This is an archive of the 2014-2015 University Catalog.
To access the most recent version, please visit catalog.csun.edu.

This is an archive of the 2014-2015 University Catalog.
To access the most recent version, please visit catalog.csun.edu.

University History

In the fall of 1956, the San Fernando Valley campus of the Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences was established on the present site of the University. Soon afterward, the California Legislature passed Assembly Bill No. 971, which provided that the campus would separate from its parent college on July 1, 1958—the founding date of the present University—to become San Fernando Valley State College.

At that time, it had an enrollment of about 3,300 students with a faculty of 104. On June 1, 1972, the College was renamed California State University, Northridge, by action of the Legislature and the Board of Trustees of the California State University.

General Description

As part of the 23-campus California State University system, Cal State Northridge (CSUN) is one of the largest universities in the nation, enrolling approximately 38,000 full- and part-time students in Fall 2013. CSUN has nine colleges and more than 2,000 faculty members who teach courses leading to bachelor’s degrees in 68 disciplines, master’s degrees in 58 fields and doctorates in educational leadership and physical therapy, as well as 14 teaching credential programs.

During the 2012-13 academic year, just over 6,700 students graduated with bachelor’s degrees and nearly 1,850 with master’s and doctoral degrees.

University Mission, Values and Vision

Mission: California State University, Northridge exists to enable students to realize their educational goals. The University’s first priority is to promote the welfare and intellectual progress of students. To fulfill this mission, we design programs and activities to help students develop the academic competencies, professional skills and critical values of learned persons who live in a democratic society, an interdependent world and a technological age; we seek to foster a rigorous and contemporary understanding of the liberal arts, sciences and professional disciplines, and we believe in the following values:

  1. Commitment to Teaching, Scholarship, and Active Learning: We demonstrate excellence in teaching. We honor and reward high performance in learning, teaching, scholarship, research, service and creative activity. Because the quality of our academic programs is central to our mission, we encourage intellectual curiosity and protect the multiple expressions of academic freedom.
  2. Commitment to Excellence: We set the highest standards for ourselves in all of our actions and activities and support the professional development of faculty, staff and administrators. We assess our performance so that every area of University life will be continually improved and renewed. We recognize and reward our efforts of greatest distinction and through them provide state and national leadership.
  3. Respect for All People: We aspire to behave as an inclusive, cooperative community. Our behaviors, policies and programs affirm the worth and personal dignity of every member of the University community and contribute to a campus climate of civility, collegiality, tolerance and reasoned debate.
  4. Alliances With the Community: We seek partnerships with local schools, community colleges, businesses, government and social agencies to advance the educational, intellectual, artistic, civic, cultural and economic aspirations of our surrounding communities.
  5. Encouragement of Innovation, Experimentation and Creativity: We seek to provide an environment conducive to innovation, experimentation and creativity. We encourage all members of our community to take intellectual and creative risks and to embrace changes that will enhance the fulfillment of the University’s mission.

Vision: California State University, Northridge, is inspired by the belief that our commitment to educational opportunity, inclusion and excellence will extend the promise of America to succeeding generations. Our graduates will be the vanguard of leaders for this century—committed to sustaining a democracy in which diverse people share in the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, proficient in applying technology to wise purposes, and dedicated to securing a humane world community and sustaining the bounty of the earth. As an institution of higher learning,

  • We will be a high performing, model university in which student achievement levels are among the highest of peer universities;
  • We will create a community of shared values in which faculty, students, staff, administrators and alumni will experience personal satisfaction and pride in our collective achievements;
  • We will be the first choice for university applicants who seek a rigorous, collaborative teaching/learning experience in a technologically rich environment;
  • We will be the leader in enhancing the educational, cultural and economic resources of our region; and
  • We will receive local and national recognition for our distinctive achievements in teaching, learning, scholarship and service.

The California State University, Northridge Foundation

The California State University, Northridge Foundation is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3) California corporation that serves as an auxiliary organization to California State University, Northridge. The Foundation’s primary function is to help the University raise private, philanthropic contributions and grants from alumni, friends, corporations and foundations in support of the University’s mission. In addition, the Foundation is responsible for accepting, managing and investing all private funds and endowments for the University. The Board of Directors of the California State University, Northridge Foundation is a distinguished and representative group of community and alumni leaders.

California State University, Northridge Alumni Association

  • Coordinating Office: Office of Alumni Relations/Division of University Advancement
  • Laurel Hall 101
  • N. Campus Drive/Plummer Street
  • Phone: (818) 677-2137
  • Fax: (818) 677-4823
  • Email: alumni@csun.edu
  • Website: www.csun.edu/alumni

The California State University, Northridge Alumni Association’s mission is to create opportunities and manage platforms to ensure that current and future alumni (students) are more connected to, supportive of and interactive with the University and are more connected to, interactive with and supportive of one another.

The primary focus of the Alumni Association is to build and sustain valued relationships. Operating in tandem with the Office of Alumni Relations, the Association serves as a conduit to connect, involve and engage alumni according to individual interests, as well as their specific academic, social and organizational affiliations and commonalties. Alumni and students benefit from the individual and collective expertise and talents of a vast and diverse alumni constituency of more than 210,000. The institution is the beneficiary of greater intellectual, relational, social and economic capital.

The Alumni Association honors and showcases successful and influential alumni and recognizes loyal alumni and other volunteers. It provides scholarships, sponsors cultural and Matador fan programs, presents mentor and career advisement programs, and welcomes successful alumni to classrooms to share real-world experiences. Annual and lifetime memberships are available to alumni, students, faculty, staff, parents and friends. Members receive valued services, discounts and other opportunities.

The Alumni Association is dually defined as both a social and organizational entity. Socially, it is the singular common association of all those who have earned degrees from the University. It additionally welcomes other former attendees and loyal supporters who have chosen to affiliate with CSUN and each other by belonging to the Association. As a campus organization, the Alumni Association Board of Directors provides leadership and advisement to the University and establishes programs to meet alumni needs and to address matters of alumni interest and concern.

The Alumni Association Board of Directors is governed by its executive council, comprising of 14 elected officers and at-large executives and the assistant vice president of Alumni Relations, who serve with more than 25 Alumni Chapter presidents and at-large appointed representatives as members of the Alumni Association Board of Directors. Ex-officio board members include all association past presidents, honored emeriti directors, the campus president and vice president for University Advancement.

The 2014-15 Officers of the Association are President Francine Oschin, Vice Presidents Carlos Fuentes, Ken Melcombe and Maria Ramos, immediate past President Dennis DeYoung, and AVP Alumni Relations D.G. “Gray” Mounger.

The Alumni Association operates in respect of best practices in higher education and in accordance with Article 15 of the California Education Code, a Memorandum of Understanding with the University, and its bylaws and strategic plan.

The University Corporation

The University Corporation is a nonprofit California corporation chartered in 1958 to operate within the CSU system but without state funds. The University Corporation was organized to serve and assist the University by providing certain commercial services, including the Matador Bookstore and CSUN Dining.

The University Corporation coordinates community-oriented, noncredit workshops, conferences and institutes, and fiscally administers federal, state, local and other grants to the University. The 17-member Board, made up of students, faculty, administrators and community members, is appointed by the University president and is responsible for establishing the Corporation’s policies. Five officers, elected annually by the Board, comprise the Executive Committee, which manages the Corporation’s business affairs.