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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