California State University, Fullerton

In 1957, Orange County State College became the 12th state college in California to be authorized by the state legislature as a degree-granting institution. The following year, a site was designated for the campus to be established in northeast Fullerton. The property was purchased in 1959. The same year, William B. Langsdorf was appointed as founding president of the school.

Classes began with 452 students in September 1959. The name of the school was changed to Orange State College in July 1962. In 1964, its name was changed to California State College at Fullerton. In June 1972, the final name change occurred and the school became California State University, Fullerton.

The choice of the elephant as the university's mascot, dubbed Tuffy the Titan, dates to 1962, when the campus hosted "The First Intercollegiate Elephant Race in Human History." The May 11 event attracted 10,000 spectators, 15 pachyderm entrants, and worldwide news coverage.[13]

The campus has seen three significant instances of violence with people shot and killed. On July 12, 1976, Edward Charles Allaway, a campus janitor with paranoid schizophrenia, shot nine people, killing seven, in the University Library (now the Pollak Library) on the Cal State Fullerton campus. At the time, it was the worst mass shooting in Orange County history.[14] On October 13, 1984, Edward Cooperman, a physics professor, was shot and killed by his former student, Minh Van Lam, in McCarthy Hall.[15]

On August 19, 2019, Steven Shek Keung Chan, 57, of Hacienda Heights was found by police with multiple stab wounds. When the police arrived at the parking lot where Chan was assaulted, he was pronounced dead. Chan was a retired budget director working as a consultant in the international student affairs office. On August 22, 2019, the coworker who committed the violent act was arrested at his residence in Huntington Beach. Chuyen Vo, 51, was believed to have acted alone, but the motive was never identified. Chan and Vo worked in the same division and Cal State Fullerton spokeswoman Ellen Treanor stated:

"Of all the individuals that I talked to in that division, there didn't seem to be any concerns at all that anybody would ever hurt Steve at all. Not a single person said there were problems," Treanor said. "He wasn't known as a difficult boss. He was known as a very thoughtful man, very by-the book, a man of few words."[16]

The university grew rapidly in the first decade of the 2000s. The Performing Arts Center was built in January 2006, and in the summer of 2008 the newly constructed Steven G. Mihaylo Hall and the new Student Recreation Center opened.[17][18]

In fall 2008, the Performing Arts Center was renamed the Joseph A.W. Clayes III Performing Arts Center, in honor of a $5 million pledge made to the university by the trustees of the Joseph A.W. Clayes III Charitable Trust.[19] Since 1963, the curriculum has expanded to include many graduate programs, including multiple doctorate degrees, as well as numerous credential and certificate programs.

In 2021, president of the university Framroze Virjee acknowledged the university's location on the lands of the Tongva and Acjachemen and pledged for the university to be more committed toward partnering with Indigenous peoples.[20]

The university opened a satellite campus in Irvine, California in 1989, approximately 20 miles (32 km) south of the original Fullerton location.[23] Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the satellite campus closed in July 2021.[24]

CSUF announced plans in May 2010 to buy the lot occupied by Hope International University, but this deal fell through.[25]

CSUF also announced plans in September 2010 to expand into the area south of Nutwood Avenue to construct a project called CollegeTown, which would integrate the surrounding residential areas and retail spaces into the campus.[26] After community opposition, the Fullerton planning commission indefinitely postponed any action on the project in February 2016.[27]

The Desert Studies Center is a field station of the California State University located in Zzyzx, California in the Mojave Desert. The purpose of the center is to provide opportunities to conduct research, receive instruction and experience the Mojave Desert environment. It is officially operated by the California Desert Studies Consortium, a consortium of 7 CSU campuses: Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach, San Bernardino, Northridge, Dominguez Hills and Los Angeles.

As of the fall 2013 semester, CSUF is the third most applied to CSU out of all 23 campuses receiving nearly 65,000 applications, including over 40,000 for incoming freshmen and nearly 23,000 transfer applications, the second highest in the CSU.[30]

• The 2024 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Fullerton tied for 2nd "Performers on Social Mobility," tied 70 in top public schools, tied 31 for best undergraduate teaching, 211 for best value schools, and the undergraduate engineering program tied for 40, tied 8 in computer engineering, tied 8 in civil engineering and tied 9 in electrical/electronic/communications, tied 201 in economics, and tied 154 for Nursing.[38]
• The 2023 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Fullerton 7th for "Top Performers on Social Mobility," 83 in top public schools, tied 66 for best undergraduate teaching, 222 for best value schools, and the undergraduate engineering programs ranked 42, tied 7 in computer engineering, 12 civil engineering and 11 electrical/electronic/communications and 153 for Nursing.
• The 2022 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Fullerton 3rd for "Top Performers on Social Mobility," tied 3rd for most innovative schools, 5th in top public schools, tied 6 for best undergraduate teaching, 41 for best value schools, and the undergraduate engineering programs ranked 29, 7 computer engineering, 8 civil engineering and 12 electrical/electronic/communications and 148 for Nursing.
• The 2021 edition of U.S. News & World Report ranked Fullerton tied for 16th among 127 Western U.S. regional universities that offer some masters programs but few doctoral ones, and 4th best public university among 66.[39] CSUF was also ranked tied for 9th out of 124 regional schools for "Top Performers on Social Mobility", and tied for 3rd out of 25 for "Best Undergraduate Teaching Programs".[39]
• Money magazine ranked Cal State Fullerton 34th in the country out of 739 schools evaluated for its 2020 "Best Colleges for Your Money" edition[40] and 22nd in its list of the 50 best public schools in the U.S.[41]