The campus is on the site of former citrus groves in northeast Fullerton. It is bordered on the east by the
Orange Freeway (SR-57), on the west by State College Boulevard, on the north by Yorba Linda Boulevard, and on the south by Nutwood Avenue. Although established in the late 1950s, much of the initial construction on campus took place in the late 1960s, under the supervision of artist and architect Howard van Heuklyn, who gave the campus a striking,
futuristic architecture (buildings like Pollak Library South, Titan Shops, Humanities, McCarthy Hall). This was in response to the numerous
Googie buildings in the Fullerton community. The University Archives & Special Collections in the Pollak Library houses the
Philip K. Dick papers and
Frank Herbert papers as part of the Willis McNelly Science Fiction collection. Since 1993, the campus has added the College Park Building, Steven G. Mihaylo Hall, University Hall, the Titan Student Union, the Student Recreation Center, the Nutwood Parking Structure, the State College Parking Structure, Dan Black Hall, Joseph A.W. Clayes III Performing Arts Center West, Phase III Housing, the
Grand Central Art Center, and Pollak Library. In order to generate power for the university and become more sustainable, the campus installed solar panels on top of a number of buildings. The panels, which generate up to 7–8 percent of the electrical power used daily, are atop the Eastside Parking Structure, Clayes Performing Arts Center and the Kinesiology and Health Science Building. In August 2011, the university added a $143 million housing complex, which included five new residence halls, a convenience store and a 565-seat dining hall called the Gastronome.
El Dorado Ranch serves as the university president's residence.
Satellite campus The university opened a
satellite campus in
Irvine, California in 1989, approximately south of the original Fullerton location. Amid the
COVID-19 pandemic, the satellite campus closed in July 2021.
Proposed expansion CSUF announced plans in May 2010 to buy the lot occupied by
Hope International University, but this deal fell through. 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. After community opposition, the Fullerton planning commission indefinitely postponed any action on the project in February 2016.
Desert Studies Center 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 seven CSU campuses:
Fullerton,
Cal Poly Pomona,
Long Beach,
San Bernardino,
Northridge,
Dominguez Hills and
Los Angeles. ==Academics==