Cal State L.A. Today

Thirty years of building access and excellence

In recognition of President James M. Rosser’s commitment to Cal State L.A. for the last 30 years, we have compiled a photo slideshow and a short timeline of highlights from his tenure. Thank you for your service, your vision and your ongoing dedication to the principles of access and excellence.

• 1979: President James M. Rosser becomes the University’s 6th President.

• 1980: The Institute for Retail Management is founded, creating the first West Coast retailing option in a bachelor’s of art.

• 1981: Rosser accepted and adopted the University’s new mascot, combining the power and dignity of the golden eagle with the golden promise of the state.

• 1983: Plans for student housing are put into motion, with the first phase of housing opening in June 1984 and the second in 1987.

• 1983: Rosser provided funding for the founding of the first Early Entrance Program in the nation.

• 1984: The Los Angeles Olympics come to campus.

• 1985: The Los Angeles County High School for the Arts opens. It is the first of two high schools to open at Cal State L.A.

• 1987: The Pat Brown Institute of Public Affairs is established.

  The Confucius statue is received and installed as a gift from Los Angeles’ sister city of Taipei.

  Dr. Rosser helped start the CSU’s Chancellor Doctoral Incentive Program as a means for encouraging students to pursue higher education, and building a pipeline for diverse faculty members in the CSU.

• 1989-1997: The Solar Eagle Project’s three cars successful compete in national competitions, achieving fourth, third and then first place honors.

• 1993: The nation’s first Charter College of Education is opened at Cal State L.A.

• 1994: The Harriett and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, and Cal State L.A.’s Metrolink Station—the first and only commuter rail station on a college campus—open.

• 1995: CSULA Alumnus Sam Durrance, astronaut and astrophysicist, took the CSULA President’s Medallion into space on the space shuttle Endeavour.

• 1998: The Center for Environmental Analysis (CEA-CREST), focused on environmental science research, is funded by the National Science Foundation. It is the first of center to be started on the West Coast.

• 1999: Cal State L.A. inaugurates its President’s Scholars Program.

• 2002: The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) awards Cal State L.A.’s College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology a $6 million, five-year grant to establish a major center for the study of aerospace technology and space science enterprises. This NASA University Research Center, still funded today, is the first and only one of its kind on a CSU campus.

• 2003: The Golden Eagle, complete with a new international food court, University Club restaurant, meeting, banquet, event spaces and a bookstore, celebrates its grand opening.

• 2006: Cal State L.A. receives a new 600-megahertz NMR (nuclear magnetic resonance) spectrometer, funded jointly by the University, W.M. Keck Foundation and the National Institutes of Health. It is the most powerful machine of its kind within the CSU, enabling researchers to analyze the three-dimensional structure of molecules and image small animals in vivo.

  Cal State L.A. is the first university west of the Mississippi, and second overall to achieve successful flight powered by fuel cells. The unmanned aerial vehicle was developed by a team of mechanical engineering students working in Cal State L.A.’s Multidisciplinary Flight Dynamics and Control Laboratory.

• 2007: Groundbreaking for the Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School (Stern MASS), a charter high school that is housed on the Cal State L.A. campus. The Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center—a five-story $102 million facility—was dedicated in a formal ceremony, joined by leaders from the Los Angeles Police Department and the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department.

• 2009: La Kretz Hall, the first wing of the Wallis Annenberg Integrated Sciences Complex, celebrated its grand opening with a formal dedication and ribbon-cutting ceremony. The three-story, 65,000-square-foot facility accommodates instruction and research activities in fields ranging from biochemistry to zoology.

  The University-Student Union (U-SU) celebrated its grand opening with a ribbon-cutting ceremony, guided tours, free food and giveaways, and entertainments.

  The University’s second NSF-funded Center for Research Experience in Science and Technology is funded. A five-year, $5 million grant is awarded to faculty in engineering and chemistry to study energy and sustainability.

  Stern MASS, a charter high school that focuses on math and science studies, opens on campus.

For more highlights in Cal State L.A. history, visit the University’s official timeline page