longtime newspaper columnist for The Press Democrat who specializes in local history, there were ten founding members of Santa Rosa Center, San Francisco State College, which would become Sonoma State College in 1960. They were:
• Barbara Biebush, Librarian
• Charles "Chuck" Rhinehart, Mathematics (d. 2008)
• Dorothy Overly, English (d. 1983)
• Cheryl Peterson, Political Science
• Wright Putney, Art
• Mario DiGesu, Education
• Dee Hinman, Sociology
• Hobart "Red" Thomas, Psychology (d. 2009)
• George McCabe, Director (d. 1996)
• El Doris Wood, Education
Greek Life and Campus Clubs
Greek Life and Campus Clubs: There are currently 17 sororities and six fraternities on campus. Four new local and ethnic sororities were started in the recent years. More than 100 club and organizations are available to accommodate a wide range of interests.
Housing
The residential community provides some of the most attractive suite-style housing in the area. Non-dormitory suites are served by a dining hall and are clustered in villages, offering students a similar experience to living off campus. Freshmen generally live in residential suites; sophomores and upper-level students in the apartments. Available to all are swimming pools, spas, computer labs, a convenience store, a U.S. Postal Station, a pizzeria, and outdoor recreational areas. The newest complex, Tuscany Village, opens in Fall 2009.
Resource
Founded in 1960 as a teacher education center for the North Bay, Sonoma
State University is now a liberal arts and sciences university dedicated
to providing high-quality undergraduate education and selected professional
graduate programs. Dedicated to the liberal arts and sciences and known
for its active use of technology, the SSU educational experience fosters
intellectual, cognitive, social and personal growth. The faculty and
staff of Sonoma State provide close mentoring relationships and an education
that fosters ethical exploration, civic engagement, social responsibility,
and global awareness combined with a solid foundation in an academic
discipline.
Sonoma State University also serves as an educational and cultural resource
for its region by offering courses, lectures, workshops and programs
that are open to the public and by entering into partnerships with local
businesses, industries, and cultural and educational institutions to
enhance the quality of life in the North Bay and beyond.
As California's premier public undergraduate institution, SSU has a commitment to graduating students who have the ability to think critically and ethically and can effectively use information technology.
Student Life
Residential Life department and the Center for Student Leadership, Involvement & Service organize a wide variety of social and educational activities to ensure there activities for students. This can run the gamut from karaoke, community service events, video game contests, live music shows, comedy contests, lectures, trips to local Bay Area theatres, sporting events, museums, and much more. The alcohol and drug education program has become a model for other CSU campuses. The campus has a student newspaper and a student run radio station. For more information on events, visit the Student Activities calendar.
More than 100 clubs and organizations are available to accommodate a wide range of interests from ethnic and international to special hobbies and pursuits.
A community service program supported by the Associated Students, JUMP (Join Us Making Progress) offers students the opportunity to serve in numerous volunteer programs and gain experiences relevant to their education. Some of the many JUMP projects are Adopt-a-Grandparent, Study Buddies, Bodega Bay Homework Project, and Serving Our Unfed People.
