The beginnings…
1965
1990s
1996 • January
J. Handel Evans appointed Planning President to assist in the development of the Ventura County campus of CSU.
1997 • September
SB 623 (Jack O’Connell) approved — transfer of Camarillo State Hospital property to the California State University.
1998 • January
CSUCI administration (President Evans and staff of four) moves from the Alessandro Street (Ventura) location to the Administration Building on the former Camarillo State Hospital site. (The hospital facility is in “warm shut-down” from July 1997 to June 1998.)
1999 • March
“Dolphins” adopted as the mascot for CSU Channel Islands upon the recommendation and unanimous vote of CSUN Ventura Campus Associated Students on February 18, 1999.
1999 • September
John Spoor Broome donates $5 million for the new CSUCI Library.
2000–2001
2000 • March
Martin V. (Bud) Smith establishes a $5 million endowment to CSUCI for business related studies.
2001 • March 6
CSU Board of Trustees appoint Richard R. Rush as President of CSU Channel Islands. Richard R. Rush will succeed J. Handel Evans who served as the University's Planning President since 1996.
2001 • March 25
Grand opening of the Robert J. Lagomarsino Library Archives.
2001 • June 18
President Richard R. Rush assumes presidency of CSUCI.
2001 • August–October
First 13 planning faculty members arrive.
Honoring our Past — Building the Future 2002–2022
2002–2009
2002 • August 24
First official day of classes for the Fall semester with approximately 629 transfer students.
2003 • May 23
Inaugural Commencement Ceremony for CSUCI is held on the campus with two transfer students recognized as the first to graduate from CSU Channel Islands. The final class of CSUN@CI students also graduate.
2003 • September 5
Grand opening ceremony is held for the new Science Building, Aliso Hall.
2004 • August 29
First on-campus student housing, Anacapa Village, opens for 450 students.
2005 • January 24
Dedication ceremony held for a dolphin fountain and sculpture installed at the Aliso Hall Plaza. “Aspirations” was designed by Santa Barbara artist Bud Bottoms.
2006 • January
The Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Foundation donates $3 million for the development of the Martin V. Smith Center for Integrative Decision-Making and to fund additional academic programs within the Martin V. Smith School of Business and Economics.
2007 • May 17
Inaugural freshman class graduates.
2007 • August 26
Grand opening ceremony for the second phase of student housing, Santa Cruz Village, opened and able to accommodate 450 freshmen students.
2008 • April 4
Grand opening and dedication of the John Spoor Broome Library.
2009 • April 3
Grand opening of the Martin V. Smith Center for Integrative Decision-Making.
2010s
2010 • February
Muhammad Yunus, 2006 Nobel Peace Prize Laureate and 2009 Presidential Medal of Freedom Winner, participates in the University’s Campus Reading Celebration and the CSUCI California Institute for Social Business is established.
2010 • March 18
Grand opening and dedication of the new Student Union.
2010 • April
Designation by the U.S. Department of Education as a Hispanic Serving Institution.
2010 • September-October
CSUCI hosts a nationwide traveling exhibit sponsored by the Smithsonian Institution entitled “Bittersweet Harvest: The Bracero Program, 1942-1964”; holds campus events.
2010 • November 16
Launch of the Henry L. “Hank” Lacayo Institute for Workforce & Community & Studies.
2012 • February
Partnership established with the National Park Service for Santa Rosa Island to serve as a research station — California State University Channel Islands Undergraduate Research Campus, also referred to as the CSUCI Santa Rosa Islands Research Station (SRIRS).
2012 • April
CSUCI Student Government holds an election to name the mascot “Ekho.” The name selected due to echolocation abilities that dolphins possess and because it represents the student voice. The spelling of “Ekho” was selected as unique to the CSUCI dolphin mascot.
2012 • May 11
Dedication of the new entrance road (University Drive).
2012 • August 24
CSUCI Celebrates 10th Anniversary milestone during Convocation and year-long celebration as A Decade of Distinction.
2012 • September 14
Dedication of Del Norte and Madera Halls.
2012 • September 21
Dedication of the Peace Pole located at the Central Mall.
2013 • April
Arbor Day Foundation named CSUCI a first-time recipient of its “Tree Campus USA” designation.
2013 • April 3
CSUCI is presented with keys to the Channel Islands Boating Center at a public ceremony.
2013 • May 2
Springs Fire burns all surrounding hillsides requiring a campus evacuation and closure for two days.
2014 • April
The Princeton Review names CSUCI as one of the nation’s most environmentally responsible “green” universities in this year’s “Guide to Green Colleges.” Sustainability efforts include: drought-tolerant landscaping, 99% of campus is irrigated with reclaimed water, composting of food waste and green waste, water refilling stations throughout campus.
2014 • January
CSUCI partners with the City of Camarillo and Chamber of Commerce to serve as a host town for the Special Olympics World Games.
2015 • April
CSUCI launches first student-run radio station: Dolphin Radio.
2015 • July
President Richard R. Rush and Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks) announce the proposed launch of a Mechatronics Engineering major within the Computer Science program, with state funding support secured by Irwin.
2015 • August
CSUCI receives $1.1 million grant from the U.S. Department of Education to help low-income, first generation students or students with disabilities.
