The
University of California, Irvine (
UCI,
UC Irvine, or
Irvine), founded in 1965, is one of the ten campuses of the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
, located in
IrvineIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
,
CaliforniaCalifornia is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
, USA. UCI is a Top Ten Public Research University recognized internationally, that is considered as a
Public IvyPublic Ivy is a term coined by Richard Moll in his 1985 book Public Ivies: A Guide to America's best public undergraduate colleges and universities to refer to universities which "provide an Ivy League collegiate experience at a public school price." Public Ivies are considered, according to the...
and is ranked as a Tier 1 university according to the USNWR university rankings for its academic rigor. Member of the prestigious
Association of American UniversitiesThe Association of American Universities is an organization of leading research universities devoted to maintaining a strong system of academic research and education...
, UCI is among the most popular campuses in the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
system with nearly 28,000 students, 1,100 faculty members and 9,000 staff. Increasingly a first-choice campus for students, UCI ranks among the top U.S. universities, public and private, in the number of undergraduate applications and continues to admit freshmen with highly competitive academic profiles.
UC Irvine's name originated from the Irvine Ranch, a region of land historically owned by The Irvine Company. The Irvine Company donated 1000 acres (404.7 ha) for a single dollar and sold another 510 acres (206.4 ha) to the University of California. In 1971, the University of California and the Irvine Company planned a city around the campus, which was incorporated as the city of Irvine.
UCI also maintains the UC Irvine Health Sciences system with its flagship UCI Medical Center in the
city of OrangeSouthern California is well-known for year-round pleasant weather: - On average, the warmest month is August. - The highest recorded temperature was in 1985. - On average, the coolest month is December. - The lowest recorded temperature was in 1950...
, the
University of California, Irvine, ArboretumThe University of California, Irvine, Arboretum is a 12 acre botanical garden and arboretum, located north of the University of California, Irvine campus. It is near the corner of Jamboree Road and Campus Drive in Irvine, California, USA, and adjacent to the 200 acre San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh...
, and a portion of the
University of California Natural Reserve SystemThe University of California Natural Reserve System is a network of protected areas throughout California.The UCNRS consists of 37 wildland sites that include 750,000-plus acres, making it the largest university-administered reserve system in the world...
.
Early years
The University of California, Irvine was one of three new campuses established in the 1960s under the
California Master Plan for Higher EducationThe California Master Plan for Higher Education of 1960 was developed by a survey team appointed by the UC Regents and the State Board of Education during the administration of Governor Pat Brown. Clark Kerr, then the President of UC, was a key figure in its development...
with the
San DiegoThe University of California, San Diego, commonly known as UCSD or UC San Diego, is a public research university located in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States...
and
Santa CruzThe University of California, Santa Cruz, also known as UC Santa Cruz or UCSC, is a public, collegiate university; one of ten campuses in the University of California...
campuses. During the 1950s, the
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
saw the need for the new campuses to handle both the large number of college-bound
World War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
veterans (largely due to the G. I. Bill) and the expected increase in enrollment from the
post-war baby boomThe end of World War II brought a baby boom to many countries, especially Western ones. There is some disagreement as to the precise beginning and ending dates of the post-war baby boom, but it is most often agreed to begin in the years immediately after the war, ending more than a decade later;...
. One of the new campuses was to be in the Los Angeles area; the location selected was Irvine Ranch, an area of agricultural land bisecting
Orange CountyOrange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
from north to south. This site was chosen to accommodate the county's growing population, complement the growth of nearby UCLA and UC Riverside, and allow for the construction of a master planned community in the surrounding area.
Unlike most other University of California campuses, UCI was not named for the city it was built in; at the time of the university's founding (1965), the current city of Irvine (established in 1975) did not exist. The name "Irvine" is a reference to
James IrvineThe Irvine family were agricultural pioneers and prominent landowners in California who gave their name to the city of Irvine, CA.-James Irvine I:James Irvine was born in County Down, Ireland on December 27, 1827, the second to the youngest of nine children...
, a landowner who administered the 94000 acres (38,040.5 ha) Irvine Ranch. In 1960, The Irvine Company sold 1000 acres (404.7 ha) of the Irvine Ranch to the University of California for one dollar, since a company policy prohibited the donation of property to a public entity. The University purchased an additional 510 acres (206.4 ha) in 1964 for housing and commercial developments. Much of the land that was not purchased by UCI (which is now occupied by the cities of Irvine,
Tustin-Top employers:According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Tustin had a population of 75,540. The population density was 6,816.7 people per square mile...
,
Newport BeachNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...
, and
Newport CoastNewport Coast was a census-designated place until 2001, in Orange County, California, United States. The population was 9,741 at the 2010 Census. The master-planned community was developed by the Irvine Company. Newport Coast was annexed into Newport Beach, California in 2001.Newport Coast is an...
) is now held under The Irvine Company. During this time, the University also hired
William PereiraWilliam Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
and Associates as the Master Planner of the Irvine Ranch area. Pereira intended for the UC Irvine campus to complement the neighboring community, and the two grew in tandem. Soon after UC Irvine opened in 1965, the City of Irvine became incorporated and established in 1971 and 1975, respectively.
UC Irvine's first Chancellor,
Daniel G. AldrichDaniel G. Aldrich, Jr. was chancellor of UC Irvine from 1962 to 1984 and then continued as Acting Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside from 1984 to 1985, and Action Chancellor at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1986 to 1987....
,developed the campus' first academic plan around a College of Arts, Letters, and Science, a Graduate School of Administration, and a School of Engineering. The College of Arts, Letters, and Science was composed of twenty majors in five "Divisions": Biological Sciences, Fine Arts, Humanities, Physical Sciences, and Social Sciences (which transformed into the present-day "Schools"). Aldrich was also responsible for implementing the wide variety of flora and fauna on the campus that fit the local Mediterranean climate zone, feeling that it served an "aesthetic, environmental, and educational [purpose]."
On June 20, 1964, U.S. President
Lyndon B. JohnsonLyndon Baines Johnson , often referred to as LBJ, was the 36th President of the United States after his service as the 37th Vice President of the United States...
dedicated UC Irvine before a crowd of 15,000 people, and on October 4, 1965 the campus began operations with 1,589 students, 241 staff members, 119 faculty, and 43 teaching assistants. However, many of UCI's buildings were still under construction and landscaping was still in progress, with the campus only at 75% completion. By June 25, 1966, UCI held its first Commencement with fourteen students, which conferred ten Bachelors of Arts, three Masters of Arts, and one Doctor of Philosophy degree. In 1965 the formerly osteopathic California College of Medicine, the oldest continuously operating medical college in the southwestern US joined to UCI. Over the protests of faculty, the University bowed to pressure from Governor Brown and bought the Orange County Medical Center from the government ending ambitions for an on campus teaching hospital. Intermittent attempts over the years to bring a full medical center to the school itself have been frustrated by many factors.
Present day
As the largest employer in
Orange CountyOrange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, UCI contributes an annual economic impact of $4.2 billion with an operating budget of almost $1.9 billion for 2008 including $328 million in extramural research funding. Numerous other educational and training opportunties are offered in numerous areas ranging from physician residency programs at UC Irvine's Medical Center to community certificate programs and other coursework through University Extension.
In 2010, UC Irvine offered (B.S. & B.A) degree programs in 84 undergraduate majors and 64 minors. On the graduate student level, UC Irvine offered 98 advanced degree programs campus-wide; i.e., 51 master's, 44 Ph.D., an M.D., an Ed.D. and the J.D. degree programs. UC Irvine conferred 6,887 undergraduate and graduate degrees during its 2008 Commencement Ceremonies.
Future growth
As a part of its long-term efforts to "attain flagship status," UC Irvine has implemented construction projects (estimated to cost $1.3 billion over the next decade) that will accelerate the campus build-out and employ the remainder of the university's land grant. The exponential increase in construction activity is a part of the
Strategy for Academic Development at UCI through 2015, a master plan that outlines the vision of making UCI a first-choice university for college applicants nationwide. This increase also spawned a popular
backronymA backronym or bacronym is a phrase constructed purposely, such that an acronym can be formed to a specific desired word. Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
of UCI: "Under Construction Indefinitely".
Campus
The layout of the core campus resembles a rough circle with its center being Aldrich Park, initially known as Central Park, and lined up by the Ring Mall and buildings surrounding the road. To further emphasize the layout, academic units are positioned relative to the center, wherein undergraduate schools are closer to the center than the graduate schools.
Within Aldrich Park, there are numerous thickly-wooded trees indigenous to the local Mediterranean climate. The very center of the park features a garden and a
memorial plaqueThe Memorial Plaque was issued after the First World War to the next-of-kin of all British and Empire service personnel who were killed as a result of the war....
of UCI's founding. The park itself has a network of paved and dirt pathways shared by pedestrians and cyclists.
Ring Mall is the main pedestrian road used by students and faculty to travel around the core campus. The road measures up to a perfect mile and completely encircles Aldrich Park. Most schools and libraries are lined up by this road with each of these schools having their own central plaza which also connects to the Aldrich Park.
Other areas of the university outside of the core campus such as the College of Medicine and the School of Arts are connected by four pedestrian bridges. Beyond the core campus and the bridges, the layout of the campus is more suburban.
Surroundings
UCI is close to beaches, mountains, and the attractions of Southern California. Although the campus is located in the city of
IrvineIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
, it is located very close to the city of Newport Beach; in fact, the campus itself is directly bounded by the city of Newport Beach and Newport Coast on many sides. The western side of the campus borders the San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh Reserve, through which Campus Drive connects UCI to the
405 freewayInterstate 405 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass of Interstate 5, running along the western areas of the Greater Los Angeles Area from Irvine in the south to near San Fernando in the north...
