Cal State Monterey Bay offers extraordinary opportunities to our faculty, staff, and administrators as well as our students. We're a growing campus in a beautiful location with a collaborative atmosphere and generous benefits package - including employee housing and tuition reimbursement. Take a look at how Cal State Monterey Bay is doing what matters!

About California State University Monterey Bay

Cal State Monterey Bay provides more than 7,000 students an extraordinary opportunity to learn on a residential campus just one mile from the shores of the beautiful Monterey Bay. Our diverse student body receives personal attention in small classes while pursuing degrees in 25 undergraduate and seven graduate majors. 

Founded in 1994 on the former site of Fort Ord by educators and community leaders, Cal State Monterey Bay faculty and staff build on that legacy as we explore innovative ways to meet the needs of a new generation of students while simultaneously powering the Monterey County economy.

While we serve students from the entire state of California, 33 percent of our undergraduates come from Monterey, San Benito and Santa Cruz counties. We pride ourselves on making higher education accessible to traditionally underserved and low-income populations. Seventy-two percent of our students receive some form of financial aid. Fifty-six percent of our students are among the first generation of their family to go to college. And with 45 percent of our students living on campus, we are one of the most residential universities in the CSU.

Location

One thing that makes Cal State Monterey Bay different from any other campus in the country is our location. Not only are we just one mile from the beach, we are on the site of a former Army base.

Going to school on an old Army base can be pretty cool. For example, the Visual & Public Art Department has made an amazing studio and gallery space out of old motorpool buildings. You'll find many bits and pieces of this history all over campus – unique and surprising reminders of Monterey Bay's military past.

Monterey Bay is on the central coast of California, just two hours south of San Francisco. The bay itself is one of the largest marine protected areas in the world and home to whales, deep sea anglerfish, and of course our mascot, sea otters. The Cal State Monterey Bay campus is close to pristine beaches, redwood forests, tidepools, and the Fort Ord National Monument.

The campus sits halfway between the Monterey Peninsula, which features the coastal communities of Pacific Grove, Monterey, Seaside and Carmel, and the Salinas Valley, known as the "Salad Bowl of the World" for its abundant agricultural production. The city of Salinas is the county seat and served as the setting for many of John Steinbeck's novels.

The campus straddles the cities of Seaside and Marina, which are small, diverse communities where many of our students live and work. We also offer online programs for those who don't live in the area.

Departments and Faculty

Within the Academic Affairs administrative division, six colleges oversee Cal State Monterey Bay's academic operations. Each college includes several academic units that deliver degrees, minors, and other academic offerings. The university currently offers a total of 25 undergraduate degrees with over 30 included concentrations, more than 30 minors, eight graduate degrees, and several teacher certification options.

At Cal State Monterey Bay, we're not about huge lecture halls. We're about learning, connecting, problem-solving, and working together. The faculty at Cal State Monterey Bay are here because they want to help students do just that. In fact, many of them gave up the lecture-hall lifestyle to teach at this university. They've won prestigious awards, traveled the world, and done ground-breaking research, but what really drives them is working with students.

From the First Year Seminar faculty who help students launch their college careers to the Capstone advisors who push students to deliver the best work they are capable of, our students get personal attention, mentoring, and learning opportunities that prepare them to succeed.

They give students hands-on experience along with theory. They take them into the community and onto the water. They use technology to connect with distance learners online, and employ new techniques such as flipped classrooms.

They're fully committed to academic excellence and they make a difference in students' lives. Find out more about our faculty here.

Come see why Cal State Monterey Bay is a great place to learn, live, and work!