At UC Santa Barbara, we offer a dynamic environment that prizes academic inquiry and interpersonal connection to inspire scholarly ambition, creativity, and discoveries with wide-ranging impact. We’re inquisitive and curious, community-driven and globally-focused. Across our campus, you’ll find independent thinkers and consensus builders, Nobel Laureates and leaders chasing noble causes. But no matter how you define us, we are above all Gauchos — diverse in our pursuits, yet connected in our collective drive toward excellence.
| Acronym | UCSB |
| Motto / Slogan | Let there be light |
| Colour | Navy and gold |
| Mascot | Olé the Gaucho |
| Founded | 1891 |
| Undergraduate Programmes | |
| Postgraduate Programmes | 2983 |
| Location | Santa Barbara, California, United States |
| Address | UC Santa Barbara Santa Barbara, California 93106 |
The University of California, Santa Barbara is a leading research institution that also provides a comprehensive liberal arts learning experience. Teaching and research go hand-in-hand at UC Santa Barbara. Our students are full participants in an educational journey of discovery that stimulates independent thought, critical reasoning, and creativity. Our academic community of faculty, students, and staff is characterized by a culture of interdisciplinary collaboration that is responsive to the needs of our multicultural and global society. All of this takes place within a living and learning environment like no other, as we draw inspiration from the beauty and resources of our extraordinary location at the edge of the Pacific Ocean.
UC Santa Barbara is the editorial headquarters for The Writings of Henry D. Thoreau, a National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) project that is publishing definitive scholarly editions of the complete works of the naturalist and literary artist.
UCSB is home to the first-of-its-kind National Center for Ecological Analysis and Synthesis (NCEAS), which is accelerating scientific discoveries that will enhance our understanding of the world and benefit people and nature.
From the Center for Digital Games Research to the English Broadside Ballad Archive, UC Santa Barbara boasts more than 20 dedicated research centers and academic initiatives in the humanities and fine arts, four celebrated performance programs in theater and dance and 25 accomplished musical groups, ensembles and choirs.
UC Santa Barbara is one of only 71 research-intensive institutions in the U.S. and Canada elected to membership in the prestigious Association of American Universities, cementing its status as a higher-education leader.
UCSB uses eligibility requirements and selection criteria to admit its next class of Gauchos each year. View our Eligibility and Selection page to understand admission eligibility requirements and the selection criteria used to admit our top applicants.
View the program page for the requirements.
International Students:
As an international student, you can apply as a first-year or a transfer student and you must meet the University of California subject requirements at the first-year or transfer level. You are considered a first-year applicant if you have completed secondary school and have not enrolled at any college or university. You are considered a transfer applicant if you have completed secondary school and enrolled in a college or university.
International Students:
View the international students requirements on the graduate international page.
Email: [email protected],[email protected]
Phone : +1 (805) 893-2881, +1 (805) 893-2277
WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC)
UCSB is fully accredited by WSCUC, the regional accrediting body for higher education institutions in the western United States.
The office has responsibility for all academic units, on and off-campus instructional activities, and instructional support programs, as well as Academic Program Review, Office of the Ombuds, Office of Title IX Compliance and Discrimination and Harassment Prevention, Equal Opportunity and Policy Compliance, Office of Education Partnerships, and Office of the Associate Vice Chancellor for Information Technology and Chief Information Officer, among other units.
The Chancellor guides UC Santa Barbara in its research, teaching and service mission, shaping the university’s direction and long-term strategy by collaborating with constituents on campus, in the broader community, across the University of California and nationwide.
Dr. Miller received his BA in Psychology from San Francisco State University in 1994. He then began his doctoral training in Neuroscience at the University of California, Davis where he won the Achievement Award for College Scientists. After joining the lab of Dr. Michael Gazzaniga, he transferred to Dartmouth College, where he received his Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience in 1998. In 1999, he became an assistant professor at the Department of Psychological & Brain sciences at the University of Massachusetts Boston. In 2002, he joined the faculty at UCSB. His publications studying the cognitive neuroscience of human memory, decision-making, and individual differences have utilized various techniques including functional magnetic resonance imaging, transcranial magnetic stimulation, patient testing, and signal detection analysis.
As a researcher, teacher, and administrator, Adler-Kassner’s work focuses on studying and improving conditions for equitable and inclusive learning in postsecondary education. A writing teacher for more than 30 years, she has taught courses ranging from first year composition (aka “freshman comp”) to graduate courses in composition theory and pedagogy. She has served as a department chair, dean, and director of multiple units focusing on learning. In 2015, Adler-Kassner was awarded the UCSB Distinguished Teaching Award based on nominations from former undergraduate and graduate students, as well as faculty colleagues who participated in her ongoing pedagogy seminars. During her tenure as Director (Chair) of the UCSB Writing Program, that unit was also recognized with the Conference on College Composition and Communication Writing Program Certificate of Excellence Award for its innovative approaches to writing pedagogy and assessment.
1921
The Pre-UC Days
Continuing its evolution from an 1890s-born manual training school, the renamed Santa Barbara State Teachers College begins to grow its curriculum toward liberal arts education and to award four-year degrees.
2015
A Commitment to Di... read more UCSB is named a Hispanic-Serving Institution (HSI) by the Hispanic Association of Colleges & Universities, so recognized for achieving Hispanic enrollment 25 percent or more of its total enrollment. The campus is the first HSI that also is a member of the prestigious Association of American Universities. The same year, the campus also is designated an Asian American and Native American Pacific Islander-Serving Institution (AANAPISI) by the U.S. Department of Education. 2025 Prized Quantum Pioneers Becoming UCSB's seventh and eighth Nobel Laureates, physics professors John Martinis and Michel Devoret are awarded the 2025 Nobel Prize in Physics for experiments in quantum mechanics they conducted together in the 1980s. Selected for the honor alongside UC Berkeley physicist and former advisor John Clarke, their work, according to the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, “revealed quantum physics in action.”versity