. The northern and eastern sides of UCI are adjacent to Irvine proper; the eastern side of the campus is delineated by Bonita Canyon Road, which turns into Culver Drive at its northern terminus and offers links to the
San Joaquin Hills Toll RoadState Route 73 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route runs from Interstate 405 to Interstate 5 through the San Joaquin Hills in Orange County. From its northern terminus, the first three miles of the highway are called the Corona del Mar Freeway; this section of highway...
and
405 freewayInterstate 405 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in Southern California. It is a bypass of Interstate 5, running along the western areas of the Greater Los Angeles Area from Irvine in the south to near San Fernando in the north...
, respectively. Additionally, UCI's southern boundary is adjacent to the
San Joaquin Transportation CorridorState Route 73 is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route runs from Interstate 405 to Interstate 5 through the San Joaquin Hills in Orange County. From its northern terminus, the first three miles of the highway are called the Corona del Mar Freeway; this section of highway...
.
There exists a "North Campus" that houses the Facilities Management Department, the Faculty Research Facility, Central Receiving, Fleet Services, the Air Pollution Health Effects Laboratory, and numerous other functions. It is located next to the
UCI ArboretumThe University of California, Irvine, Arboretum is a 12 acre botanical garden and arboretum, located north of the University of California, Irvine campus. It is near the corner of Jamboree Road and Campus Drive in Irvine, California, USA, and adjacent to the 200 acre San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh...
; both the North Campus and the arboretum are located about 1 miles (2 km) from the main campus.
William Pereira's original street layout for the region surrounding the University had a
wingnutA nut is a type of hardware fastener with a threaded hole. Nuts are almost always used opposite a mating bolt to fasten a stack of parts together. The two partners are kept together by a combination of their threads' friction, a slight stretch of the bolt, and compression of the parts...
-shaped loop road as the main thoroughfare, which twice crossed the campus. However, the
Irvine CompanyThe Irvine Company is a privately held real estate development company based in Newport Beach, Orange County, Southern California. The corporate center of the company lies in Newport Center. A large portion of its operations are centered in and around the City of Irvine, a planned city of 250,000...
's development plans expanded before it could be completed, and portions of California, Carlson, Harvard and Turtle Rock roads today constitute segments of what would have been the Loop Road.
Despite the suburban environment, a variety of wildlife inhabits the University's central park, open fields, and wetlands. The university has
bobcatThe bobcat is a North American mammal of the cat family Felidae, appearing during the Irvingtonian stage of around 1.8 million years ago . With twelve recognized subspecies, it ranges from southern Canada to northern Mexico, including most of the continental United States...
s, mountain lions,
hawkThe term hawk can be used in several ways:* In strict usage in Australia and Africa, to mean any of the species in the subfamily Accipitrinae, which comprises the genera Accipiter, Micronisus, Melierax, Urotriorchis and Megatriorchis. The large and widespread Accipiter genus includes goshawks,...
s,
golden eagleThe Golden Eagle is one of the best known birds of prey in the Northern Hemisphere. Like all eagles, it belongs to the family Accipitridae. Once widespread across the Holarctic, it has disappeared from many of the more heavily populated areas...
s,
great blue heronThe Great Blue Heron is a large wading bird in the heron family Ardeidae, common near the shores of open water and in wetlands over most of North and Central America as well as the West Indies and the Galápagos Islands. It is a rare vagrant to Europe, with records from Spain, the Azores and England...
s,
squirrelSquirrels belong to a large family of small or medium-sized rodents called the Sciuridae. The family includes tree squirrels, ground squirrels, chipmunks, marmots , flying squirrels, and prairie dogs. Squirrels are indigenous to the Americas, Eurasia, and Africa and have been introduced to Australia...
s, opossums,
peregrine falconThe Peregrine Falcon , also known as the Peregrine, and historically as the Duck Hawk in North America, is a widespread bird of prey in the family Falconidae. A large, crow-sized falcon, it has a blue-gray back, barred white underparts, and a black head and "moustache"...
s,
rabbitRabbits are small mammals in the family Leporidae of the order Lagomorpha, found in several parts of the world...
s,
raccoonProcyon is a genus of nocturnal mammals, comprising three species commonly known as raccoons, in the family Procyonidae. The most familiar species, the common raccoon , is often known simply as "the" raccoon, as the two other raccoon species in the genus are native only to the tropics and are...
s,
owlOwls are a group of birds that belong to the order Strigiformes, constituting 200 bird of prey species. Most are solitary and nocturnal, with some exceptions . Owls hunt mostly small mammals, insects, and other birds, although a few species specialize in hunting fish...
s,
skunkSkunks are mammals best known for their ability to secrete a liquid with a strong, foul odor. General appearance varies from species to species, from black-and-white to brown or cream colored. Skunks belong to the family Mephitidae and to the order Carnivora...
s,
weaselWeasels are mammals forming the genus Mustela of the Mustelidae family. They are small, active predators, long and slender with short legs....
s,
batBats are mammals of the order Chiroptera "hand" and pteron "wing") whose forelimbs form webbed wings, making them the only mammals naturally capable of true and sustained flight. By contrast, other mammals said to fly, such as flying squirrels, gliding possums, and colugos, glide rather than fly,...
s, and
coyoteThe coyote , also known as the American jackal or the prairie wolf, is a species of canine found throughout North and Central America, ranging from Panama in the south, north through Mexico, the United States and Canada...
s. The
UCI ArboretumThe University of California, Irvine, Arboretum is a 12 acre botanical garden and arboretum, located north of the University of California, Irvine campus. It is near the corner of Jamboree Road and Campus Drive in Irvine, California, USA, and adjacent to the 200 acre San Joaquin Freshwater Marsh...
hosts a collection of plants from California and Mediterranean climates around the world. The small rabbits in particular are very numerous and can be seen across campus in high numbers, especially during hours of low student traffic.
Architecture
The first buildings were designed by a team of architects led by
William PereiraWilliam Leonard Pereira was an American architect from Chicago, Illinois, of Portuguese ancestry who was noted for his futuristic designs of landmark buildings such as the Transamerica Pyramid in San Francisco...
and including
A. Quincy JonesArchibald Quincy Jones, FAIA was a prolific Los Angeles-based architect and educator known for innovative buildings in the modernist style and for urban planning that pioneered the use of greenbelts and green design.-Childhood and early career:...
and William Blurock. The initial landscaping, including Aldrich Park, was designed by an association of three firms, including that of the famous urban-landscaping innovator Robert Herrick Carter. Aldrich Park was designed under the direction of landscape architect Gene Uematsu, and was modeled after
Frederick Law OlmstedFrederick Law Olmsted was an American journalist, social critic, public administrator, and landscape designer. He is popularly considered to be the father of American landscape architecture, although many scholars have bestowed that title upon Andrew Jackson Downing...
's designs for
New York CityNew York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
's
Central ParkCentral Park is a public park in the center of Manhattan in New York City, United States. The park initially opened in 1857, on of city-owned land. In 1858, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won a design competition to improve and expand the park with a plan they entitled the Greensward Plan...
. The campus opened in 1965 with the inner circle and park only half-completed. There were only nine buildings and a dirt road connecting the main campus to the housing units. Only three of the six "spokes" that radiate from the central park were built, with only two buildings each. Pereira was retained by the university to maintain a continuity of style among the buildings constructed in the inner ring around the park, the last of which was completed in 1972. These buildings were designed in a style which Pereira called "California Brutalist", combining sweeping curves and expressionistic shapes with elements of classic California architecture such as red tiled roofs and clay-tiled walkways. These buildings featured an innovative structural design that freed the interiors from support columns in order to allow future alterations of their floor plans.
Construction on the campus all but ceased after the Administration building, Aldrich Hall, was completed in 1974, and then resumed in the late 1980s, beginning a massive building boom that still continues today. This second building boom continued the futuristic trend, but emphasized a much more colorful, postmodern approach that somewhat contradicted the earthy, organic designs of the early buildings. Architects such as
Frank GehryFrank Owen Gehry, is a Canadian American Pritzker Prize-winning architect based in Los Angeles, California.His buildings, including his private residence, have become tourist attractions...
,
Robert VenturiRobert Charles Venturi, Jr. is an American architect, founding principal of the firm Venturi, Scott Brown and Associates, and one of the major figures in the architecture of the twentieth century...
,
Eric Owen MossEric Owen Moss practices architecture with his eponymously named LA-based 25-person firm founded in 1973.Throughout his career Moss has worked to revitalize a once defunct industrial tract in Culver City, California....
,
James StirlingSir James Frazer Stirling FRIBA was a British architect. He is considered to be among the most important and influential British architects of the second half of the 20th century...
and
Arthur EricksonArthur Charles Erickson, was a Canadian architect and urban planner. He studied Asian languages at the University of British Columbia, and later earned a degree in architecture from McGill University.-Biography:...
were brought in to bring the campus more "up to date". The recession in the early 1990s along with internal politics led to a change in direction, due to the reduced capital budget, and changing attitudes towards architectural innovation at the University. This in turn led to a "contextualist" approach beginning in the late 1990s combining stylistic elements of the first two phases in an attempt to provide an architectural "middle ground" between the two vastly different styles. Gehry's building was recently removed from campus to make way for a new building, with a design that has been called a "big beige box with bands of bricks." In 2009 the Humanities Gateway building opened and was designed by
Curtis W. FentressCurtis Fentress, FAIA, RIBA an American Architect, is the Principal-in-Charge of Design at Fentress Architects, an international design studio he founded in Denver, Colorado in 1980...
, FAIA, RIBA of
Fentress ArchitectsFentress Architects is an international design studio known for sustainable and iconic public architecture. Founded in 1980 by Curtis W. Fentress, FAIA, RIBA, the firm is internationally recognized for innovative designs of international airports, national museums, convention centers, high-rise...
.
As of 2005, the campus has more than 200 buildings and encompasses most of the university's 1500 acres (6.1 km²). The campus is in the midst of a $1.1 billion construction campaign.
