Campus, Community and Education Centers

The Biola University Campus

Biola's main campus address is:  Biola University, 13800 Biola Avenue, La Mirada, CA 90639. The campus is bounded on the west by Biola Avenue and on the east by La Mirada Boulevard. It is located between the large east-west thoroughfares of Rosecrans Avenue and Imperial Highway. Approximately three miles to the southwest is the Santa Ana Freeway (Freeway I-5).

Students coming to the campus by automobile should follow these directions to the main entrance on Biola Avenue:

• Coming from the northwest, leave the Santa Ana Freeway at Rosecrans and travel east to Biola Avenue. Then, turn left on Biola Avenue.
• Coming from the southeast, leave the Santa Ana Freeway at Valley View Avenue and travel north to Rosecrans Avenue. Then turn right on Rosecrans Avenue to Biola Avenue, then turn left on Biola Avenue.
• Coming from the east via San Bernardino Freeway (10) turn south on the Orange Freeway (57) to Imperial Highway and travel west on Imperial Highway (approximately nine miles) to Biola Avenue, then turn left on Biola Avenue.

The campus consists of 95 acres with more than 1 million square feet of building space in 40 major buildings. Just under half of the space is dedicated to 10 student residence complexes, housing 2,500 students in a fine variety of living quarters. The city of La Mirada has been home to Biola since 1959, and the campus has developed in several waves of construction. The library, which opened in 2001, was designed to provide the technology of a 21st century university — combining the best of books and computers in a variety of beautiful and functional research spaces. The building that formerly served as a library was remodeled to provide upgraded space for Rosemead School of Psychology. Major residence halls were added in 2003 and 2006, and the central dining hall was expanded and completely remodeled in 2005. Two entirely new classroom and faculty office buildings were added. First, in 2007, was a new building for the Crowell School of Business, featuring 12 classrooms with both wireless and hard-wired computer networking. Six of the classrooms offer tiered seating designed to support graduate and upper-division courses. The building also houses the faculty and administrative offices of the Crowell School of Business. In Fall 2011, Talbot East was built, which houses a portion of the Talbot School of Theology, and it includes eight classrooms, 29 faculty offices, a prayer chapel and an outdoor sunken plaza. The newest classroom building, completed in Fall 2017, houses the School of Science, Technology and Health. The Alton and Lydia Lim Center represents the beginning of an exciting new era for science education at Biola. The 91,200 square-foot center features 27 laboratories, six classrooms, a human anatomy suite and a dedicated SEM (scanning and electron microscope) lab and TEM (transmission electron microscope) lab, and state-of-the-art technology.

Athletic and recreational facilities have grown and been upgraded, including a completely refurbished swimming pool; eight lighted tennis courts, softball and baseball diamonds; lighted outdoor courts for basketball and sand volleyball; an archery range; a well-equipped fitness center; an expanded gymnasium, and a natural turf soccer practice field. An innovative addition in 2004 was a raised synthetic turf soccer field with a five-lane, all-weather jogging track around it and a 500-car parking garage below. The field is lit for night play. In addition to more than 15 acres of recreational facilities on campus, there are off-campus facilities in the 105-acre La Mirada Regional Park, just across La Mirada Boulevard from the Biola campus.

To help meet the growth of the past 10 years, a five story, 780-car parking structure was opened in 2011, and Biola has also purchased several nearby buildings outside of the main campus. The Biola Professional Building is located less than half a mile from the northern edge of the main campus. To the southwest of the campus, less than a mile away, are nine apartment complexes owned and operated by Biola. These include a mixture of undergraduate, graduate and married-student housing.

The Community of La Mirada

The city of La Mirada is in Los Angeles County, 22 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles, and is surrounded by such cities as Whittier, Norwalk, Buena Park, La Habra and Fullerton. La Mirada is a suburban residential community with a population of 51,263. Included within the vicinity are several major shopping areas in addition to many other business establishments.

