15 Things You Probably Did Not Know About The CSU

There are soooo many fun facts you probably don't know about the California State University. Here are 15!

1. 1 in every 20 college grad in America is from the CSU.

2. Eva, Weird Al, and Spielberg are among our 3 million alumni.

Photo/Courtesy Eva Longoria WhoSay and CSU Northridge

Actress Eva Longoria received her master’s degree in Chicano Studies from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) in 2013.

Via Photo/Courtesy The Tribune and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo

Grammy award-winning musician Weird Al Yankovic graduated with a degree in landscape architecture from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

Via suprmchaos.com and jta.org

Legendary Director Steven Spielberg received his Bachelor of Arts (with an option in film/video production) at Cal State Long Beach in 2002.

3. We created Spongebob Squarepants.

Spongebob hailed from the creative mind of Humboldt State alumnus Stephen Hillenburg.

4. We helped mold your childhood.

Via allmoviegifs.tumblr.com

Via diisneyfilms.tumblr.com

Remember Cinderella, Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland? Oh yeah—that was all created by a San José State grad Mary Blair.

5. We award nearly half of the California's bachelor’s degrees.

6. We are NASA’s best friend.

Via 1-646-245-6618.com

Both Cal State L.A. and Cal State Long Beach have NASA University Research Centers.

7. We create floats like nobody's business.

Photo Credit: Tom Zasadzinski

Cal Poly San Luis Obispo and Cal Poly Pomona come together every year to create the most ridiculously awesome floats for the Rose Parade. They've won more than 50 awards in 66 years of participating in the parade.

8. The fastest woman alive graduated from CSU Dominguez Hills.

Via tumblr.com

9. Boats are our classroom.

Via theramoness.tumblr.com

Our students complete their education...at sea. Cal Maritime cadets travel across the Pacific, Caribbean, and Atlantic learning how to man a ship while balancing straight A's.

10. More than a third of our students are the first in their family to earn a college degree.

11. We teach the teachers.

Official White House Photo by Pete Souza.

CSUN credentials more teachers than all the University of California campuses combined.

Bet you didn't know that Rebecca Mieliwocki, the 2012 National Teacher of the Year, was a CSUN and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo grad!

12. We are wine experts.

Photo Credit: Cary Edmondson and Fresno State

Fresno State was the first university in the U.S. that had a license to produce, bottle and sell wine and Sonoma State is the first and only program in the U.S. that focuses on wine business.

13. We are serious about our mascots. Real serious.

Who else can say they have 23 mascots? That's what we thought...no one!

14. We live, eat, breathe sustainability.

Most of our campuses participate in RecycleMania. CSU San Marcos was the grand champ six times!

15. We have probably the coolest Chancellor EVER.

Can your Chancellor break it down like this? We didn't think so.