Did you know?
In the early 1960s, UC Regents picked Santa Cruz--instead of a site in Santa Clara County--as the site of the newest University of California campus.
UCSC engineers are developing a retinal prosthesis that will restore vision to the blind.
The recently acquired Grateful Dead archives will be housed in a part of the UCSC Library dubbed Dead Central.
Alumna Reyna Grande received a 2007 American Book Award for her debut novel Across a Hundred Mountains, which she began as her senior project; the book is now required reading at Porter and Kresge Colleges.
The New York Times Magazine's seventh annual "Year in Ideas" cover story highlighted UCSC anthropologist Nathaniel Dominy and biologist Barry Sinervo for contributing to 70 ideas "that helped make 2007 what it was."
UCSC's popular new major in computer game design is the first in the UC system and one of only a handful of such programs in the country.
UCSC buys enough renewable power certificates to offset 100 percent of the electricity that powers the campus, making UCSC the sixth-largest campus purchaser of "green power" in the country, according to the EPA.
Marine ecologists Mark Carr and John Pearse helped create marine reserves off the coast of Central California that will protect marine life and fisheries for future generations.
Five alumni have won journalism's highest honor, the Pulitzer Prize, including two-time winner Dana Priest, whose Washington Post exposé of conditions at Walter Reed Hospital prompted a national outcry.
Undergraduates at UCSC have outstanding research opportunities, working side-by-side with leading scientists and collaborating with professors to publish papers in leading academic journals.
Feminist studies professor Bettina Aptheker's former students have released a DVD of her Introduction to Feminism class, one of the most influential courses in the field.
UCSC researchers assembled the first working draft of the human genome in 2000, unlocking the genetic secrets of human chromosomes and promising to transform the practice of medicine. Today, the UCSC Genome Browser, a web-based tool for genomic research, is used by researchers throughout the world.
Outside magazine ranked UCSC the nation's best campus in a 2003 survey of the top 40 schools that "turn out smart grads with top-notch academic credentials, a healthy environmental ethos, and an A-plus sense of adventure."
The Sound of Young America, alum Jesse Thorn's irreverent arts and comedy radio show--created while Thorn was a student at UCSC--was picked up for distribution by Public Radio International.
Water consumption per capita on campus has fallen 40 percent since the 1980s.
Astronomer Jerry Nelson designed the Keck Telescopes, the largest optical telescopes in the world, and he's playing a lead role in the development of the next generation of giant telescopes.
UCSC's banana slug mascot was recently named among the top 10 mascots in the country by ESPN Sports Travel.
The Santa Cruz Predatory Bird Research Group helped save the peregrine falcon from extinction by pioneering a captive-breeding program restoring peregrine populations of the world's fastest bird on the West Coast.
In two years, environmental studies professor Alan Richards's new class Blood and Oil: Energy, the Middle East, and War has become legendary on campus.
Since their introduction on campus last fall, Zipcars have become so popular that the UCSC fleet is the most well-utilized and fastest-growing car-share program of any university in the country.
Four graduate students in engineering took first place in a national student robotics competition for their design of a solar-powered robot climber, demonstrating a concept essential to a "space elevator" that would transport material into space.
In a recent article about urban farming, the New York Times hailed UCSC as the place to go for formal training in organic farming and gardening.
Established in 1888, Lick Observatory in San Jose was the first major mountaintop observatory. With headquarters and optical labs on the UCSC campus, the observatory continues to make important contributions to astronomical research.
UCSC's men's tennis team has won six national titles, capturing the NCAA Divison III championship in 1989, 1995, 1996, 1998, 2005, and 2007.
UCSC's Long Marine Laboratory is one of the top marine-mammal research centers in the world.
Graduate student Tadashi Nakamura's documentary Pilgrimage was screened during the Sundance Film Festival, one of only 83 short films selected out of 5,107 submissions from around the world.
Alumna Kathryn Sullivan was the first American woman to walk in space.
The UCSC campus is home to more than 500 plant species, an extraordinary level of diversity on its 2,000 acres.
Cowell College was named after the Henry Cowell family, which gave 2,000 acres to the university, including the family residence, quarries, and limekilns. In December 2007, 30 acres of lower campus were added to the National Register of Historic Places.