The College of Natural Sciences seeks to educate the next generation of scientists and future health professionals as well as a science-literate citizenship who are equipped to make informed decisions in daily life. The College educates teachers who effectively teach our children. Students in this College are provided a broad-based, fundamental education in the natural sciences and allied health fields, and are challenged to think critically, analytically, and creatively.
The curricula offered in the College combine fundamental education in science with a broad human outlook, which develops the student's mental horizon beyond the limits of his/her immediate vocational objective. Each curriculum is designed to prepare graduates for specific professional positions in industry, government and teaching or for graduate and professional work in their disciplines. The four-year sequence covers the basic major courses and has sufficient free electives to allow students to develop specializations within the major and closely related fields.
General education courses are offered for all students. The need to understand the concepts of modern science and their relationship to life in our present world is important. The College also offers basic supporting courses for students enrolled in the professional and technological degree programs in other colleges of the university.
Few places in this country can match the California Inland Empire for the depth and caliber of scientific research. The College endeavors to help its students interact with this distinctive environment to gather the educational benefits from it, and then to make their own contributions to it through research, internships, cooperative education and other training placements, and shared facilities.
The faculty, many of whom are experts from industry or the research community, includes a number of minority and women professors and mentors, an important component of the College. Many of our students are first-generation Americans. CSUSB is nationally recognized as a Hispanic Serving Institution with more than half of our students are members of minority groups, and many of the students are from groups traditionally underrepresented in the sciences and health professions.
Providing the means for people of exceptionally diverse backgrounds to come into their own is a major part of our identity. The College has been a leader in increasing the number of underrepresented minority students in the science-based fields, from elementary to graduate school.