Libraries and study centers
| Jack Langson Library |
Resources for the Arts, Humanities, Education, Social Sciences, Social Ecology, and Business & Management disciplines |
| Francisco J. Ayala Francisco José Ayala Pereda is a Spanish-American biologist and philosopher at the University of California, Irvine. He is a former Dominican priest, ordained in 1960, but left the priesthood that same year. After graduating from the University of Salamanca, he moved to the US in 1961 to study for...
Science Library |
One of the largest consolidated science and medical libraries in the nation. Resources for the schools of Biological Sciences, Engineering, Information and Computer Science, Physical Sciences, portions of Social Ecology, and the College of Medicine |
| Grunigen Medical Library |
Located at UCI Medical Center, contains 43,000 volumes of material |
| Libraries Gateway Study Center |
Located across from the Langson Library. |
| Law Library |
Located on the bottom two floors of the Law Building |
UCI is noted for having many excellent special collections and archives. In addition to holding a noted
Critical TheoryCritical theory is an examination and critique of society and culture, drawing from knowledge across the social sciences and humanities. The term has two different meanings with different origins and histories: one originating in sociology and the other in literary criticism...
archive and Southeast Asian archive, the Libraries also contain extensive collections in Dance and Performing Arts, Regional History, and more. Additionally, Langson Library hosts an extensive East Asian collection with materials in Chinese, Japanese, and Korean.
Nearly all departments and schools on campus complement the resources of the UC Irvine Libraries by maintaining their own reading rooms and scholarly meeting rooms. They contain small reference collections and are the choice for more intimate lectures, graduate seminars, and study sessions. There is also the large Gateway Study Center (across from Langson Library), one of the university's original buildings and under the custody of UC Irvine Libraries. Having served formerly as a cafeteria and student center, it is now a dual-use computer lab and study area which is open nearly 24 hours.
The UCI Student Center offers a large number of study areas, auditoriums, and two food courts and therefore is one of the most popular places to study on campus. UC Irvine also has a number of computer labs that serve as study centers. The School of Humanities maintains its Humanities Instructional Resource Center, a drop-in computer lab specializing in language and digital media. Additionally, UCI maintains five other drop-in labs, four instructional computer labs, and a number of reservation-only SmartClassrooms, some of which are open 24 hours. Other popular study areas include Aldrich Park, the Cross-Cultural Center, the Locus (a study room and computer lab used by the Campuswide Honors Program), and plazas located in every School.
Tunnels
An underground network of tunnels runs between many of the major buildings on campus and the Central Plant, with the major trunk passage located beneath Ring Mall. Smaller tunnels branch off from this main passage to reach individual buildings, carrying electrical and air-conditioning utilities from the Central Plant. These tunnels have been the subject of much campus lore, the most popular story being that the tunnels were constructed to facilitate the safe evacuation of faculty in the event of a student riot. The main tunnel actually appears above ground in the form of an unusually thick bridge near the Engineering Tower, in an area where Ring Mall crosses between two hills.
Governance
Like other
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
campuses, UC Irvine is governed by a Chancellor who has significant authority over campus academic and planning affairs. The Chancellor, in turn, is nominated by and is responsible to the
Regents of the University of CaliforniaThe Regents of the University of California make up the governing board of the University of California. The Board has 26 full members:* The majority are appointed by the Governor of California for 12-year terms....
and the UC President:
- 1962 Daniel G. Aldrich
Daniel G. Aldrich, Jr. was chancellor of UC Irvine from 1962 to 1984 and then continued as Acting Chancellor at the University of California, Riverside from 1984 to 1985, and Action Chancellor at the University of California, Santa Barbara from 1986 to 1987....
- 1984 Jack W. Peltason
Jack W. Peltason was the president of the University of California, and former chancellor of the University of California, Irvine.-External links:*http://www.universityofcalifornia.edu/president*-References:...
- 1993 Laurel L. Wilkening
- 1998 Ralph J. Cicerone
- 2005 Michael V. Drake
Michael V. Drake is an American physician and current chancellor of the University of California, Irvine .-Early years:...
After the Chancellor, the second most senior official is the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost. He serves as the university's chief academic and operating officer. Every school on campus reports to the Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost through a Dean, and all other academic and administrative units report to his office through a Vice Chancellor or chief administrator. A partial list of these units includes Campus Recreation, Intercollegiate Athletics, Planning and Budget, Student Affairs, UC Irvine Libraries, UC Irvine Medical Center, and University Advancement. The Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost also governs the faculty senate.
Academics
UC Irvine's academic units are referred to as Schools. There are eight undergraduate Schools, two graduate Schools, one Department, and one field of Interdisciplinary Studies. The most recent academic unit, the College of Health Sciences, was established in 2004. On November 16, 2006, the UC Regents approved the establishment of the School of Law, which opened in fall 2009. The remaining academic units offer accelerated or community education in the form of Summer Session and UC Irvine Extension. Additionally, UCI's Campuswide Honors Program is implementing an independent study program, which will allow students to develop their own curriculum across Schools and graduate with their own self-created major.
Academic units:
- Claire Trevor School of the Arts
The Claire Trevor School of the Arts is a fine arts school at the University of California, Irvine in Irvine, CA. The four departments housed in the school consist of dance, drama, music, and studio art. The school has both an undergraduate program as well as a masters program. It was named in...
- School of Biological Sciences
The School of Biological Sciences is one of the schools of the University of California, Irvine . The school is divided into four departments: developmental and cell biology, ecology and evolutionary biology, molecular biology and biochemistry, and neurobiology and behavior, With over 3,700...
- Henry Samueli School of Engineering
The Henry Samueli School of Engineering is the academic unit of the University of California, Irvine that oversees academic research and teaching in various disciplines of the field of engineering...
- College of Health Sciences
- School of Humanities
- Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences
The Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, also known as the School of ICS or equally informally as the Bren School, is an academic unit of University of California, Irvine , and the only dedicated school of computer science in the University of California system...
- School of Physical Sciences
The School of Physical Sciences is an academic unit of the University of California, Irvine that conducts academic research and teaching in the field of physical sciences...
- School of Social Ecology
The School of Social Ecology is one of the schools of the University of California, Irvine . When it was founded in 1970, it was highly controversial to devote a school to the study of social ecology and human ecology, a field "centered on the concept of the human being as a biological organism in...
- School of Social Sciences
The School of Social Sciences is one of the schools of the University of California, Irvine . It is the largest academic unit in the university with an enrollment of over 5,300 students. More than a third of the bachelor degrees conferred at UCI are from the School of Social Sciences...
- School of Law
The University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine . It is the fifth law school in the UC system and the first public law school to open in California in 40 years...
- School of Medicine
- Paul Merage School of Business
The Paul Merage School of Business is an academic unit of the University of California, Irvine that is charged with academic research in the field of business...
- Department of Education
- Interdisciplinary Studies
- Summer Session
- UC Irvine Extension
Research organizations
To complement its mission as a research university, UCI hosts a diverse array of nationally and internationally-recognized research organizations. These organizations are either chaired by or composed of UCI faculty, frequently draw upon undergraduates and graduates for research assistance, and produce a multitude of innovations, patents, and scholarly works. Some are housed in a school or department office; others are housed in their own multimillion-dollar facilities. These are a few of the more prolific research organizations at UCI:
- Beckman Laser Institute
- California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (Calit2)
- Center for Complex Biological Systems
- Center for Global Peace and Conflict Studies
- Center for Cognitive Neuroscience
- Center for Unconventional Security Affairs
- Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center
- Institute of Transportation Studies
The UC Irvine Institute of Transportation Studies , is a University of California organized research unit with sister branches at UC Davis, and UC Berkeley. ITS was established to foster research, education, and training in the field of transportation...
- National Fuel Cell Research Center
- Reeve-Irvine Research Center
- Center for the Study of Democracy
- Center for Health Policy Research
- W. M. Keck Center for Accelerator Mass Spectrometry
- Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center
Rankings and distinctions
In 2011, US News & World Report ranked UC Irvine 45th among National Universities in the United States. It is ranked 6th among U.C.'s in the National Universities in United States Rankings by US News & World Report. In addition, many of UCI's graduate programs received top-50 rankings from U.S. News & World Report, earning distinction in literary criticism and theory (1), behavioral neuroscience (5), Criminology, Law and Society (5), creative writing (6), health care management (9), organic chemistry (9), information systems (11), drama and theater (12), third-world literature (12), cognitive psychology (13), English (16), psychology – neurobiology and behavior (16), chemistry (18), experimental psychology (19), gender and literature (19), executive M.B.A. (20), cell biology/developmental biology (21), 19th- and 20th century literature (22), psychology – cognitive science (22), sociology (27), aerospace engineering (29), computer science (29), physics (29), mechanical engineering (30), civil engineering (31), biological sciences (32), history (32), environmental engineering (34), fine arts (34), political science (35), business (38), biomedical engineering (40), engineering (41), medicine (41), materials science engineering (45), mathematics (47), psychology and social behavior (47), economics (48), and electrical engineering (49).
The
United States National Research CouncilThe National Research Council of the USA is the working arm of the United States National Academies, carrying out most of the studies done in their names.The National Academies include:* National Academy of Sciences...
ranks UCI's graduate program in Neurobiology and Behavior 3rd nationally - tied with Yale and Brandeis University. UCI's
Master of Fine ArtsA Master of Fine Arts is a graduate degree typically requiring 2–3 years of postgraduate study beyond the bachelor's degree , although the term of study will vary by country or by university. The MFA is usually awarded in visual arts, creative writing, filmmaking, dance, or theatre/performing arts...
degree program in creative writing has graduated such authors as
Richard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
,
Michael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
, and
Alice SeboldAlice Sebold is an American novelist. She has published three books: Lucky , The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon .-Early life:...
