Best of Chico State

From programs that support educational success beyond high school to programs that send student volunteers to help in state hospitals for the disabled, Chico State reaches beyond campus borders to improve the quality of life in the North State. For example—

With more than $5 million in grants, the Sierra Cascade Nutrition and Activity Consortium helps low-income families adopt healthy eating and exercise habits. The program’s 30 partners include school districts and county offices of education.
The Community Legal Information Center, open 39 years, provides free legal information to North State residents. Up to 125 paralegal interns staff the organization’s 12 programs, serving nearly 13,000 clients annually.

At the CSU Media Arts Festival, Chico State students have won “Best Animation” nine times and the coveted “Best in Show” four times.
In fall 2006 the judges awarded the first four places in Animation to Chico films.

Chico’s Model United Nations team won the top award at the 2009 national conference, for the third time in three years. The Chico State delegation, representing the Republic of Korea, was named an Outstanding Delegation from a field of more than 160 colleges and universities. Only the top 8 percent of all delegations attain the outstanding ranking.
For the past 10 years, Chico’s Model United Nations teams have dominated the American West Regional MUN Conference and won outstanding awards at every national conference. The 2009 Chico team won the award for Outstanding Position Papers. Chico’s awards place the team within the top 4 percent of all schools attending the competition.

Chico State is the only university with three practicing forensic anthropologists, consulting for the U.S. Defense Department and for the UN in Bosnia, and at the World Trade Center following 9/11, in Thailand following the Tsunami of 2005, and in New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.
The Physical Anthropology Human Identification Laboratory serves Northern California, Nevada, Oregon, and Washington. Faculty, staff, and students assist county sheriffs and coroners, district attorneys, as well as the California Department of Justice and the Nevada Division of Investigation.

The Wildcats earned their sixth straight top-25 finish in the U.S. Sports Academy Directors’ Cup standings, coming in 22nd in the 2008-09 campaign, among all 283 Division II schools.
37 Wildcat student-athletes earned CCAA All-Academic award honors for the 2008-09 academic year.
In 2008-09 seven of Chico State’s 13 intercollegiate athletic programs advanced to the NCAA Championships. The men’s cross country team finished third in the nation behind Scott Bauhs’ individual national title. The women’s cross country team finished seventh. The men’s track team finished ninth in the nation, and women’s track came in 21st.
Since 1998, Chico State’s athletic teams have won 79 NCAA Championship berths, 32 CCAA titles, 21 West Region titles, and 13 National titles.

Manufacturing technology students won the Grand Prize at the 2009 Western Tool Exposition and Conference Manufacturing Challenge, the nation’s largest manufacturing expo, for the fifth year in a row. Chico also won first place in 1987, 1993, 1995, and 1998.
Three electrical engineering graduate students won two top awards at the 2008 Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers student design competition. In a rare double win, Chico students won the Electromagnetic Compatibility Student Design contest and the Leo L. Beranek Student Travel Award, the fourth consecutive year Chico has won this design competition.
Chico State mechanical engineering students won the prestigious 2006 Human Powered Vehicle Challenge West Coast Competition. Chico also won national titles in 1987 and 1998.
In 2006, civil engineering earned a berth at the National Steel Bridge Competition, for a 10th consecutive year. In 2000, they won the national championship.

Chico State's Music Industry Program is the largest in the West and one of the five largest in the United States.
Practical learning, incorporating technology, music, and business, includes the student-run Wild Oak Records, Wild Oak Publishing, Wild Oak Songwriter's Guild, and internships in the United States, Europe, and Asia.
Students interested in careers that combine music and technology can also choose the option in Recording Arts.

The College of Business was the first member of SAP's University Alliance Program and won the first SAP research award for integrating business software into its curriculum.
The Accounting and Management Information Systems department received certification of information security competency from the Committee on National Security Systems, the first step in becoming a Center for Excellence with the National Security Agency.