California State University Long Beach

This division of California State University is located in Long Beach and offers seven different academic colleges including Arts, Natural Sciences and Mathematics, Business Administration, Liberal Arts, Education, Engineering, and Health and Human Services. In addition to these colleges there is an Interdisciplinary Studies. The college offers 81 undergraduate degrees, 67 master's degrees, 16 education certificates or credentials, and 3 doctoral degrees. The general education credits that make up the core of the undergraduate degrees focus on critical thinking and writing skills. The school is the second largest campus in the California State University System and is located near the tip of Los Angeles County, just one mile from Orange County. The campus is home to the Carpenter Performing Arts Center named after famous alumni Richard and Karen Carpenter. It is also the home of the Earl Burns Miller Japanese Garden which features finely manicured greenery and a koi pond. There are a number of students who live on campus and reside in the Parkside Dormitories. The most notable area of Parkside is The Circle, which came to be when students moved a group of benches into a circular shape and began hanging out in the area.