Cowell College
Cowell College inaugurated the Santa Cruz campus when it opened with a pioneer class of 600 students in 1965. The founding faculty shaped an educational program that challenged and enriched students through wide-ranging inquiry and disciplined study. Today, Cowell has more than 1,500 affiliated students and over 90 faculty fellows. Its motto—The Pursuit of Truth in the Company of Friends—expresses a continuing commitment to create a serious academic environment within a humane and broadly inclusive community. The college is named for the S. H. Cowell Foundation, which endowed the college at its founding.
Academic Emphases
Cowell’s academic mission begins with the Cowell Core Course where students explore themes of justice with a focus on being an active participant of their community and society. Besides being the introductory course that anchors students' experience in a shared experience, the Cowell Core Courses launches the Cowell Curriculum. The entire suite of courses was designed to help students build the skills and the capacity they need to make an impact on society.
There are three prominent themes in the Cowell Curriculum. One theme provides opportunities for students to learn tangible skills to be the leaders within their communities. A second theme builds on these tangible leadership skills and gives students the opportunity to develop the capacity to build meaningful and sustainable relationships. Students are also practicing collaboration in a tangible manner with a global perspective which facilitates a student’s movement between diverse groups and diverse ideas. The last theme closes the loop by showing students how to be resilient in changing times and to help them recognize the conditions that help them be successful.
Additional information about Cowell College academics, including Core Course requirements and other academic programs, is available here.
College Community and Facilities
UC Santa Cruz combines the resources of a world-class public research university with a distinctive undergraduate experience characterized by our college system. Each college is a vibrant living/learning community supported by enrichment courses, advising and academic support, and faculty and staff who organize student activities and sponsor events to enhance the intellectual and social life of the campus. The colleges are committed to fostering a nurturing and academically thriving environment for students of all backgrounds. Each college strives to promote the attributes of a diverse and multicultural community in its own unique way.
Arranged around the college’s central courtyard is the dining hall, the Page Smith Library, the Mary Holmes Fireside lounge, and the Cowell Coffee Shop: For the Peoples, a non-transactional Basic Needs cafe. It is student-run and committed to making healthy and sustainable food accessible to students facing food insecurity, as well as conference rooms and classrooms. The Cowell Press, where students can learn the fine technique of hand-operated letterpress printing, is not far away, attached to the Cowell Provost House. Also nearby is the Eloise Pickard Smith Gallery, including the Ann Dizikes Annex.
Community life is enlivened by many scheduled and impromptu intellectual, cultural, and social events.
The Cowell Senate meets weekly to discuss campus issues and student government. The Senate advises the college on the allocation of funds for student activities and programs. Members of the Senate are selected each year by lot, but any student may become a voting member by steady attendance at meetings. The college’s student groups, staff, and faculty work together to create a supportive community for students from all ethnic groups, all religious traditions, and all sexual orientations and to increase awareness of the many dimensions of diversity in the community.
For more information on the college, see the Cowell College website or call (831) 459-2253.
Cowell Fellows and Staff
Cowell College faculty fellows are listed on the college's faculty directory.
College staff are listed on the college's staff page.