La Mirada is situated near many of the outstanding attractions of Southern California. Downtown Los Angeles is a 30-minute drive from the campus. Disneyland is 12 miles to the southeast and famed Knott's Berry Farm is six miles away. Within a 30-minute drive are such popular beach cities as Long Beach, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Laguna Beach.

Recreational facilities are easily accessible. An 18-hole golf course lies a mile east of the campus and other parks in the area offer opportunity for activities and relaxation. La Mirada's Regional Aquatics Center, Splash, is an 18-acre site with heated 50-meter and 25-yard pools open year round, and a water park with a lazy river and slides open during the summer. An hour's drive will take one into the nearby mountains where winter sports are available.

Cultural and research opportunities abound in the area. Several major universities and libraries are within easy driving distance of La Mirada including the University of California, Los Angeles; the University of Southern California; the University of California, Irvine; and several other state and private institutions.

Biola Educational Centers

Biola offers courses for many programs at various extension sites including:

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Intercultural Studies, M.A.
Intercultural Studies, D.I.S.
Intercultural Education, Ph.D.
Intercultural Studies, Ph.D.

Kyiv, Ukraine

Biblical and Theological Studies in the Eurasian Context, M.A.

New York City, New York

Messianic Jewish Studies, M.Div.

For further information regarding Biola's educational centers, contact the Office of Admissions.

The Library

The Biola Library supports all academic programs with extensive information resources and services. Much of the Library’s collection is available electronically, ensuring that Biola students across the globe have access to scholarly research material. Material unavailable through the Biola Library can be requested through Interlibrary Loan, with digital delivery of articles and book chapters or physical delivery of books or other items to Biola’s library. Biola Library also participates in reciprocal borrowing programs that allow Biola members to visit and use the collections of other member libraries.

The library building includes spaces for individual and collaborative study. Biola Library houses the University Archives and Special Collections containing material relevant to the history of Biola, rare books, faculty publications, and the largest Christian comic book collection in higher education; and manages Biola’s digital archives which provides online access to many historical Biola materials.

Biola Library is open more than 80 hours per week during fall and spring semesters with extended open hours offered at the end of the semester. Research support is available in person, via live chat, phone, email, and SMS text. Librarians also partner with instructional faculty to promote information literacy and teach research strategies.

Rhetoric & Writing Center

The Rhetoric & Writing Center, located in the Library, is a place where undergraduate and graduate students of all disciplines and writing abilities can meet with trained writing consultants. These consultants help student writers with their writing projects at any stage and promote writing skills that can be applied in courses across the academic spectrum. For more information, visit the Rhetoric & Writing Center website.

Tech Commons

The Tech Commons, located on the middle level of the Library, offers general technical assistance and audio-visual resources for loan. The Tech Commons is staffed by helpful Information Technology employees ready to assist students, faculty, and staff with systems access, personal computers, software applications, and printing.

Center for Christian Thought

The mission of the Center for Christian Thought (CCT) is to facilitate, promote and disseminate biblically informed thinking and scholarship about timely issues in service to the Academy, the Church, and Culture.

The Center awards fellowships and supports collaborative endeavors for engaging a variety of critical themes. The Center seeks to promote multi-disciplinary conversation within Biola's faculty community and to attract engaging thinkers from around the world. See the CCT website for additional information.

Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts

The Center for Christianity, Culture and the Arts (CCCA) is a valuable and innovative resource for artists, academics, theologians and anyone interested in exploring the relationship between art, culture and faith. The CCCA is distinguished by its commitment to the full range of the arts, its emphasis on multidisciplinary collaborations and discussions, and its focus on making a variety of resources and original content easily accessible at the CCCA website.

Center for Marriage and Relationships

The Center for Marriage and Relationships (CMR) exists to build and sustain healthy relationships and marriages at Biola, in the church and broader culture. Our mission is to combine the timeless, cross-cultural wisdom of Scripture with scholarly research, insights, and tools. We provide a safe place for students, couples and families to share their stories and be heard. And, we desire to restore and inspire a vision of marriage that reflects the Biblical model of Christ's redeeming love for the church. See the CMR website for additional information.