Crown College, University of California, Santa Cruz
Encyclopedia
Crown College is one of the residential college
s that makes up the University of California, Santa Cruz
, USA.
Despite its thematic grounding in natural science and technology, like at all UCSC colleges, Crown students major in subjects across all disciplines. Crown has a favorable reputation for academically-focused students, possibly due to both its reputation as a science college and its secluded location on the Santa Cruz campus. Because of its strong academic roots, Crown College is regarded as one of the quieter colleges on the campus. It is very close to Upper Campus, frequented by hikers and mountain bikers, and near where drum circles take place during full moons.
Residents of the college are informally known as "crownies."
to come to Santa Cruz
and head what would become Crown College and to build the science faculty at UCSC
.
Located on the upper northern side of campus by Merrill College
, Crown also borders the newly constructed Colleges Nine
and Ten
. Crown is made up of eight three-floor residence halls as well as having about half of the Crown-Merrill apartment buildings. The UCSC fire station is located at Crown.
Because of its strong science-related roots and continuing tradition, all of the student residence buildings have science-related themes and names: Gauss
House, Galen
House, Rutherford
House, Harvey
and Maxwell
Houses, Leonardo House, Galileo
House, and Descartes House.
Since 2009, Crown College started the popular College game of Humans vs Zombies attracting up to one hundred students when they meet, this is also the location where the UCSC zombie defense council will be formed.
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
or are otherwise notable for their academic work.
Residential college
A residential college is an organisational pattern for a division of a university that places academic activity in a community setting of students and faculty, usually at a residence and with shared meals, the college having a degree of autonomy and a federated relationship with the overall...
s that makes up the University of California, Santa Cruz
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
, USA.
Despite its thematic grounding in natural science and technology, like at all UCSC colleges, Crown students major in subjects across all disciplines. Crown has a favorable reputation for academically-focused students, possibly due to both its reputation as a science college and its secluded location on the Santa Cruz campus. Because of its strong academic roots, Crown College is regarded as one of the quieter colleges on the campus. It is very close to Upper Campus, frequented by hikers and mountain bikers, and near where drum circles take place during full moons.
Residents of the college are informally known as "crownies."
History and campus
Crown was founded in 1967 when the Chancellor Dean E. McHenry invited biologist Kenneth V. ThimannKenneth V. Thimann
Kenneth Vivian Thimann was an English-American plant physiologist and microbiologist known for his studies of plant hormones, which were widely influential in agriculture and horticulture. He isolated and determined the structure of auxin, the first known plant hormone...
to come to Santa Cruz
Santa Cruz, California
Santa Cruz is the county seat and largest city of Santa Cruz County, California in the US. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, Santa Cruz had a total population of 59,946...
and head what would become Crown College and to build the science faculty at UCSC
University of California, Santa Cruz
The University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
.
Located on the upper northern side of campus by Merrill College
Merrill College
Merrill College is a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The theme of the college, and the name of its freshman core course, is "cultural identities and global consciousness."-Location:...
, Crown also borders the newly constructed Colleges Nine
College Nine
College Nine is a residential college at the University of California, Santa Cruz. The university's first new college in nearly 30 years, College Nine was founded in 2000 although the dorms were not finished until 2002. It is located on the north side of campus, east of Science Hill and west of...
and Ten
College Ten
College Ten is one of the ten residential colleges at the University of California, Santa Cruz. It is on the north side of campus, west of College Nine and north of the Cowell Student Health Center...
. Crown is made up of eight three-floor residence halls as well as having about half of the Crown-Merrill apartment buildings. The UCSC fire station is located at Crown.
Because of its strong science-related roots and continuing tradition, all of the student residence buildings have science-related themes and names: Gauss
Carl Friedrich Gauss
Johann Carl Friedrich Gauss was a German mathematician and scientist who contributed significantly to many fields, including number theory, statistics, analysis, differential geometry, geodesy, geophysics, electrostatics, astronomy and optics.Sometimes referred to as the Princeps mathematicorum...
House, Galen
Galen
Aelius Galenus or Claudius Galenus , better known as Galen of Pergamon , was a prominent Roman physician, surgeon and philosopher...
House, Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford
Ernest Rutherford, 1st Baron Rutherford of Nelson OM, FRS was a New Zealand-born British chemist and physicist who became known as the father of nuclear physics...
House, Harvey
William Harvey
William Harvey was an English physician who was the first person to describe completely and in detail the systemic circulation and properties of blood being pumped to the body by the heart...
and Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell
James Clerk Maxwell of Glenlair was a Scottish physicist and mathematician. His most prominent achievement was formulating classical electromagnetic theory. This united all previously unrelated observations, experiments and equations of electricity, magnetism and optics into a consistent theory...
Houses, Leonardo House, Galileo
Galileo Galilei
Galileo Galilei , was an Italian physicist, mathematician, astronomer, and philosopher who played a major role in the Scientific Revolution. His achievements include improvements to the telescope and consequent astronomical observations and support for Copernicanism...
House, and Descartes House.
Since 2009, Crown College started the popular College game of Humans vs Zombies attracting up to one hundred students when they meet, this is also the location where the UCSC zombie defense council will be formed.
