College Eight

Entrance to College Eight

View of the ocean from College Eight

College Eight is a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It is on the west side of campus, north of Oakes College and southeast of Porter College. The theme of its freshman core course is Environment and Society.

College Eight was founded in 1972 at the current location of the Kerr Hall lecture building. Before it moved to its present location in 1991, College Eight was the only UCSC college that did not have its own on-campus housing; residential students were then housed at the Porter College residence halls. At the time, its focus was on transfer students, who are usually less likely to live on campus than students on a traditional four-year plan.

The freshman core class Environment and Society, "examines education, identity, nature, community, livelihood, and livability at local and national levels as contemporary global transformations affect them." (All College Eight freshman must take it, but transfer students are exempt if they have more than 45 credits.) The course has been expanded to a year, the first quarter being an overview of environmental issues with an emphasis on social sciences and environmental justice, the second providing a strong grounding in biological and atmospheric issues (along with empirical and quantitative methods), and the final course emphasizes creative hands-on solutions, particularly in terms of energy issues. These provide the foundation for a new social entrepreneur initiative.

The quad of College Eight's residence halls

Like the much newer Colleges Nine and Ten, College Eight is unnamed as of 2010. Nearly every year, an attempt is made to find a name for the college, a process that requires a $5 million endowment. An attempt to name the college after photographer Ansel Adams came closer to success than previous efforts. There was also talk of naming the college after Rachel Carson, the noted writer, scientist, and ecologist.

The current provost of the college is Dr. Ravi Rajan, an Oxford graduate from India.

External links

• College Eight home page
• College Eight Wiki has extensive green content
• UC Santa Cruz home page
• UCSC statistics by residential college

Coordinates: 36°59′28″N 122°03′54″W / 36.99117°N 122.06497°W / 36.99117; -122.06497