San Jose State University (officially spelled San José State University, often abbreviated San Jose State or SJSU) is a public university located in San Jose, California, United States, at the southern end of San Francisco Bay. It is the founding campus of the California State University (CSU) system. Located in downtown San Jose, the SJSU campus is situated on 154 acres, or roughly 19 square blocks. SJSU enrolls approximately 31,000 students in over 130 different bachelor's and master's degree programs, and is believed to be the oldest public institution of higher education on the West Coast of the United States.

SJSU's student population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the nation, with large Asian and Latino enrollments, and includes the highest number of international students of all master's institutions in the United States.

Popular majors at SJSU include business, engineering, communication studies, journalism, justice studies, nursing, occupational therapy, visual and performing arts, psychology and social work.

San Jose State University claims to provide Silicon Valley firms with more engineering, computer science and business graduates than any other college or university, and philanthropic support of SJSU is among the highest in the CSU system.

SJSU sports teams are known as the Spartans, and compete in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in NCAA Division I.

In 2009, the city of San Jose was named the nation's top mid-size metro college destination, according to the American Institute for Economic Research College Destinations Index for 2009-2010.[46174] The index analyzes the academic environment, quality of life, and professional opportunity in more than 360 cities across the U.S.

History

Establishment

What is now San Jose State University was originally established in 1857 as the Minns Evening Normal School in San Francisco. The school was founded by George W. Minns.

In 1862, by act of the California legislature, Minns Evening Normal School became a California State Normal School and graduated 54 women from a three-year program.



The school eventually moved to San Jose in 1871 and was given Washington Square Park at Fourth and San Carlos Streets, where the campus remains to this day.

In 1881, the first branch campus of the California State Normal School was announced, which later became the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). To commemorate San Jose's identity as the original California State University, a large bell was forged with the words "California State Normal School, A.D. 1881." This bell is displayed on the SJSU campus to this day and is still associated with various student traditions and rituals. After creation of the Los Angeles campus, the San Jose campus officially became known as the California State Normal School, San Jose. Six years later in 1887, the school was renamed the "State Normal School."



In 1921, the school's name changed to the State Teachers College at San Jose. In 1935, the State Teachers Colleges became the California State Colleges, and the school's name was changed again, this time to San Jose State College. In 1972, SJSC was granted university status, and the name was changed to California State University, San Jose. In 1974, the California legislature voted to change the school's name to "San Jose State University".

Historical Milestones

• In 1930, the Justice Studies Department was founded as the Police School. It holds the distinction of being the first degree-granting program in criminal justice in the United States. A stone monument with a plaque sits close to the site of the original Police School near Tower Hall.

• In 1942, the old gym (now named Yoshihiro Uchida Hall, after SJSU judo coach Yosh Uchida) was used to register and collect Japanese Americans before sending them to internment camps. Coincidentally, Uchida's parents and siblings were among those processed in the building.

• In 1963, in an effort to save Tower Hall from demolition, SJSU students and alumni organized testimonials before the State College Board of Trustees, sent telegrams, and provided signed petitions. As a result of those efforts, the Tower, a prime campus landmark and SJSU icon, was refurbished and reopened in 1966. The Tower was again renovated and restored in 2007. Tower Hall is registered with the California Office of Historic Preservation.

• During the 1960s and early 1970s, San Jose State College witnessed a rise in political activism and civic awareness among its student body, including major student protests against the Vietnam War. One of the largest campus protests took place in 1967 when Dow Chemical Company - a major manufacturer of napalm used in the war - came to campus to conduct job recruiting. An estimated 3,000 students and bystanders surrounded the Seventh Street Administration building, and more than 200 students and teachers lay down on the ground in front of the recruiters.

• In 1972–1973, the economics department experienced political turmoil as the administration conducted a purge of left-leaning professors. For several years thereafter, the economics department was under censor by the American Association of University Professors.

• Since 1982, the English department has sponsored the annual Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest.

• In 1999, San Jose State and the City of San Jose agreed to combine their main libraries to form a joint city/university library located on campus, the first known collaboration of this type in the United States. The combined library faced opposition, with critics stating the two libraries have very different objectives and that the project would be too expensive. Despite opposition, the project proceeded, and the new Martin Luther King, Jr. Library opened on-time and on-budget in 2003. The new library has won several national awards since its initial opening in 2003.

• In 2006, the SJSU College of Business received a US$10 million donation from alumni Donald and Sally Lucas. The Lucas donation was listed among the largest philanthropic gifts in the state of California in 2006 by the Chronicle of Philanthropy, and amounted to the largest single monetary gift to SJSU in school history.

