and Governor Pat Brown signed a bill authorizing a study for a state college for the county. In 1974, Joyce Kennedy established the UC/CSU Ventura Learning Center in Ventura as a partnership between UC Santa Barbara and California State University, Northridge. She went on to serve as director of the CSUN Ventura Campus for more than 15 years. The Ventura Learning Center became the CSUN Ventura Campus in 1988.
In 1996, J. Handel Evans began as planning president charged with beginning development of a public, four-year university in the region. In September 1997, on the recommendation of the chancellor and a community task force appointed by the Governor, CSU's board of trustees voted unanimously to accept the former Camarillo State Hospital site for the purpose of transforming it into the CSU's 23rd campus. In July 1996, CSU's board of trustees formally adopted the name California State University Channel Islands for the new university. In September 1997, Governor Wilson signed into law S.B. 623 (Jack O'Connell) …