. The graduate program in philosophy was ranked 17th in the English-speaking world by the
Philosophical Gourmet Report, while
Chemical and Engineering News ranks UCI fifth (tied with, among others,
Harvard UniversityHarvard University is a private Ivy League university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States, established in 1636 by the Massachusetts legislature. Harvard is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States and the first corporation chartered in the country...
) in conferring doctoral degrees in chemistry. Human Resources & Labor Review, a national human competitiveness index & analysis, ranked the university as one of 50 Best World Universities in 2011. The Wall Street Journal ranks UCI's Paul Merage School of Business fourth in the nation for information technology.
According to The Daily Beast, quality of life is what students most value –besides academics– and UCI ranked 16th among “The 100 Happiest Colleges.”
National Acclaimed Faculty and Nobel Laureates
Three faculty members have been named
National Medal of ScienceThe National Medal of Science is an honor bestowed by the President of the United States to individuals in science and engineering who have made important contributions to the advancement of knowledge in the fields of behavioral and social sciences, biology, chemistry, engineering, mathematics and...
recipients. Additionally, three researchers from UCI's faculty received the
Nobel PrizeThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
during their tenure at UCI:
Frank Sherwood RowlandFrank Sherwood Rowland is an American Nobel laureate and a professor of chemistry at the University of California, Irvine. His research is in atmospheric chemistry and chemical kinetics....
(
ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
, 1995),
Frederick ReinesFrederick Reines was an American physicist. He was awarded the 1995 Nobel Prize in Physics for his co-detection of the neutrino with Clyde Cowan in the neutrino experiment, and may be the only scientist in history "so intimately associated with the discovery of an elementary particle and the...
(
PhysicsThe Nobel Prize in Physics is awarded once a year by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895 and awarded since 1901; the others are the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, Nobel Prize in Literature, Nobel Peace Prize, and...
, 1995) (deceased), and
Irwin RoseIrwin A. Rose is an American biologist. Along with Aaron Ciechanover and Avram Hershko, he was awarded the 2004 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for the discovery of ubiquitin-mediated protein degradation.-Biography:...
(
ChemistryThe Nobel Prize in Chemistry is awarded annually by the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences to scientists in the various fields of chemistry. It is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the will of Alfred Nobel in 1895, awarded for outstanding contributions in chemistry, physics, literature,...
, 2004). Dr. Rowland's Nobel-winning research was conducted exclusively at UC Irvine, along with fellow prize-winner
Mario J. MolinaMario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez is a Mexican chemist and one of the most prominent precursors to the discovering of the Antarctic ozone hole. He was a co-recipient Mario José Molina-Pasquel Henríquez (born March 19, 1943 in Mexico City) is a Mexican chemist and one of the most prominent...
. Irwin Rose received the Nobel Prize for his work on biological proteins. F. Sherwood Rowland helped to discover the harmful effects of
CFCsA chlorofluorocarbon is an organic compound that contains carbon, chlorine, and fluorine, produced as a volatile derivative of methane and ethane. A common subclass are the hydrochlorofluorocarbons , which contain hydrogen, as well. They are also commonly known by the DuPont trade name Freon...
on the
ozone layerThe ozone layer is a layer in Earth's atmosphere which contains relatively high concentrations of ozone . This layer absorbs 97–99% of the Sun's high frequency ultraviolet light, which is potentially damaging to the life forms on Earth...
, while Frederick Reines received the Nobel Prize for his work in discovering the
neutrinoA neutrino is an electrically neutral, weakly interacting elementary subatomic particle with a half-integer spin, chirality and a disputed but small non-zero mass. It is able to pass through ordinary matter almost unaffected...
. UCI is the first public university to have two Nobel laureates (Rowland and Reines) who received their prizes in the same year (1995).
In January 2009, UCI Professor Reg Penner won the
Faraday MedalThe Faraday Medal is a medal awarded by the Institution of Electrical Engineers The bronze medal is awarded without restriction as regards nationality, country of...
for his research with nanowires.
Henry W. Sobel was awarded the Bruno Pontecorvo Prize in 2009 by the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research (JINR)in Dubna, Russia for his work on Neutrino Oscillations.
Evolutionary Biologist Francisco Ayala received the 2010 Templeton Prize for exceptional contribution to affirming life's spiritual dimension.
Learned societies affiliations:
- American Academy of Arts and Sciences
The American Academy of Arts and Sciences is an independent policy research center that conducts multidisciplinary studies of complex and emerging problems. The Academy’s elected members are leaders in the academic disciplines, the arts, business, and public affairs.James Bowdoin, John Adams, and...
(39 members)
- American Association for the Advancement of Science
The American Association for the Advancement of Science is an international non-profit organization with the stated goals of promoting cooperation among scientists, defending scientific freedom, encouraging scientific responsibility, and supporting scientific education and science outreach for the...
(115 members)
- American Philosophical Society
The American Philosophical Society, founded in 1743, and located in Philadelphia, Pa., is an eminent scholarly organization of international reputation, that promotes useful knowledge in the sciences and humanities through excellence in scholarly research, professional meetings, publications,...
(7 members)
- American Physical Society
The American Physical Society is the world's second largest organization of physicists, behind the Deutsche Physikalische Gesellschaft. The Society publishes more than a dozen scientific journals, including the world renowned Physical Review and Physical Review Letters, and organizes more than 20...
(30 members)
- American Psychological Association
The American Psychological Association is the largest scientific and professional organization of psychologists in the United States. It is the world's largest association of psychologists with around 154,000 members including scientists, educators, clinicians, consultants and students. The APA...
(20 members)
- Institute of Medicine
The Institute of Medicine is a not-for-profit, non-governmental American organization founded in 1970, under the congressional charter of the National Academy of Sciences...
(5 members)
- National Academy of Engineering
The National Academy of Engineering is a government-created non-profit institution in the United States, that was founded in 1964 under the same congressional act that led to the founding of the National Academy of Sciences...
(8 members)
- National Academy of Sciences
The National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
(22 members)
Admissions
UC Irvine is categorized by U.S. News and The Princeton Review as "most selective" for college admissions ratings within the United States. It is the fourth-most selective
University of CaliforniaThe University of California is a public university system in the U.S. state of California. Under the California Master Plan for Higher Education, the University of California is a part of the state's three-tier public higher education system, which also includes the California State University...
campus on the ratio of admitted students to applicants (behind UC Berkeley, UCLA, and UC San Diego).
The choice to offer admission is based on the University of California's comprehensive review program. It considers a candidate's personal situation, community involvement, extracurricular activities, and academic potential in addition to the traditional high school academic record, personal statement, and entrance examination scores. While residency is not a factor in admission, it is a factor in tuition expenses, with out-of-state residents spending more annually than California residents. State law prohibits UC Irvine from practicing
affirmative actionAffirmative action refers to policies that take factors including "race, color, religion, gender, sexual orientation or national origin" into consideration in order to benefit an underrepresented group, usually as a means to counter the effects of a history of discrimination.-Origins:The term...
in its admissions process.
Of the 44,116 high school students who applied to UC Irvine for fall 2009 admission, 18,676 (or 42.3%) were offered admission. UC Irvine for fall 2009 attracted the third largest applicant pool of all UCs. In fall 2008, 95.8% of those students identified with "Eligibility in the Local Context," a statistical indicator that identifies the top 4% of all California high school graduates as eligible for admission to the University of California, who applied to UC Irvine were admitted. This law is an attempt to include minorities without violating Prop 209 making affirmative action illegal. Self reported race, broken down by major, can be found here.
For fall of 2010, the incoming freshman were predominately from Los Angeles County, followed by
Orange CountyOrange County is a county in the U.S. state of California. Its county seat is Santa Ana. As of the 2010 census, its population was 3,010,232, up from 2,846,293 at the 2000 census, making it the third most populous county in California, behind Los Angeles County and San Diego County...
, the Bay Area counties, Riverside County, San Bernardino County, San Diego County, and Imperial County. The most popular major for freshmen is a major in Biological Sciences (23.5%), followed by Engineering (16.3%), Undecided/Undeclared (16.1%), Social Sciences (13.3%), Physical Sciences (8.1%), Humanities (6.2%), Health Sciences (4.0%), Social Ecology (3.9%), Information and Computer Sciences (3.5%), Arts (3.4%), and Business (1.7%) . The average high school GPA for accepted freshmen was 4.01. The average SAT I scores were 1873, while the average ACT composite score was 27.
Ethnicity of 2010 enrolling freshman class
| Ethnicity |
Percent |
Asian AmericanAsian Americans are Americans of Asian descent. The U.S. Census Bureau definition of Asians as "Asian” refers to a person having origins in any of the original peoples of the Far East, Southeast Asia, or the Indian subcontinent, including, for example, Cambodia, China, India, Indonesia, Japan,...
|
47.3% |
CaucasianThe term Caucasian race has been used to denote the general physical type of some or all of the populations of Europe, North Africa, the Horn of Africa, Western Asia , Central Asia and South Asia...
|
19.1% |
Mexican AmericanMexican Americans are Americans of Mexican descent. As of July 2009, Mexican Americans make up 10.3% of the United States' population with over 31,689,000 Americans listed as of Mexican ancestry. Mexican Americans comprise 66% of all Hispanics and Latinos in the United States...
|
14.1% |
| Decline to state |
4.3% |
| Spanish American A Spanish American is a citizen or resident of the United States whose ancestors originate from the southwestern European nation of Spain. Spanish Americans are the earliest European American group, with a continuous presence since 1565.-Immigration waves:...
|
4.2% |
African AmericanAfrican Americans are citizens or residents of the United States who have at least partial ancestry from any of the native populations of Sub-Saharan Africa and are the direct descendants of enslaved Africans within the boundaries of the present United States...
|
2.4% |
American-IndianNative Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
|
<1% |
Student life
UCI's history as part of a preplanned suburban community, combined with the tendency for some students to go home on the weekends, gives Irvine a reputation as a quieter college town or a commuter school. However, there are a number of opportunities for vibrant and exciting social outings, as long as students take the initiative and have access to an automobile. In fact, most of the students live on or around campus. There are also many storied traditions at UCI, which have helped the young university develop a strong sense of campus spirit and personality.
