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Sonoma State University is a campus of the California State University system located in Rohnert Park, California (about seven miles south of Santa Rosa and fifty miles north of San Francisco, as well as Oakland). SSU has approximately eight thousand students, making it one of the smaller CSU schools. Sonoma also as one of the weaker learning disablity resource programs in the CSU system. SSU features the standard assortment of bachelor and master degrees in the liberal arts and science departments. As the school is located in Sonoma County, a world-famous wine-growing region, one unique and popular program at SSU is the Wine Business Program. Another is the nationally-known Hutchins School of Liberal Studies. The faculty has included luminaries such as activist Mario Savio, musician Mel Graves, poet David Bromige, and writers Sarah Andrews, Gerald Haslam and Gerald Rosen. The current President of SSU is Ruben Armiñana, former President of Western College Association. Sonoma State University Campus is also the host for the public Technology High School, a small high school with appriximately 600 students and having a focus on technology, math, and science. created using public and private funding. The school is located in the Salazar building on the college campus.
History Sonoma State University opened its doors in 1960 and for much of the college's history primarily functioned as a commuter school. The first on-campus housing opened in 1972, providing on-campus living space for 410 students in six dormitory buildings named for local grape varieties -- Barbera, Chardonnay, Flora, Riesling, Semillion and Traminer -- as well as the first classrooms for the Environmental Studies department. As a social experiment, the housing facilities were also staffed by 100 of the residents under the guidance of five professional staff providing both jobs and a sense of ownership for the residents. In the 1970s, this participation was important since many of the students at Sonoma State College, to be changed to University status in 1975, were Vietnam-era veterans. The on-campus housing was further expanded 20 years later when dormitory villages were finally constructed (Verdot Village in 1995, Sauvignon Village in 2000, and Beaujolais Village in 2003), again following the original naming tradition. Thanks in part to the building of these dorms, Sonoma State has been able to attract a more traditionally aged (18-24) student body. Associated Students, Inc. of Sonoma State University Associated Students, Inc. is a student-run and student-owned organization that represents the student population. The ASI Senate is the student government and board of directors of the corporatoin. Associated Students Productions (ASP) is the concert and event program operated under ASI. Join Us Making Progress (JUMP) is the community service program of ASI. The ASI Senate consists of President, Executive Vice-President, Vice-President of Finance, JUMP Board Chair, and one or two Senators from each School. The current ASI President is Nadir Vissanjy. Athletics Sonoma State teams, called the Seawolves, compete in the California Collegiate Athletic Association, an athletics conference in the Division II of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. Sonoma State fields thirteen teams for men and women for the fall, winter, and spring seasons. The fall sport for men is soccer. Fall sports for women include cross country, soccer, and volleyball. The winter sport for men is basketball. The men's basketball team won the California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference in 05-06. The winter sport for women is basketball. Spring sports for men include baseball, golf, tennis, and lacrosse; Sonoma State's lacrosse teams often do well and were rated Two Sonoma State teams have won NCAA Division II National Championships: Women's Soccer in 1990 and Men's Soccer in 2002. Sonoma State has had many All-Americans and counts among its alumni San Francisco 49er offensive lineman Larry Allen. Also, over 60 baseball players have signed professional contracts since 1986. The teams derive their name from a novel by Jack London titled The Sea-Wolf; the Sonoma area was a stomping ground for London and he is quite well known there. Up until 2003, the athletic teams were referred to as the Cossacks as a link to the early history of the region when Russian traders coming south from then- Russian-owned Alaska established a fur trading post on the coast at Fort Ross in 1812. However, university authorities decided to change the name after complaints by many that the name was offensive to Jews and women, who were at times persecuted by the Cossack people. The name change was controversial among the school staff and student body. Departments and Programs Notes | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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