• During its 2006-2007 fiscal year, SJSU received a record US$50+ million in private gifts and US$84 million in capital campaign contributions.

• In March 2007, a group of San Jose State students sponsored an official student initiative to restore the words "California State University" to the school's official public identity while preserving the "SJSU" city-state name. Although the measure was defeated, it garnered substantial Bay Area media coverage. Some 600 students voted in favor of the measure, amounting to roughly 25% of the students casting ballots in the election.

• In 2007, SJSU alumna Connie Lurie donated US$10 million to the College of Education; the name of the college was changed later that year to the Connie L. Lurie College of Education.

• In 2008, SJSU received a CASEWealth Engine Award in recognition of raising over US$100 million.

• In 2008, then university president Don Kassing made the controversial decision to ban blood drives on campus due to the FDA's long-standing policy barring gay men from donating blood, and its violation of the campus non discrimination policy. "I recognize the importance of giving blood and we know that universities are a significant source of blood," he wrote in an E-mail sent to faculty, staff, students, and alumni. "Our hope is that the FDA will revisit its deferral policy in a timely manner, and we may soon be able to hold blood drives on this campus again." This decision was born out of a grievance filed by university employee Seth Hodge, and has since gained national media attention.

Campus

The SJSU main campus comprises approximately 55 buildings situated on a rectangular, 154-acre area in downtown San Jose. The campus is bordered by San Fernando Street to the north, San Salvador Street to the south, South 4th Street to the west, and South 10th Street to the east. The South Campus, which is home to many of the school's athletics facilities, is located approximately 2.4 km (1.5 miles) south of the main campus on South 7th Street.

In 2009, the city of San Jose was named the nation's top mid-size metro college destination, according to the American Institute for Economic Research College Destinations Index for 2009-2010.[46175] The index analyzes the academic environment, quality of life, and professional opportunity in more than 360 cities across the U.S.

California State Normal School did not receive a permanent home until it moved from San Francisco to San Jose in 1871. The original California State Normal School campus in San Jose consisted of several rectangular, wooden buildings with a central grass quadrangle. The wooden buildings were destroyed by fire in 1880 and were replaced by interconnected stone and masonry structures of roughly the same configuration in 1881. These buildings were declared unsafe following the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and were being torn down when an aftershock of the magnitude that was predicted to destroy the buildings occurred and no damage was observed. Accordingly, demolition was stopped, and the portions of the buildings still standing were made into four halls: Tower Hall, Morris Dailey Auditorium, Washington Square Hall, and Dwight Bentel Hall. These four buildings are the oldest on campus.

In 2006, a US$2 million renovation of Tower Hall was completed. Tower Hall is the oldest and most recognizable building on campus.

In 2002, three of SJSU's six red brick residence halls were demolished and replaced with the new Campus Village residence complex. The US$200 million housing facility comprises three buildings ranging from seven to 15 stories tall. The project increased student capacity for on-campus housing to roughly 3,500, and provides housing options for first-year students, upper-class students, graduate students and faculty, staff and guests of the university. Campus Village officially opened in 2005.

The new US$177 million Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Library, which opened its doors on August 1, 2003, won the Library Journal's prestigious 2004 Library of the Year award, the publication’s highest honor. The King Library is the first collaboration of its kind between a university and a major U.S. city. The library is eight stories high and has of floor space. San Jose's first public library occupied the same site from 1901 to 1936, and SJSU's Wahlquist Library occupied the site from 1961 to 2000, at which point it was torn down to begin construction of the King Library.

In the Fall of 2000, the SJSU Police Department, which is part of the larger California State University Police Department, opened a new on-campus, multi-level facility on 7th Street.

Completed in 1999, the Business Classroom Project was a US$16 million renovation of the James F. Boccardo Business Education Center.

Completed in 1999, the US$1.5 million Heritage Gateway project was unveiled. The privately-funded project featured construction of eight oversized gateways around the main campus perimeter.

Beginning in the fall of 1994, the on-campus segments of San Carlos Street, Seventh Street and Ninth Street were closed to automobile traffic and converted to pedestrian walkways and green belts within the campus. San Carlos Street was renamed Paseo San Carlos, Seventh Street became El Paseo de César Chávez, and Ninth Street is now called the Ninth Street Plaza. The project was completed in 1996.

Additional on-campus facilities

In 2007, the School of Library and Information Science opened a virtual campus in Second Life, complete with faculty offices, classrooms, student lounge and library e-resources. The project was supported by grants from a number of sources including the Soros Foundation.

