Visit CSUB
Families, as well as members of the local community, are welcome to visit the California State University, Bakersfield (CSUB) campus. CSUB is set on a beautiful, sprawling 375-acre campus in California’s southern San Joaquin Valley. Bakersfield is located in the heart of the west coast’s farming and oil-producing regions, at a logistics crossroads of east-west and north-south transportation routes. CSUB is the only regional comprehensive public university within a 100-mile radius.
How Do I Schedule a Campus Visit?
To request a tour, please visit the Campus Tours page. Group tours are available with advanced notice.
Campus Highlights
There’s a lot to see at CSUB! Here are just a few of the most special attractions around our campus.
Student Recreation Center (SRC)
This 75,130 square-foot, $21.7 million state-of-the-art facility, located just south of the Student Union, features a fitness area equipped with 60 cardiovascular machines including treadmills, elliptical cross-trainers, exercise bikes, climbers, and rowing ergometers, as well as free weight benches, barbells, dumbbells, plate-loaded weight equipment, variable resistance weight machines, core strength area, stretching area, and 24 LCD big screen televisions. There is also a three-court gymnasium and three-lane suspended track. The facility’s centerpiece is a 34-foot high freestanding rock wall capable of accommodating up to seven roped climbers simultaneously.
Student Union
CSUB’s Student Union serves as the hub of student life on campus. It provides a comfortable place for students to meet, organize, and attend a variety of events. At the heart of the Student Union is a casual lounge, which gives students a fun, relaxed setting to unwind between classes or after a long day. Computers are available for surfing the web, in addition to ping pong and foosball tables, couches, a piano, and more. The Student Union is also home to a classic university pub known as The Roost, as well as the Roadrunner Bookstore and offices for various student groups.
Wildlife
CSUB’s open spaces, undeveloped acreage, and water and food sources create a supportive environment for a variety of wildlife. The unique habitat provides a living laboratory for biology students, and a natural — and sometimes surprising — vantage point for campus visitors. Look overhead and you might see a hawk or owl hunting for prey. Look underfoot and you might see their dinner: gophers, ground squirrels, or snakes. Watch out for the occasional opossum, raccoon, and skunk. The campus ponds are home to frogs, fish, and aquatic birds such as coots and egrets.
Of course, the stars of the show are the endangered San Joaquin Kit Foxes, which make their homes throughout campus. They den under planters, next to buildings and parking lots, and at the Environmental Studies Area (ESA) in the southeast portion of campus. They raise their pups on a mix of wild prey and leftovers tossed in the trash.
Walter Stiern Library
At five stories high and 150,000 square feet, the Walter W. Stiern Library is the largest single structure ever built on the CSUB campus. The top floors contain not only books, but also computer terminals, 14 study rooms, and 44 faculty offices. The library offers an environment for study and research that includes state-of-the-art computer and telecommunications technology. The lower level houses three instructional television (ITV) studios, a media center, and audio, video and photography labs. There are also five computing facilities, including an 80-station open access lab.
Doré Theatre
The distinctive Doré Theatre has allowed the campus and local community to embrace many rich cultures through the fine arts. The sloped-roof theatre seats 500 people in a continental arrangement, with lights and curtains that can be manually or electronically controlled. The Doré Theatre is the home for three CSUB Theatre student productions each year, and has also showcased a number of professional acts through the Dorian Society Encounters with the Arts series.