The individual California State Colleges were brought together as a system by the Donahoe Higher Education Act of 1960. In 1972 the system became the California State University and Colleges, and in 1982 the system became the California State University (CSU). Today the campuses of the CSU include comprehensive and polytechnic universities and, since July 1995, the California Maritime Academy, a specialized campus.
The oldest campus—San José State University—was founded in 1857 and became the first institution of public higher education in California. The newest—CSU Channel Islands—opened in fall 2002, with freshmen arriving in fall 2003.
Responsibility for the California State University is vested in the Board of Trustees, whose members are appointed by the Governor. The Trustees appoint the Chancellor, who is the chief executive officer of the system, and the Presidents, who are the chief executive officers of the respective campuses.
The Trustees, the Chancellor, and the Presidents develop systemwide policy, with implementation at the campus level taking place through broadly based consultative procedures. The Academic Senate of the CSU, made up of elected representatives of the faculty from each campus, recommends academic policy to the Board of Trustees through the Chancellor.
Academic excellence has been achieved by the CSU through a distinguished faculty whose primary responsibility is superior teaching. While each campus in the system has its own unique geographic and curricular character, all campuses, as multipurpose institutions, offer undergraduate and graduate instruction for professional and occupational goals as well as broad liberal education. All campuses require a basic program of "General Education Requirements" for graduation regardless of the type of bachelor's degree or major field selected by the student.
The CSU offers high-quality, affordable bachelor’s and master’s level degree programs. Many of these programs are offered so that students can complete all upper division and graduate requirements by part-time, late afternoon and evening study. In addition, a variety of teaching and school service credential programs are available. A limited number of doctoral degrees are offered jointly with the University of California and with private institutions in California. In 2005, the CSU was authorized to independently offer educational doctorate (Ed.D.) programs.
Enrollment in fall 2011 totaled 427,000 students, who were taught by more than 21,000 faculty. The system awards about half of the bachelor’s degrees and a third of the master’s degrees granted in California. More than 2.7 million students have graduated from CSU campuses since 1961.
A recent economic report found that the CSU supports more than 150,000 jobs statewide, annually. The engine driving job creation is more than $17 billion in economic activity that directly results from CSU-related spending that generates $5.43 for every dollar the state invests. For more information, please see www.calstate.edu/impact.