SJSU is home to the 10,000 square-foot, three-story Nuclear Science Facility. It is the only nuclear science facility of its kind in the California State University system. [46176]

Located on the main campus, the SJSU Aquatic Center features an outdoor Olympic-size swimming pool. The pool is open year-round and is believed to be among the largest outdoor pools in California.[46177]

Located on the main campus, The Event Center Arena seats approximately 5,000 people for athletic events and over 6,000 for concerts, and features a full gym including basketball and racquetball courts, a weight room and a climbing wall.

The SJSU Student Union is a four-story, stand alone facility that features a food court, the Spartan Bookstore, a multi-level study area, ballrooms, a bowling alley, music room, and a large game room.

South Campus

Many of SJSU's athletics facilities, including Spartan Stadium and Blethen Field (baseball), along with the athletics department administrative offices and multiple training and practice facilities, are located on the 62-acre South Campus approximately 2.4 km (1.5 miles) south of the main campus near 7th Street. The south campus also is home to student overflow parking. A shuttle bus runs between the main campus and south campus every 10–15 minutes Monday - Friday.

Off-campus facilities

• SJSU Simpkins International House (360 South 11th Street, San Jose) provides housing for domestic as well as international students of the university. International House (also known as I-House) accommodates residents from approximately 35 countries worldwide each semester.

• SJSU maintains a five-acre academic facility at Norman Y. Mineta San Jose International Airport (1120 Coleman Avenue) as part of the Aviation and Technology Department.

• SJSU manages the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories in Moss Landing, California, on the Monterey Bay. MLML is a cooperative research facility of seven CSU campuses.

• Art and Metal Foundry (1036 South 5th Street, San Jose)

• Associated Students Child Development Center (460 South 8th Street, San Jose)

• SJSU International and Extended Studies facility is located in the off-campus Classroom Building (384 South 2nd Street, San Jose). The off-campus Classroom Building also houses the SJSU Professional Development Center.

• University Club (408 South 8th Street, San Jose), is a 16-room, multi-level dining, special events, and bed-and-breakfast style residence facility for faculty, staff, visiting scholars and graduate students of the university. This building is currently occupied by Alpha Omicron Pi sorority in agreement with the university.

• Known simply as North Fourth Street (210 North 4th Street, San Jose), this four-story facility houses the Global Studies Institute, Governmental & External Affairs, International and Extended Studies, the Mineta Transportation Institute, the Processed Foods Institute, and the SJSU Research Foundation.

Organization

As a member institution of the California State University System, San Jose State falls under the jurisdiction of the California State University Board of Trustees and the Chancellor of the California State University.



The chief executive of San Jose State is the President of San Jose State University. The current president is Jon Whitmore, who was appointed to the position on May 14, 2008.

San Jose State offers 69 bachelors degrees with 81 concentrations, and 65 masters degrees with 29 concentrations.

The university has seven colleges and six schools:

• College of Applied Sciences & Arts
• College of Business
• College of Education
• The Charles W. Davidson College of Engineering
• College of Humanities & the Arts
• College of Science
• College of Social Sciences
• School of Art & Design
• School of Journalism & Mass Communications
• School of Library & Information Science
• School of Music & Dance
• School of Nursing
• School of Social Work

SJSU also is home to a burgeoning eCampus community called International and Extended Studies (IES), which coordinates continuing education and professional development programs.

Academics

Programs

San Jose State enrolls approximately 31,000 students in over 130 different bachelor's and master's degree programs. There are approximately 24,000 undergraduate students enrolled at SJSU, and 6,500 graduate students. The university generally does not offer doctoral degrees, however, it does offer a joint Ph.D. program in library science through Queensland University of Technology and a joint Ph.D. program in engineering through Mississippi State University. SJSU's College of Education will launch an independent Ed.D. program in educational leadership in 2009-2010. The Ed.D program represents SJSU's first independent doctoral degree offering.

As of 2009, the academic majors in highest demand at SJSU are business, communication studies, economics, journalism, justice studies, nursing, occupational therapy, visual and performing arts, psychology, social work and seven engineering specialties. Majors that are somewhat unique to SJSU include aviation, meteorology, and software engineering.

The SJSU College of Business, with almost 6,000 undergraduate and graduate students, is one of the largest business schools in the country. It is accredited by the AACSB International at both the graduate and undergraduate levels.

Rankings

According to U.S. News and World Report's college rankings (2010), San Jose State ranks 38th among all master's-level institutions in the Western region of the United States, 12th among public master's-level institutions in the Western region, and receives a Tier One academic ranking overall among master's-level institutions in the west. The Western region comprises 15 states and is home to approximately 125 master's-level colleges and universities.

The 2010 rankings represent a slight improvement over 2009, in which SJSU ranked 45th overall and 13th among public master's-level institutions in the west.