Greek life
UCI's Greek Life began in 1973 with three sororities (Delta Gamma, Pi Beta Phi, and Gamma Phi Beta) and three fraternities (Beta Theta Pi, Sigma Chi, and Phi Delta Theta) and continues today as a very active and growing community. There are three major overhead bodies on the campus that govern Greek Life, Inter Fraternity Council, The Panhellenic Association, and The Multicultural Greek Council. The IFC governs over the thirteen chapters which are considered Greek by the National Inter Fraternity Council (NIC). The Panhellenic Association has ten NPC (National Panhellenic Conference) chapters and two local chapters. The Panhellenic community was recently opened up for expansion in Fall 2008, where they welcome Sigma Kappa to the campus. The Multicultural Greek Council was first established in 2009, where MGC currently governs 20 Multicultural Greek Chapters.
Over 2,200 students and 47 chapters make up the fraternity and sorority community at UC Irvine. The Greek community consists of 26 sororities and 21 fraternities that represent a wide range of ethnicities, cultures, and backgrounds. Since 1973 the Greek community has grown expedentially and has become a vibrant part of the UCI campus community.
Other major events and programs in the Greek Community include Songfest, All Greek Conference, Greek Week, BANG (Being a New Greek), and risk management programs (topics vary).
Fraternities and sororities
Multicultural
- Alpha Epsilon Omega
- Alpha Gamma Alpha
- alpha Kappa Delta Phi
alpha Kappa Delta Phi is an Asian American interest sorority founded at the University of California, Berkeley.-History:...
- Delta Lambda Chi
- Delta Lambda Phi
Delta Lambda Phi is a national social fraternity for gay, bisexual, and progressive men. It offers a social environment and structure similar to other Greek-model college fraternities. Delta Lambda Phi was founded on October 15, 1986 by Vernon L. Strickland III in Washington, D.C. and incorporated...
- Lambda Sigma Gamma
-History:Lambda Sigma Gamma Sorority, Incorporated was founded on the campus of the Alpha chapter, California State University, Sacramento, in 1986. The founders realized that their campus did not offer an organization that met the needs of women from minority backgrounds...
- Lambda Theta Delta
Lambda Theta Delta , also known as LTDs, is an Asian-Interest Fraternity established in 1983 at the University of California, Irvine. Lambda Theta Delta is the first Asian-American Interest Fraternity to be founded at the University of California, Irvine....
- Kappa Zeta Phi
- Phi Zeta Tau
- Pi Alpha Phi
Pi Alpha Phi is an American university-level fraternity. It was founded in 1929 at the University of California, Berkeley. Pi Alpha Phi is one of the oldest Asian-American Interest Fraternity...
- Sigma Delta Alpha
Sigma Delta Alpha, Fraternity Inc. is a Latino-based Fraternity established in the West Coast of the United States. Founded in 1992, the Brothers of Sigma Delta Alpha continue to strive for excellence in supporting each other academically, socially, and personally...
- Sigma Lambda Beta
Sigma Lambda Beta is the largest Latino-based social fraternity established on cultural understanding and wisdom. Founded on April 4, 1986 at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, the organization is committed to create and expand multicultural leadership, promote academic excellence, advance...
- Sigma Lambda Gamma
Sigma Lambda Gamma ' is a historically Latina-based national sorority with multicultural membership founded on April 9, 1990, at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.-History:...
- Sigma Omicron Pi
The sisterhood of ΣΟΠ was founded in 1930 to further the awareness of women in Asian culture. As strong women participating in various social, academic, and community activities, ΣΟΠ maintain the objectives of unity, friendship, leadership, and community service established over 70 years...
- Tau Theta Pi
Tau Theta Pi is an academic, social and philanthropic multicultural sorority that does not tie itself to one cause or purpose because they believe that being a well-rounded individual is essential to being a woman of character and strength...
- Zeta Phi Rho
Zeta Phi Rho is a fraternity with nine chapters in southern California. This fraternity focuses on developing a diverse group of brothers committed to its philosophy - commitment to character, leadership, academics, and the community....
North-American Interfraternity ConferenceThe North-American Interfraternity Conference , is an association of collegiate men's fraternities that was formally organized in 1910, although it began on November 27, 1909. The power of the organization rests in a House of Delegates where each member fraternity is represented by a single delegate...
- Alpha Epsilon Pi
Alpha Epsilon Pi , the Global Jewish college fraternity, has 155 active chapters in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom and Israel with a membership of over 9,000 undergraduates...
- Beta Theta Pi
Beta Theta Pi , often just called Beta, is a social collegiate fraternity that was founded in 1839 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, USA, where it is part of the Miami Triad which includes Phi Delta Theta and Sigma Chi. It has over 138 active chapters and colonies in the United States and Canada...
- Kappa Sigma
Kappa Sigma , commonly nicknamed Kappa Sig, is an international fraternity with currently 282 active chapters and colonies in North America. Kappa Sigma has initiated more than 240,000 men on college campuses throughout the United States and Canada. Today, the Fraternity has over 175,000 living...
- Phi Gamma Delta
The international fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta is a collegiate social fraternity with 120 chapters and 18 colonies across the United States and Canada. It was founded at Jefferson College, Pennsylvania, in 1848, and its headquarters are located in Lexington, Kentucky, USA...
(FIJI)
- Phi Kappa Psi
Phi Kappa Psi is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at Jefferson College in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania on February 19, 1852. There are over a hundred chapters and colonies at accredited four year colleges and universities throughout the United States. More than 112,000 men have been...
- Pi Kappa Alpha
Pi Kappa Alpha is a Greek social fraternity with over 230 chapters and colonies and over 250,000 lifetime initiates in the United States and Canada.-History:...
- Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Sigma Alpha Epsilon is a North American Greek-letter social college fraternity founded at the University of Alabama on March 9, 1856. Of all existing national social fraternities today, Sigma Alpha Epsilon is the only one founded in the Antebellum South...
- Sigma Chi
Sigma Chi is the largest and one of the oldest college Greek-letter secret and social fraternities in North America with 244 active chapters and more than . Sigma Chi was founded on June 28, 1855 at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio when members split from Delta Kappa Epsilon...
- Sigma Delta Pi
Sigma Delta Pi, the National Collegiate Hispanic Honor Society , was established on November 14, 1919, at the University of California at Berkeley. Its insignia is the royal seal of Fernando and Isabel, representing Castille, León and Aragón...
- Sigma Lambda Beta
Sigma Lambda Beta is the largest Latino-based social fraternity established on cultural understanding and wisdom. Founded on April 4, 1986 at the University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa, the organization is committed to create and expand multicultural leadership, promote academic excellence, advance...
- Sigma Nu
Sigma Nu is an undergraduate, college fraternity with chapters in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom. Sigma Nu was founded in 1869 by three cadets at the Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, Virginia...
- Sigma Phi Epsilon
Sigma Phi Epsilon , commonly nicknamed SigEp or SPE, is a social college fraternity for male college students in the United States. It was founded on November 1, 1901, at Richmond College , and its national headquarters remains in Richmond, Virginia. It was founded on three principles: Virtue,...
- Sigma Pi
Sigma Pi is an international college secret and social fraternity founded in 1897 at Vincennes University. Sigma Pi International fraternity currently has 127 chapters and 4 colonies in the United States and Canada and is headquartered in Brentwood, Tennessee...
- Triangle Fraternity
Triangle Fraternity is a social fraternity, limiting its recruitment of members to male students majoring in engineering, architecture, and the physical, mathematical, biological, and computer sciences...
Panhellenic Association
National Panhellenic ConferenceThe National Panhellenic Conference , founded in 1902, is an umbrella organization for 26 national women's sororities.Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek-letter society of college women and alumnae...
- Alpha Epsilon Phi
Alpha Epsilon Phi is a sorority and member of the National Panhellenic Conference. It was founded on October 24, 1909 at Barnard College in New York City by seven Jewish women; Helen Phillips Lipman, Ida Beck Carlin, Rose Gerstein Smolin, Augustina "Tina" Hess Solomon, Lee Reiss Liebert, Rose...
- Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega is a women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1885. Currently, there are 135 chapters of Alpha Chi Omega at colleges and universities across the United States and more than 200,000 lifetime members...
- Alpha Phi
Alpha Phi International Women's Fraternity was founded at Syracuse University on September 18, 1872. Alpha Phi currently has 152 active chapters and over 200,000 initiated members. Its celebrated Founders' Day is October 10. It was the third Greek-letter organization founded for women. In Alpha...
- Delta Delta Delta
Delta Delta Delta , also known as Tri Delta, is an international sorority founded on November 27, 1888, the eve of Thanksgiving Day. With over 200,000 initiates, Tri Delta is one of the world's largest NPC sororities.-History:...
- Delta Gamma
Delta Gamma is one of the oldest and largest women's fraternities in the United States and Canada, with its Executive Offices based in Columbus, Ohio.-History:...
- Gamma Phi Beta
Gamma Phi Beta is an international sorority that was founded on November 11, 1874, at Syracuse University in Syracuse, New York. The term "sorority," meaning sisterhood, was coined for Gamma Phi Beta by Dr. Frank Smalley, a professor at Syracuse University.The four founders are Helen M. Dodge,...
- Kappa Alpha Theta
Kappa Alpha Theta , also known as Theta, is an international fraternity for women founded on January 27, 1870 at DePauw University, formerly Indiana Asbury...