Student demographics
In the third week census of the fall of 2006, the 1,463 undergraduates affiliated with Crown included 449 new and 1,014 returning students. Their ethnic composition was 2.5% African American, 1.2% Native American, 22.8 % Asian, 10.0% Latino, 4.0% Chicano, 4.4% Filipino, 45.7% Euro-American, 2.2% Other, and 7.2% Unidentified. The average gender representation during the 2005-06 academic year was 42% female and 58% male. Crown was the only college at UCSC with a predominantly male enrollment, with the whole campus having a 54% to 46% female majority.Notable Crown fellows
Several of the fellows of Crown College have been elected to the National Academy of SciencesUnited States National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences
American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
or are otherwise notable for their academic work.
- Sandra M. FaberSandra M. FaberSandra Moore Faber is a University Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and works at the Lick Observatory.In 1966, she obtained a B.A., with high honors, in physics from Swarthmore College....
– Professor of Astronomy & Astrophysics noted for invention of Cold dark matterCold dark matterCold dark matter is the improvement of the big bang theory that contains the additional assumption that most of the matter in the Universe consists of material that cannot be observed by its electromagnetic radiation and whose constituent particles move slowly...
theory and fundamental work in the field of Galaxy formation and evolutionGalaxy formation and evolutionThe study of galaxy formation and evolution is concerned with the processes that formed a heterogeneous universe from a homogeneous beginning, the formation of the first galaxies, the way galaxies change over time, and the processes that have generated the variety of structures observed in nearby...
; member of the NAS; member of the AAASAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 1989) - David HausslerDavid HausslerDavid Haussler is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator. He is also Professor of Biomolecular Engineering and Director of the Center for Biomolecular Science and Engineering at the University of California, Santa Cruz; director of the California Institute for Quantitative Biosciences on...
– Professor of Biomolecular Engineering noted for work on the human genome and development of the UCSC Genome Browser as part of the Human Genome ProjectHuman Genome ProjectThe Human Genome Project is an international scientific research project with a primary goal of determining the sequence of chemical base pairs which make up DNA, and of identifying and mapping the approximately 20,000–25,000 genes of the human genome from both a physical and functional...
; member of the AAASAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 2006) - Douglas N. C. Lin – Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics; member of the AAASAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 2002)(Publications at Scientific Commons) - Harry Noller – Professor of Biology noted for RNA research; member of the AAASAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 1969) - Joel PrimackJoel PrimackJoel R. Primack is a professor of physics and astrophysics at the University of California, Santa Cruz and is a member of the Santa Cruz Institute for Particle Physics. Dr. Primack received his A.B. from Princeton University in 1966 and his Ph.D. from Stanford University in 1970. According to...
– Professor of Physics, noted cosmologistPhysical cosmologyPhysical cosmology, as a branch of astronomy, is the study of the largest-scale structures and dynamics of the universe and is concerned with fundamental questions about its formation and evolution. For most of human history, it was a branch of metaphysics and religion...
; renowned for Cold Dark Matter Theory proposed along with Sandra Faber (see above) and Sir Martin Rees - Kenneth V. ThimannKenneth V. ThimannKenneth Vivian Thimann was an English-American plant physiologist and microbiologist known for his studies of plant hormones, which were widely influential in agriculture and horticulture. He isolated and determined the structure of auxin, the first known plant hormone...
– Founding Provost notable for his research in biology; in 1934, obtained and isolated pure auxinAuxinAuxins are a class of plant hormones with some morphogen-like characteristics. Auxins have a cardinal role in coordination of many growth and behavioral processes in the plant's life cycle and are essential for plant body development. Auxins and their role in plant growth were first described by...
, an important plant-growth hormone and, with several coworkers, proved that auxin promotes cell elongation, formation of roots, and growth of buds, discoveries that led to the development of a widely used synthetic auxin, 2,4-D. Use of this chemical prevents the premature falling of fruit and stimulates cut stems to grow abundant roots. Because high concentrations of auxins are toxic to most plants, synthetic auxins are effective weed killers. This research was used in the subsequent development of the Vietnam-era herbicide Agent OrangeAgent OrangeAgent Orange is the code name for one of the herbicides and defoliants used by the U.S. military as part of its herbicidal warfare program, Operation Ranch Hand, during the Vietnam War from 1961 to 1971. Vietnam estimates 400,000 people were killed or maimed, and 500,000 children born with birth...
. - Stephen ThorsettStephen ThorsettStephen Erik Thorsett is an American professor and astronomer. His research interests include radio pulsars and gamma ray bursts. He is known for measurements of the masses of neutron stars and for the use of binary pulsars to test the theory of general relativity...
– Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics and Dean of Physical and Biological Science known for work on properties of compact stars - Stanford E. WoosleyStanford E. WoosleyStanford Earl Woosley is a physicist, and Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics. He is the director of the Center for Supernova Research at UCSC. He has published over 300 papers.-Research Interest:...
– Professor of Astronomy and Astrophysics noted for his work on supernovaSupernovaA supernova is a stellar explosion that is more energetic than a nova. It is pronounced with the plural supernovae or supernovas. Supernovae are extremely luminous and cause a burst of radiation that often briefly outshines an entire galaxy, before fading from view over several weeks or months...
gamma ray burstGamma ray burstGamma-ray bursts are flashes of gamma rays associated with extremely energetic explosions that have been observed in distant galaxies. They are the most luminous electromagnetic events known to occur in the universe. Bursts can last from ten milliseconds to several minutes, although a typical...
s; member of the NASUnited States National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
and AAASAmerican Academy of Arts and SciencesThe American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(elected 2001)