September 20, 2004
New academic year brings new students, academic offerings,
housing, other facilities
By Jim Burns
UCSC students began moving into university housing September
16 in anticipation of the 2004-05 school year. The first day
of instruction in the fall quarter is Thursday, September 23.
Caroline Casey, a freshman from
Oakland who applied to UCSC as a biology major, makes
her way to her new home--a double room at Oakes College--on
Friday.
Photo: Jennifer McNulty
|
Katie Yan of San Francisco,
a freshman who said she might study science, gets settled
into her triple at Oakes College.
Photo: Jennifer McNulty
|
Acting Chancellor Martin M. Chemers talks to faculty, above, and parents, below.
Photo: Tom Vani
|
|
The fall-quarter move in for students living on
campus was to have continued through Sunday, September 19.
Here are some facts and figures about this year's student body,
new academic programs the campus is offering, and new buildings
that are opening:
The Baskin School of Engineering has established a Department
of Biomolecular Engineering. The new department has added a
new undergraduate minor established (in addition to the existing
B.S.) in bioinformatics, and new master's and Ph.D. programs
in bioinformatics.
The Department of Physics is offering a new bachelor's
degree in applied physics.
The Department of Music is offering a new doctorate
of musical arts in composition, the first such program in the
UC system. Students can apply for admission to the program this
year for fall 2005.
The Department of Community Studies is offering a new
master's program in social documentation. Students can apply
for admission to the program this year for fall 2005.
Enrollment
UCSC is expecting a 2004-05 enrollment of approximately 14,550
students; last year's official enrollment was 14,372.
Of the 14,550 students in 2004-05, approximately 13,050 are
expected to be undergraduates; 1,500 are projected to enroll
in graduate studies over the course of the year. Of the 13,050
undergraduates expected to enroll in the academic year, approximately
4,000 will be new students (3,100 freshmen and 900 transfer
students). These 4,000 new undergraduates were admitted from
among nearly 30,000 applicants, a record number for UCSC.
Profile of new freshmen
The most popular majors among freshmen who have already declared
are in the many areas of the biological sciences and in psychology.
Approximately 40 percent of the freshmen have not declared
a major, however. In an effort to better focus these students'
selection of lower-division courses, UCSC has given them the
option of selecting a "cluster" subject area of interest.
More than 1,200 undeclared students are participating in this
advising program, having selected one of the following clusters:
business and economics; education; environmental sciences; human
psychology, culture, and society; information sciences, engineering,
and technology; languages, literatures, and communication; liberal
arts and area studies; life and health sciences; physical sciences
and math; and visual and performing arts and media.
Housing students/new buildings
New infill apartments for students are opening
this fall at Cowell, Stevenson, Porter, and Kresge Colleges;
Cowell, Stevenson, and Porter Colleges previously had only residence
halls. The new student apartments--providing bed spaces
for an additional 651 students on campus-range from one-bedroom
apartments for two people each, to floor plans for six students.
The new units are broken down as follows: Cowell, space for
185 students; Stevenson, 136; Porter, 234; and Kresge, 96. Community
rooms are part of the project at each college.
The $62 million Engineering 2 Building, located behind the
Baskin Engineering Building, is also opening this fall and is
designed to include research, classroom, and departmental space.
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