- Kappa Kappa Gamma
Kappa Kappa Gamma is a collegiate women's fraternity, founded at Monmouth College, in Monmouth, Illinois, USA. Although the groundwork of the organization was developed as early as 1869, the 1876 Convention voted that October 13, 1870 should be recognized at the official Founders Day, because no...
- Pi Beta Phi
Pi Beta Phi is an international fraternity for women founded as I.C. Sorosis on April 28, 1867, at Monmouth College in Monmouth, Illinois. Its headquarters are located in Town and Country, Missouri, and there are 134 active chapters and over 330 alumnae organizations across the United States and...
- Sigma Kappa
Sigma Kappa is a sorority founded in 1874 at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. Sigma Kappa was founded by five women: Mary Caffrey Low Carver, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Mabel Fuller Pierce, Frances Elliott Mann Hall and Louise Helen Coburn...
Local
- Phi Sigma Rho
Phi Sigma Rho is a social sorority for women in engineering and engineering technology. The sorority was founded in 1984 at Purdue University by two young women. The first chapter of Phi Sigma Rho was installed on September 24, 1984, with 10 charter members....
- Phi Zeta Tau
Phi Zeta Tau was founded on February 10, 1983 by Dustie Isaka and Stacee Takemoto becoming the first Asian American sorority at UCI...
National Pan-Hellenic CouncilThe National Pan-Hellenic Council is a collaborative organization of nine historically African American, international Greek lettered fraternities and sororities. The nine NPHC organizations are sometimes collectively referred to as the "Divine Nine"...
- Alpha Kappa Alpha
Alpha Kappa Alpha is the first Greek-lettered sorority established and incorporated by African American college women. The sorority was founded on January 15, 1908, at Howard University in Washington, D.C., by a group of nine students, led by Ethel Hedgeman Lyle...
- Alpha Phi Alpha
Alpha Phi Alpha is the first Inter-Collegiate Black Greek Letter fraternity. It was founded on December 4, 1906 at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Its founders are known as the "Seven Jewels". Alpha Phi Alpha developed a model that was used by the many Black Greek Letter Organizations ...
- Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community. Delta Sigma Theta Sorority was founded on January 13, 1913 by twenty-two collegiate women at Howard University...
- Kappa Alpha Psi
Kappa Alpha Psi is a collegiate Greek-letter fraternity with a predominantly African American membership. Since the fraternity's founding on January 5, 1911 at Indiana University Bloomington, the fraternity has never limited membership based on color, creed or national origin...
ProfessionalProfessional fraternities, in the North American fraternity system, are organizations whose primary purpose is to promote the interests of a particular profession and whose membership is restricted to students in that particular field of professional education or study...
- Alpha Epsilon Delta
Alpha Epsilon Delta is a U.S. health preprofessional honor society. The organization currently has more than 144,000 members within 186 chapters at universities throughout the United States, making it the world's largest Honor Society serving all students from different backgrounds in the pursuit...
- Beta Alpha Psi
ΒΑΨ is a national honors business organization for highly successful accounting, finance and information systems students and professionals. It was founded on February 12, 1919 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is currently headquartered in Durham, North Carolina...
- Delta Sigma Pi
ΔΣΠ ' is one of the largest co-ed professional business fraternities. Delta Sigma Pi was founded on November 7, 1907 at the School of Commerce, Accounts and Finance, New York University, New York, New York and is currently headquartered in Oxford, Ohio...
- Phi Beta Lambda
- Phi Alpha Delta
ΦAΔ , or P.A.D., is the largest co-ed professional law fraternity in the United States of America. Phi Alpha Delta has members who are university students, law school students, lawyers, judges, senators, and even presidents. It was founded in 1902 and today has over 300,000 initiated members...
- Phi Delta Epsilon
- History :In October 1904, Aaron Brown and eight of his friends founded Phi Delta Epsilon at Cornell University Medical College. During the first decade of this century there were many doors closed to Jewish medical students and physicians, doors which would not fully open until after World War II...
- Sigma Psi Lambda
- Alpha Phi Sigma
Alpha Phi Sigma is the only Criminal Justice Honor Society accredited by the Association of College Honor Societies. Traditionally a national organization serving United States universities, recent expansion into Canadian universities has distinguished Alpha Phi Sigma as an international honor...
Service
- Alpha Phi Omega
Alpha Phi Omega is the largest collegiate fraternity in the United States, with chapters at over 350 campuses, an active membership of approximately 17,000 students, and over 350,000 alumni members...
Clubs and organizations
With approximately 500 student clubs and organizations on campus, students can readily find friends who share their interests whether academic, multicultural, political, religious, service, social, or athletic. Campus activities throughout the year include cultural nights, arts performances, live music at Anteater Plaza -- special events such as Reggaefest, the Rainbow Festival, Wayzgoose Fair, Shocktoberfest, Earth Day … and that’s just to name a few.
Residential accommodations
UC Irvine has a number of residential options for students interested in living on campus. Approximately 36% of UCI students are housed in university accommodations; 3,300 live in freshmen residential dormitories, approximately 4,000 other undergraduates live in apartment/theme community housing, and 1,542 living units are available for graduate students and their families. Part of UCI's long-range development plan involves expanding on-campus housing to accommodate 50% of all UCI students.
The on-campus housing communities for undergraduates are: Mesa Court, Middle Earth, Campus Village, Arroyo Vista, Vista Del Campo, and VDC Norte. Graduate students are able to live on campus in Palo Verde, Verano Place, Vista Del Campo, and VDC Norte.
As of Fall 2010, UCI’s on-campus housing will expand to include two new properties managed by American Campus Communities (the same management that operates Vista del Campo and VDC Norte). These new properties include Camino del Sol and Puerta del Sol. Camino del Sol is solely for undergraduate students, while Puerta del Sol accommodates graduate students.
Mesa Court is a housing community for freshmen. Mesa Court was the first housing community at UCI, has many trees and plants, a volleyball court and a basketball court. Students living in Mesa Court have a mandatory meal plan, and can eat at the Mesa Commons. Mesa Court also has a community center, a recreational center, and the Mesa Academic Center(MAC). The housing community is crossing the bridge from the Arts to Humanities, or crossing the street towards the Student Center.
The Middle Earth housing community is home to about 1,700 students. The community comprises 24 halls, two dining facilities (Brandywine and Pippin Commons), a student center, and several resource centers. The name of each building is named after J.R.R. Tolkien's
The HobbitThe Hobbit, or There and Back Again, better known by its abbreviated title The Hobbit, is a fantasy novel and children's book by J. R. R. Tolkien. It was published on 21 September 1937 to wide critical acclaim, being nominated for the Carnegie Medal and awarded a prize from the New York Herald...
and
The Lord of the Rings. Middle Earth was built in three phases. The first phase was built in 1974 with the opening of seven halls: Hobbiton, Isengard, Lorien, Mirkwood, Misty Mountain, Rivendell, and The Shire, along with a separate Head Resident's manufactured home called "Bag End". The second phase was built in 1989 with thirteen more halls: Balin, Harrowdale, Whispering Wood, Woodhall, Calmindon, Grey Havens, Aldor, Rohan, Gondolin, Snowbourn, Elrond, Shadowfax, and Quenya. And finally, the third phase was built in 2000 with four halls: Crickhollow, Evenstar, Oakenshield, and Valimar. Each hall houses about fifty to eighty students. The hall Quenya was built with sixty single suite rooms and mainly houses graduate students. The hall Rivendell was originally opened as a co-ed, Social Science student dorm. Special, for credit, Social Science courses were held in Rivendell. Later, Rivendell became a single gender suite for women; however, in Fall 2009, the hall has again become coed and the all-women's hall has been moved to Oakenshield hall.
There are 42 houses located in Arroyo Vista and in use. There are 9 sorority and 5 fraternity houses that are located in Arroyo Vista. The sorority houses are Alpha Phi, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Pi Beta Phi, Alpha Chi Omega, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Sigma Kappa, and Kappa Alpha Theta. The fraternities in Arroyo Vista are Sigma Phi Epsilon, Sigma Chi, Phi Gamma Delta, Kappa Sigma, and Sigma Alpha Epsilon. Some of the themed houses include the Rosa Parks House, Casa Caesar Chavez, International Peace and Conflict Studies, and International Village. Arroyo Vista also has many academic themed houses such as Campuswide Honors Program, Engineering, Information and Computer Science, Humanities, and Social Ecology, and has two Second Year Experience Program houses. In 2010, Arroyo Vista opened three new theme houses: Spectrum, Culinary, and Sustainability House.
Before the 2009-2010 school year, Arroyo Vista housed first, second, third, fourth, and fifth-year undergraduates all in the same community. Beginning Fall 2009, however, Arroyo Vista does not house first years. Students living in Arroyo Vista live in complexes that may be called houses, but have dorm-like qualities. Within each house, Arroyo Vista provides a kitchen area, laundry room, and a general living room. For instance, there are House Assistants (HA) present, who serve as the role as Resident Advisors (RA) and the rooms are all doubles. AV does not provide a meal plan within their housing contract, but a voluntary meal plan through UCI Dining can be purchased. Vista del Campo and Vista del Campo Norte are just up the road from AV, and are apartment-style, but are still run by UCI, so there are still many regulations and C.A.'s make rounds at night daily. VDC Norte, or simply "Norte" for short, has single rooms and double rooms for undergraduates; one common layout in an apartment in Norte has one double and two singles to an apartment. VDC has single rooms for undergraduates in the form of single, double, triple, or quad room occupancy with shared bathrooms in one apartment. To address the growing needs of housing and promote more on-campus house, UCI decided to open another apartment style housing for undergraduates called Camino Del Sol. Camino Del Sol provides single rooms, as well as a pool, community center, and fitness center. For each housing community, ASUCI provides shuttles to allow students to travel between their housing site and campus. The wait for each bus can range around 7–10 minutes; this allows fast transfer to the UCI campus.