On a national level, the university ties for 19th place for the best overall undergraduate engineering school, ties for 5th for the best computer engineering program, and places 3rd for the best industrial/manufacturing engineering program out of over 550 master's-level colleges and universities nationwide, according to U.S. News and World Report (2010).

SJSU's graduate school of Library and Information Science ranks 22nd among all colleges and universities in the nation, and was named the number one e-learning service provider in its discipline by U.S. News and World Report (2009).

The Princeton Review lists San Jose State's graduate school of business among the top 296 in the nation.

SJSU also made the Forbes list of "America's Best Colleges" in 2008 and 2009, and was ranked among the top 360 universities in the world out of over 17,000 institutions according to the July 2009 Webometrics Ranking of World Universities.

Admissions

U.S. News and World Report currently classifies SJSU's admission standards as "less selective," with a fall 2008 acceptance rate of 66%.

The university recently formed a cross-enrollment agreement with National Hispanic University. Students enrolled at one institution are able to enroll in up to 6 credits per semester at the other institution. Additionally, students may transfer between institutions with up to 60 credits.

Athletics

San Jose State University has participated in athletics since it first fielded a baseball team in 1890. SJSU sports teams are known as the Spartans, and compete in the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) in NCAA Division I.

San Jose State University sports teams have won NCAA titles in track and field, golf, and boxing. As of 2008, SJSU had won more NCAA team championships (10) and produced more NCAA Division 1 individual champions (50) than any other school in the WAC. SJSU also has achieved an international reputation for its judo program, winning 42 out of 46 national championships in the sport (as of 2007).

SJSU alumni have won 18 Olympic medals (including seven gold medals) dating back to the first gold medal won by Willie Steel in track and field in the 1948 Olympics. Alumni also have won medals in swimming, judo and boxing.

The legendary track team coached by "Bud" Winter earned San Jose the nickname "Speed City," and produced Olympic medalists and social activists Lee Evans, John Carlos and Tommie Smith. Smith and Carlos are perhaps best remembered for giving the raised fist salute from the medalist's podium during the 1968 Summer Olympic Games in Mexico City.

As of 2008, current head coaches from the men’s soccer, baseball, women’s gymnastics, and women’s golf programs had all been named the conference “Coach of the Year.”

Faculty and research

San Jose State has about 1,600 faculty members, 87 percent of whom hold doctorate degrees.

According to the National Science Foundation, San Jose State's research expenditures totaled just over US$34 million in 2007, placing it second only to San Diego State University in total R&D expenditures out of all 23 California State University (CSU) campuses. Additionally, SJSU placed 196th out of 662 colleges and universities nationwide for total research expenditures according to NSF statistical data for 2007. [46178]

Research collections located at SJSU include the Ira F. Brilliant Center for Beethoven Studies and the Martha Heasley Cox Center for Steinbeck Studies.

SJSU research partnerships include the SJSU Metropolitan Technology Center at NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, the Cisco Networking Laboratory, and the Moss Landing Marine Laboratories.

SJSU also is home to the Mineta Transportation Institute.

Since 2001, the university has operated the Survey and Policy Research Institute (SPRI), which conducts the quarterly, high-profile California Consumer Confidence Survey and many other research projects.

In spring 2007, an SJSU engineering professor and his students made headlines with their development of the ZEM (Zero EMissions) Car, a Human Hybrid Powered Vehicle (HHPV). The vehicle won the National I2P (Idea-to-Product) Competition for EPICS and Social Entrepreneurship at Princeton University. The ZEM car is the first of its kind to be powered by human, solar, and electric energy.

Students

Demographics of Student Body (2009)

	Undergraduate
Black (non-Hispanic)	5.4%
Asian or Pacific Islander	34.6%
White (non-Hispanic)	27.1%
Hispanic	18.0%
American Indian	0.5%
International (nonresident)	3.9%
Race/ethnicity unreported	10.4%

As the oldest and one of the largest universities in the CSU system, SJSU attracts students from throughout California, the United States and 100 countries around the world. According to the Chronicle of Higher Education, San Jose State enrolls the highest number of international students of all master's institutions in the United States.

As of the fall semester 2009, approximately 31,000 students are enrolled at SJSU. There are approximately 24,000 undergraduate students enrolled at SJSU, and 6,500 graduate students. As of 2009, undergraduate enrollment comprised approximately 11,500 men and 12,500 women, and graduate enrollment comprised approximately 2,500 men and 4,000 women. The average age of full-time undergraduates at SJSU is 23, and 99% of full-time undergraduate students are from the state of California.

