Or that, in , students here set a Guinness World Record for the longest — wait for it — submarine sandwich? Join us as we uncover campus lore, dive into some remarkable moments and celebrate the people who helped transform a humble college into one of the most dynamic and diverse institutions in the country. Think 49 fun facts is a lot? Trust us: We had to trim the list to get there. Opened on Sept. Designed to teach inmates practical skills, the program supplied furniture to many state-affiliated institutions but was discontinued in the s.
Twelve years later, to coincide with major campus changes, it was renamed California State College at Long Beach. And in — after gaining university status — it received its fourth and final name: California State University, Long Beach.
Six decades before Americans elected Barack Obama as the first Black president of the United States, Cal State Long Beach made its own history when Roger Bryson was elected president of the student council in — making him both the first president and the first Black president. Victor Peterson traveled the country to recruit professors from prestigious schools, including Harvard, Yale and Columbia. The photo above shows President Peterson, left, holding the first faculty meeting under a pepper tree with the apartments in the background.
In , the event featured a skit in which professors dressed as third-graders and performed in an alley — the closest thing they had to a theater space. Education major Mariam O. Today, Veterans Services continues to play a vital role in smoothing the transition from military service to academic life. By , the university had grown to 10, students. In , year-old Bob Rubin, paralyzed by polio at age 15 and unable to breathe for longer than 10 minutes outside an iron lung, attended classes from a room at Downey Hospital.
Using a phone line, Rubin attended Long Beach State for two years before finishing his psychology degree in Denver. In , as pictured above, his family bid him farewell as he left for his first job in San Jose via Air Force jet. The first University Library was a byfoot wooden shack, which was moved to the new campus on a flatbed truck. The library shelves were so packed with books by that point that not one fell during the bumpy ride.