Off-campus housing options vary widely, given a student's preferred living arrangements and budget. However, a common denominator for off-campus apartment housing in
IrvineIrvine is a suburban incorporated city in Orange County, California, United States. It is a planned city, mainly developed by the Irvine Company since the 1960s. Formally incorporated on December 28, 1971, the city has a population of 212,375 as of the 2010 census. However, the California...
and nearby
Newport BeachNewport Beach, incorporated in 1906, is a city in Orange County, California, south of downtown Santa Ana. The population was 85,186 at the 2010 census.The city's median family income and property values consistently place high in national rankings...
,
Tustin-Top employers:According to the City's 2010 Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, the top employers in the city are:-2010:The 2010 United States Census reported that Tustin had a population of 75,540. The population density was 6,816.7 people per square mile...
, and
Costa MesaCosta Mesa is a city in Orange County, California. The population was 109,960 at the 2010 census. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to a primarily suburban and "edge" city with an economy based on retail, commerce, and light...
is the fact that most accommodations are maintained by The Irvine Company. UCI offers off-campus housing search assistance and roommate listings through its student housing office.
Gender-neutral and
LGBTLGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
housing will be offered to students at UC Irvine beginning Fall 2010. These new housing options are inclusive to all students and may be a big step towards equality in the community. For first-years, the “Open House” dorm will be located in Isengard in Middle Earth. The Open House will be a non-judgmental space where the diversity of identities and gender expressions are celebrated. It will provide opportunities for personal development to flourish in a gender-free and transgender-friendly living environment. This gender-neutral hall allows for both same and opposite gender roommate pairings. For continuing students, the “Spectrum House” in Arroyo Vista will also be available as well. The community welcomes the cultural experiences for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, questioning students and their allies.
Athletics
UCI's sports teams are known as the Anteaters and the student body is known as Antourage, decided in 2010-2011. They participate in the
NCAAThe National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
's Division I, as members of the
Big West ConferenceThe Big West Conference is an NCAA-affiliated Division I mid-major college athletic conference. When the conference began in 1969, its name was the Pacific Coast Athletic Association . After nineteen years, in 1988, its name was changed to the Big West Conference. The conference stopped...
and the
Mountain Pacific Sports FederationThe Mountain Pacific Sports Federation is a college athletic conference whose member teams are located in the western United States. The conference participates at the NCAA Division I level.-History:...
. Their traditional rivals are
Cal State FullertonCalifornia State University, Fullerton is a public university located in Fullerton, California. It is the largest institution in the CSU System by enrollment, it offers long-distance education and adult-degree programs...
,
Long Beach StateCalifornia State University, Long Beach is the second largest campus of the California State University system and the third largest university in the state of California by enrollment...
, and UC Santa Barbara.
UCI fields nationally-competitive teams in cross country, track and field, basketball, baseball, volleyball, water polo, and soccer. UCI's renowned baseball program recently returned to UCI, after a period of state funding crises led to its temporary retirement.
UCI has won 26 national team championships in nine different sports since 1969 and has had 63 individual national champions. The most recent NCAA Division I national title was won by the men's volleyball team on May 9, 2009 against USC (3-2) at Provo, Utah.
Prior to that, the most recent championship was won also by the men's volleyball team, on May 5, 2007 against IPFW (3-1) at Ohio State. Other national titles include three Division I men's water polo titles, two baseball Division II titles, three men's swimming titles (Div. II), and six men's tennis titles (Div. II). The 2007 men's baseball team impressed the nation, the Anteaters being one of the Final Four teams left in the College World Series, just six years after the baseball program had been formally re-instated after a ten-year absence. The week of April 20, 2009 was a historical milestone for the UCI athletics program, as both school’s Men’s Volleyball and Baseball squads were simultaneously ranked No. 1 nationally in NCAA Division I polls. This marked the first time ever that UCI possessed two teams ranked No. 1 in the nation, as Baseball garnered the ranking based on Baseball America and Collegiate Baseball polls, while Men’s Volleyball earned the top spot on the American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA) poll.
More than 400 UCI student-athletes have earned All-America distinction, and Anteater teams have captured 66 conference championships. Since 1983, 3,266 UCI student-athletes have earned conference scholar-athlete awards.
The anteater as mascot
The anteater was chosen in 1965 when students were allowed to submit mascot candidates, which would be voted on in a campus election. Three undergraduates named Pat Glasgow, Bob Ernst, and Schuyler Hadley Basset III were credited with choosing the anteater and designing a cartoon representation, having been disappointed with other mascots such as a roadrunner, unicorn, seahawk and golden bison.
The anteater was inspired by "Peter the Anteater" from the
Johnny HartJohnny Hart was an American cartoonist noted as the creator of the comic strip B.C. and co-creator of the strip The Wizard of Id. Hart was recognized with several awards, including the Swedish Adamson Award and five from the National Cartoonists Society...
comic strip, "
B.C.B.C. is a daily American comic strip created by cartoonist Johnny Hart. Set in prehistoric times, it features a group of cavemen and anthropomorphic animals from various geologic eras...
" Before the voting took place on campus, it is said that the men’s water polo team highly encouraged the students to vote for the anteater as the school mascot. The men’s water polo team promoted the anteater at one of their games, which is said to have increased student’s interest in voting for the anteater. Since it was "original and slightly irrelevant," it became the mascot of UC Irvine after winning 56% of the vote, beating a close second with the choice of "none of the above". The anteaters are not to be confused with the aardvark, an African animal that also eats ants. The anteater has grown to become a beloved mascot, and is the inspiration for many of UCI's
athleticUC Irvine's Athletics program participates in the NCAA's Division I, as members of the Big West Conference and the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation...
and
campus spiritIn spite of its suburban location and relative youth compared to other traditional universities, the University of California, Irvine has a number of student activities and traditions that make the university a distinct social hub for students...
traditions.
Since the return of baseball in 2002 (the sport was eliminated in 1992 due to state budget cuts), UC Irvine has been ranked as high as #1 in the country in 2009, and has been at the top of the Big West Conference standings, which is considered by some to be one of the top Division I Baseball Conferences outside the major conferences in the country. In June 2007, the UC Irvine baseball team participated in the College World Series for the first time ever in school history. The Anteaters shocked the nation, and made Series history, becoming the first team to ever win two extra-inning College World Series games back-to-back, by beating (and eliminating) Cal State Fullerton (5-4, F/13), followed by nationally ranked Arizona State (8-7, F/10), only to lose their next game to defending National Champions, and well rested, Oregon State, having played a record 31 innings in three days to finish in the Final Four. Furthermore, 8 of the players from the current roster have been selected by major league teams in the 2007 MLB Draft.
School chants and cheers feature the word "zot" which was the noise Johnny Hart's "Peter the Anteater" made while eating ants.
A hand signal called "Rip'em 'Eaters" was created by Blake Sasaki and Dennis Wisco in 2001. When attacked, an anteater sits in a tripodal position with its hind feet and tail and tears and "rips" at its predator. The hand signal is done by touching the tips of the two middle fingers with the thumb, and sliding the thumb back, making the pinky and index finger the ears and the fingers in the middle the snout of the anteater.
In August 2007, a small stuffed Peter accompanied astronaut Tracy Caldwell on the
Space Shuttle EndeavourSpace Shuttle Endeavour is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...
mission
STS-118- Crew notes :Astronaut Clayton Anderson originally was slated to be launched to the ISS on this mission, but was moved to STS-117. His replacement was Alvin Drew....
.
Aramark
UC Irvine is the last UC campus that subcontracts its food services. In summer of 2004, UCI signed a contract with
AramarkAramark Corporation, known commonly as Aramark, is an American foodservice, facilities, and clothing provider supplying businesses, educational institutions, sports facilities, federal and state prisons, and health care institutions. It is headquartered at the Aramark Tower in Center City,...
, a food services corporation, granting it control of nearly all residential dining facilities and restaurants on university property. This includes UCI's three dining halls (Brandywine, Pippin Commons, and Mesa Commons) and three on-campus restaurants (Phoenix Grille, B.C.'s Cavern on the Green, and Bistro by the Bridge).
ASUCIIn spite of its suburban location and relative youth compared to other traditional universities, the University of California, Irvine has a number of student activities and traditions that make the university a distinct social hub for students...
, which is partially responsible for negotiating UCI's food services contract, has justified the decision to offer Aramark its business with the argument that Aramark has pledged to invest millions of dollars into the university's food service infrastructure.
Critics argue that offering one corporation the university's food services contract is a de facto monopoly. It is also argued that the management of food services by Aramark leads to low-quality food and poor customer service, and that support of Aramark condones its poor employee relations record. Many full time Aramark employees qualify for public assistance and rely on
Medi-CalThe California Medical Assistance Program is the name of the California Medicaid program serving low-income families, seniors, persons with disabilities, children in foster care, pregnant women, and certain low-income adults...
, low-income housing, and other
social programsSocial Work is a professional and academic discipline that seeks to improve the quality of life and wellbeing of an individual, group, or community by intervening through research, policy, community organizing, direct practice, and teaching on behalf of those afflicted with poverty or any real or...
. Though these workers prepare and serve food on the UC Irvine campus in residential dining halls, they are not afforded the same rights as UC service employees. Aramark Corporation prohibits its workers from
unionizingA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
to fight for higher wages.
Proponents argue that maintaining one entity for food service lowers costs for the University, which in turn lowers costs for students. Also, the fact that food service workers are not UC employees further lowers costs for the university. Furthermore, UCI notes the large investment Aramark is making is in dining infrastructure, which will outlast its current contract and support UCI's long-range development plan.
Law school dean
In hiring an inaugural dean of the
UC Irvine School of LawThe University of California, Irvine School of Law is the law school at the University of California, Irvine . It is the fifth law school in the UC system and the first public law school to open in California in 40 years...