2015 • August 20
President Richard R. Rush announces his retirement after serving 15 years as CSUCI’s President.
2015 • September 15
Grand opening of Sierra Hall, a three-story, 68,000 square-foot building designed to house additional science programs.
2016 • March 9
CSU Board of Trustees appoint Erika D. Beck, Ph.D., as CSUCI’s third president.
2016 • March
The CI Staff Council is established, and each founding member is elected by fellow peers from their Division.
2016 • November 2
CSUCI hosts grand opening of Santa Rosa Village (third phase of on-campus student housing) and the expansion of Islands Café.
2017 • February 3
Nursing program ranked 11th out of 127 in the state of California.
2017 • Fall
The President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence was established.
2017 • December 12
CSUCI named among top 20 colleges and universities in the nation in terms of social mobility, a term synonymous with low-income students being able to improve their socioeconomic circumstances.
2018 • March 20
The Dr. Richard Grossman Community Foundation donates $220,000 for Veterans Affairs Programs and two therapy dogs for the campus.
2018 • June 18
College Magazine ranks CSUCI 6th among the Top 10 Colleges in the U.S. for Surfers.
2018 • October 4
CSUCI becomes first four-year university in California to be named a Bee Campus USA.
2019 • February 5
Works and exhibit items of author/poet Michele Serros donated to CSUCI and a mural subsequently painted in University Hall.
2019 • June 20
CSUCI is one of only nine institutions in the nation — the only California State University campus and California institution of higher education — to earn a 2019 Seal of Excelencia by the Washington, D.C.-based organization, Excelencia in Education.
2019 • June/November
Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin secures state funding for $5 million dollars for the infrastructure and site development of an Early Childhood Education Center on the CSUCI campus.
2019 • September
Approximately 126 campus and community volunteers joined with Chumash descendants and members of the Santa Monica Mountains Trail Council for the inaugural Round Mountain (Sat’wiwa) Day of Service.
2020s
2020 • March 16
Due to the world-wide pandemic of the coronavirus (COVID-19) and with guidance from the CSU Chancellor’s Office, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Governor Gavin Newsom, and local public health on how to address the spread of COVID-19, the University begins to transition to virtual instruction following its spring break.
2020 • May 11
CSUCI receives national recognition for its commitment to first-generation students who have not grown up with higher education as a default in their families and has earned the campus a national First-gen Forward designation from The Center for First-generation Student Success.
2020 • Summer/Fall
During Summer and Fall, a number of commitments to action and recommendations toward realizing racial justice at CSUCI were made by the President and the President’s Advisory Council on Inclusive Excellence (PACIE).
2020 • November 12
CSU Chancellor Timothy P. White appoints Richard Yao, Ph.D., to serve as interim president of CSUCI effective Jan. 11, 2021, due to Erika Beck being named as President of CSUN.
2020 • December 3
CSUCI ranks as a Top 20 college in the nation for social mobility by CollegeNET’s 2020 Social Mobility Index (SMI) national rankings.
2021 • January
Based on earlier commitments to action and partnership with PACIE, the development of the Inclusive Excellence Action Plan (IEAP) Framework is sought to bring focus to a plethora of racial- and social-justice oriented intentions, recommendations, and commitments into focus.
2021 • March 2
CSUCI is one of 10 universities across the nation to garner one of the inaugural Virtual Innovation Awards: Excellence in Delivering Virtual Student Services, a newly created award program funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.
2021 • March 3
More than 250 CSUCI Nursing students and faculty volunteer at vaccination clinics in Ventura and Santa Barbara counties.
2021 • May 21–23
Six commencement ceremonies are held on campus as ‘drive-up’ hybrid ceremonies that included a cross-the-stage moment for graduating students. The class of 2020 was also able to participate in these ceremonies.
2021 • June 15
CSUCI receives $15 million gift from philanthropist MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett in recognition of the University’s commitment to equity and inclusion, the social mobility of students, and its overall contribution to the greater good of the communities, the region, and nation.
2021 • October 14
A new development within CSUCI’s University Glen residential community moves ahead with the Site Authority signing a long-term ground lease with global real estate investment company, Kennedy Wilson, to develop a 32-acre site.
2021 • December 2
The Martin V. and Martha K. Smith Foundation becomes CSUCI’s single largest donor with a gift of $10.5 million to the Martin V. Smith School of Business & Economics. The transformational gift brings the total contributed to CSUCI to more than $19 million since the Smith family’s first donation in 1999.
2022 • January 26
After a national search is conducted, the CSU Board of Trustees appoint Richard Yao as CSUCI’s fourth President, effective immediately.
2022 • March 23
is named a top-producing institution for Fulbright Scholars for 2021-2022.
2022 • April 26
Congresswoman Julia Brownley presents $250,000 to CSUCI for a Native American and Indigenous Studies program. The two-year project will begin with the establishment of a collaborative partnership with representatives from the Ventureño/Barbareño and Santa Ynez bands of Chumash people with the first classes being offered in late 2023 or 2024.
2022 • August
CSUCI begins its 20th Anniversary celebration throughout the academic year as: “Honoring our Past — Building the Future”