Celebrating 50 Years of the College of Creative Studies
The College of Creative Studies was established on the UC Santa Barbara campus in 1967 to serve students who demonstrated talent for original work in science or the arts. During the 2017-2018 academic year, we celebrated 50 years of creating new knowledge reflecting on how we have evolved over the years.
The success of CCS is due to a dedicated community of faculty, students, staff, parents, alumni, and friends. The CCS 50th Anniversary Honorary Council represents a microcosm of this community, responsible for making the College a unique place for unconventional learning and where radical curiosity is celebrated.
Events
CCS hosted a variety of 50th Anniversary events throughout the 2017-2018 academic year to celebrate our golden anniversary.
The events included:
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Transdisciplinary Workshop with MacArthur Fellow Angela Belcher (CCS Biology ’91/PhD ’97), James Mason Crafts Professor of Biological Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research, MIT
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Transdisciplinary Workshop with artist and writer William L. Fox, Director, Center for Art & Environment, Nevada Museum of ArtResearch and Creative Activity Conference (RACA-CON) featuring CCS students
- Lecture and Dialogue on CCS Founder Marvin Mudrick by environmentalist, publisher, and author Karen Christensen (CCS Literature '81)
- Exhibition on The Future Can Only Be Told in Reverse
- A Viewing of City of Gold and a Conversation with Jonathan Gold, American Food Critic; Restaurant Critic, Los Angeles Times; the first food critic to win the Pulitzer Prize; he is showcased in 2015 documentary film City of Gold
- CCS 50th Anniversary Celebration Reception in Los Angeles, graciously hosted by Amber Kaplan Sprague (CCS Biology '06) and Ben Sprague
- Translational Sports Biomedicine: From Bench to Bench by Dr. Christopher Proctor, Managing Partner at Alta Orthopaedics
- 50th Anniversary Celebration Brunch in San Jose
- CCS TV Musical
- A Reading of Bury What We Cannot Take with author Kirstin Chen
- Conversation with Jennifer Koh: Creative Inquiry, Intersection, and Intervention
- Alumni Career Panel
- CCS 50th Anniversary Social
- Meet-&-Greet with author Anthony Doerr, Pulitzer Prize and Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction for his novel All the Light We Cannot See
- Pre-Apocalyptic Party Planning by CCS Alumna Mika McKinnon
- Spring 2018 Visiting Artist Colloquium: Harry + Sandra Reese
50 for 50
CCS was honored to showcase 50 individuals and activities during our 50th Anniversary to share our rich history and amazing people responsible for making our unconventional College possible!
Tell Us Your Story
We want to hear how CCS has impacted you. Tag your posts on social media using #UCSBCCS or submit your stories online.
CCS Stories
Throughout our Anniversary celebration in 2017-2018, we posted stories from our past and present.
Some relationships have the facture of fate. Only later do we realize that we had been searching for some people for years before meeting them--the impact of our meeting having been so strong that it reverberated backward in time. In that way, I have felt the effects of meeting Harry and Sandra all my life.
Harry Reese was my neighbor on Sueño in Isla Vista. One day we said hello to each other on campus by the UCSB Library, and I found out who he really was. He invited me to take his class which I did. I was a senior then, and that encounter gave me the focus I needed. I think it was 1979 or 1980. I was an Art Studio major with an emphasis in printmaking.