SJSU's student population is one of the most ethnically diverse in the nation, with large Asian (including Japanese, Indian, Cambodian, Vietnamese, Filipino, Chinese, and Hmong) and Latino enrollments.

Although the university is widely viewed as a commuter school, approximately 3,500 students live in campus housing, and community impact studies show an estimated 5,000 more students live within easy walking or biking distance of the campus.

There are approximately 300 registered student organizations at SJSU, 16 intramural sports, and 14 club sports open to both male and female students.

Greek organizations

The school is home to 39 fraternity and sorority chapters. Approximately 15 of them maintain chapter homes in the residential community east of campus along South 10th and 11th streets in downtown San Jose. Approximately 5% of male students join fraternities, and 5% of female students join sororities. SJSU Greek chapters include:

Fraternities

IFC (Inter-Fraternity Council)

• Alpha Tau Omega (Colony)
• Beta Theta Pi
• Delta Sigma Phi
• Delta Upsilon
• Kappa Sigma
• Pi Kappa Alpha
• Sigma Alpha Epsilon
• Sigma Nu
• Sigma Pi
• Sigma Chi
• Theta Chi

USFC (United Sorority and Fraternity Council)

• Alpha Kappa Omega
• Gamma Zeta Alpha
• Nu Alpha Kappa
• Sigma Delta Alpha
• Sigma Lambda Beta
• Zeta Chi Epsilon

NPHC (National Pan-Hellenic Council)

• Phi Beta Sigma
• Iota Phi Theta
• Kappa Alpha Psi
• Alpha Phi Alpha

Sororities

Pan-Hellenic Council

• Alpha Omicron Pi
• Alpha Phi
• Alpha Xi Delta
• Delta Gamma
• Delta Zeta
• Kappa Delta

United Sorority and Fraternity Council

• Alpha Kappa Delta Phi
• Lambda Sigma Gamma
• Sigma Alpha Zeta
• Sigma Omicron Pi
• Sigma Theta Psi Inc.

NPHC (National Pan-Hellenic Council)

• Delta Sigma Theta

Co-ed fraternities

• Alpha Eta Rho
• Alpha Kappa Psi
• Alpha Phi Omega
• Chi Pi Sigma
• Delta Sigma Pi
• Kappa Kappa Psi

Spartan Squad

Founded in 2005, the Spartan Squad is the official student booster club at San Jose State. The Spartan Squad is open to all undergraduate and graduate students enrolled at San Jose State, and its stated mission is to increase student attendance at sporting events and cultivate school pride throughout the campus community. The Spartan Squad members are easily recognized wearing the group's signature gold T-shirts designed by San Jose State graphic design student Dang Nguyen. Class of 2006 graduates Matthew Olivieri and Brad Villeggiante are credited with founding the group.

Student press

The school newspaper, The Spartan Daily, was founded in 1934 and is published four days a week when classes are in session. The publication follows a broadsheet format and boasts a daily print circulation of over 6,000, as well as a daily on-line edition. The newspaper is produced by journalism and advertising students enrolled in SJSU's School of Journalism and Mass Communications.

Update News is a weekly, student-produced television newscast that airs every weekend on PBS affiliate KTEH in San Jose. The newscast is produced by San Jose State broadcast journalism students, and has aired in the Bay Area in one form or another since the 1960s. Update News also features a daily live webcast.

KSJS, 90.5 FM, is the university's radio station, and features five different types of music (electronic, urban, jazz, subversive rock, and rock en espanol), as well as a variety of news and information programming.

Noted people

About 80 percent of San Jose State’s nearly 200,000 alumni of record live in the San Francisco Bay Area. The other 20 percent are scattered around the globe, with concentrations in Southern California, Seattle, Portland, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C. and New York City.

SJSU claims to provide more engineering, computer science and business graduates to the Silicon Valley than any other university in the world.

Nearly 200 SJSU graduates have founded, co-founded, served or serve as senior executives or officers of public and private companies reporting annual sales between US$40 million and US$26 billion.

Notable companies founded by SJSU students and alumni include Dolby Laboratories (1965), Intel Corporation (1968), Specialized Bicycle Components (1974), Oracle Corporation (1977) and Seagate Technology (1979).

References

1. SJSU News
2. Ryan Sholin; "The judo that you don't know"; The Spartan Daily, San Jose State University; April 11, 2006;

External links

• Official website
• SJSU's student newspaper, The Spartan Daily
• USNews Report: SJSU School Brief
• Gilroy Dispatch, January 20, 2007: "A Look Back at the History of San Jose State University"
• CineSource Magazine - Local Film Schools: A Plethora of Riches