, which opened in 2009, the University approached Professor
Erwin ChemerinskyErwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
, a well known legal scholar in constitutional law and liberal commentator. After signing a contract with Chemerinsky on September 4, 2007, the hire was rescinded by UCI Chancellor Michael V. Drake because he felt the law professor's commentaries were "polarizing" and would not serve the interests of California's first new public law school in 40 years; Drake claimed the decision was his own and not the subject of any outside influence. The action was roundly criticized by liberal and conservative scholars who felt it hindered the academic mission of the law school, and disbelief over Chancellor Drake's claims that it was the subject of no outside influence.
The issue was the subject of a New York Times
editorialAn opinion piece is an article, published in a newspaper or magazine, that mainly reflects the author's opinion about the subject. Opinion pieces are featured in many periodicals.-Editorials:...
on September 14, 2007. Details emerged revealing that UCI had received criticism on the hire from
California Chief JusticeThe Supreme Court of California is the highest state court in California. It is headquartered in San Francisco and regularly holds sessions in Los Angeles and Sacramento. Its decisions are binding on all other California state courts.-Composition:...
Ronald M. GeorgeRonald Marc George is the retired 27th Chief Justice of California, where he headed the Supreme Court of California and the Judicial Council of California...
, who criticized Chemerinsky's grasp of death penalty appeals as well as a group of prominent Orange County Republicans and Los Angeles County Supervisor
Michael D. AntonovichMichael Dennis Antonovich is a politician and the most senior-serving member of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors...
, who wanted to derail the appointment. Drake traveled over a weekend to
Durham, North CarolinaDurham is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina. It is the county seat of Durham County and also extends into Wake County. It is the fifth-largest city in the state, and the 85th-largest in the United States by population, with 228,330 residents as of the 2010 United States census...
, and the two reached an agreement late Sunday evening. On September 17, Chemerinsky issued a joint press release with UCI Chancellor
Michael V. DrakeMichael V. Drake is an American physician and current chancellor of the University of California, Irvine .-Early years:...
indicating that Chemerinsky
would head the UCI law school, stating "Our new law school will be founded on the bedrock principle of academic freedom. The chancellor reiterated his lifelong, unqualified commitment to academic freedom, which extends to every faculty member, including deans and other senior administrators."
UCI Extension
From 2002 to 2007,
Capella UniversityCapella University is a for-profit co-educational university with partial residency requirements during the course of study, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.The school is owned by the publicly traded Capella Education Company...
, a for-profit, on-line institution, paid $500 per student to UCI Extension for each of the 36 students who transferred to Capella. This undisclosed financial arrangement resulted in a total payment of $12,000 to UCI. The payments, first reported in the
Chronicle of Higher Education, were inadvertently revealed when Jeffry La Marca, a former student of UCI Extension and Capella, filed a
public recordsPublic records are documents or pieces of information that are not considered confidential. For example, in California, when a couple fills out a marriage license application, they have the option of checking the box as to whether the marriage is "confidential" or "Public"...
request for correspondence between UCI and Capella.
UCI continuing education dean Gary Matkin announced the school would end the arrangement by October 31, 2007 and plans to place $12,000 into a scholarship fund for needy students. UCI officials represented that the agreement was legal per Department of Education regulations, however, UCI had tried to hide the payments and the arrangement was frequently criticized as unethical because it raised the possibility that school counselors might make recommendations to students based on financial incentives rather than the student's best interests.
Allegations of antisemitism
On November 30, 2007, the Office of Civil Rights of the
United States Department of EducationThe United States Department of Education, also referred to as ED or the ED for Education Department, is a Cabinet-level department of the United States government...
issued a report finding "insufficient evidence" in support of allegations that Jewish students at UCI were harassed and subjected to a hostile environment based on their national origin. The federal agency investigated a total of 13 alleged incidents of harassment that occurred between Fall 2000 and December 2006, and determined that 5 were "isolated acts" that could not be addressed because they were reported more than 180 days after they occurred. Further, the agency considered these acts, which included a rock thrown at a Jewish student, the destruction of a
HolocaustThe Holocaust , also known as the Shoah , was the genocide of approximately six million European Jews and millions of others during World War II, a programme of systematic state-sponsored murder by Nazi...
memorial display, and various threatening or harassing statements made to individual Jewish students, substantially different in nature as to be unrelated to the 8 other recurring acts it investigated, which included graffiti depicting
swastikaThe swastika is an equilateral cross with its arms bent at right angles, in either right-facing form in counter clock motion or its mirrored left-facing form in clock motion. Earliest archaeological evidence of swastika-shaped ornaments dates back to the Indus Valley Civilization of Ancient...
s on campus, events during an annual "Zionist Awareness Week," exclusion of Jewish students during an anti-hate rally, and the wearing of graduation stoles signifying support for
HamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
or
PalestiniansThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
. The agency ultimately found that none of the incidents leading to the allegations qualified as "sufficiently severe, pervasive or persistent as to interfere with or limit the ability of an individual to participate in from the services, activities or privileges" provided by UCI, and that university officials had acted appropriately in response to each incident. In December 2007, UCI Administration has been cleared of anti-semitism complaints by the US Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.
Following a speech by Chancellor
Michael DrakeMichael V. Drake is an American physician and current chancellor of the University of California, Irvine .-Early years:...
at the national Hillel meeting in Washington, D.C. in March 2008, Anteaters for Israel, along with three other Jewish organizations, issued a press release defending Drake and claiming that anti-Semitic activity was "exaggerated." Since then, 20 current and former students issued a statement expressing concern over ongoing issues and Drake's handling of them. As with most Muslim events, men and women sit opposite from each other at the Muslim Student Association events.
In May 2009, UC Irvine hosted a two-week event titled "Israel: The Politics of Genocide", hosted by the school's Muslim Student Union. Scheduled speakers included
Cynthia McKinneyCynthia Ann McKinney is a former US Congresswoman and a member of the Green Party since 2007. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served six terms as a member of the United States House of Representatives. In 2008, the Green Party nominated McKinney for President of the United States...
and
George GallowayGeorge Galloway is a British politician, author, journalist and broadcaster who was a Member of Parliament from 1987 to 2010. He was formerly an MP for the Labour Party, first for Glasgow Hillhead and later for Glasgow Kelvin, before his expulsion from the party in October 2003, the same year...
. Opponents of the event described it as anti-Semitic, and have called for Chancellor Drake to condemn both the event and the sponsoring organization. He has declined to do so. One outdoor demonstration at this event included a display with an image of Jewish Holocaust victim
Anne FrankAnnelies Marie "Anne" Frank is one of the most renowned and most discussed Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Acknowledged for the quality of her writing, her diary has become one of the world's most widely read books, and has been the basis for several plays and films.Born in the city of Frankfurt...
wearing a keffiyah, in an apparent attempt to draw an analogy between her sufferings and the plight of the
PalestiniansThe Palestinian people, also referred to as Palestinians or Palestinian Arabs , are an Arabic-speaking people with origins in Palestine. Despite various wars and exoduses, roughly one third of the world's Palestinian population continues to reside in the area encompassing the West Bank, the Gaza...
in the
Palestinian territoriesThe Palestinian territories comprise the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Since the Palestinian Declaration of Independence in 1988, the region is today recognized by three-quarters of the world's countries as the State of Palestine or simply Palestine, although this status is not recognized by the...
. The pro-Israel campus advocacy group
StandWithUsStandWithUs is a non-profit pro-Israel education and advocacy organization based in Los Angeles. As of 2009, it has branches in Los Angeles, New York, Denver, Michigan, Chicago, Seattle, Orange County, San Francisco, Santa Cruz, the UK, Australia, and Israel....
has described this image as offensive.
In October 2009, students from UCI met with
HamasHamas is the Palestinian Sunni Islamic or Islamist political party that governs the Gaza Strip. Hamas also has a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades...
official Aziz Duwaik on a university-sponsored trip to the West Bank under a program called the Olive Tree Initiative (OTI), a neutral, apolitical education group that studies the Arab-Israeli conflict. Hamas is a US-designated terrorist organization. The meeting was questioned by parties in 2011, and the initial response from UCI was that the meeting was justified, as the education group was studying the different narratives that contribute to the current situation in the middle east. After the
Zionist Organization of AmericaThe Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
informed UCI about Hamas' nature and urged UCI to dissociate itself from the OTI, UCI referred to the meeting as a "misstep." Many of these accusations were contradicted by many organizations and members of the group who are of pro-Israel and Jewish descent.
In May, 2010, forty members of the faculty issued an open letter expressing concern about "hate-promoting actions" including "a statement (by a speaker repeatedly invited by the Muslim Student Union) that the Zionist Jew is a party of Satan, a statement by another MSU speaker that the Holocaust was God’s will" that have given UCI "a growing reputation as a center of hate and intolerance."
Arrests at Michael Oren lecture
UC Irvine attracted controversy in February 2010 when students disrupted a lecture by Israeli Ambassador
Michael OrenMichael B. Oren is an American-born Israeli historian and author and the Israeli ambassador to the United States...
. While the MSU had issued a statement condemning the university for inviting a man who “took part in a culture that has no qualms with terrorizing the innocent, killing civilians, demolishing their homes and illegally occupying their land,” they denied responsibility for the protests and said the students acted on their own. According to Kenneth Stern, director of the
American Jewish CommitteeThe American Jewish Committee was "founded in 1906 with the aim of rallying all sections of American Jewry to defend the rights of Jews all over the world...
's Division on Antisemitism and Extremism "The UCI campus has had a long history of anti-Israel and anti-Semitic incidents, usually tied to its Muslim Student Union."
HecklerA heckler is a person who harass and try to disconcert others with questions, challenges, or gibes.Hecklers are often known to shout disparaging comments at a performance or event, or interrupts set-piece speeches, for example at a political meeting, with intent to disturb its performers or...
s interrupted Oren's speech 10 times with many students cheering them in support. Among other slogans, the hecklers yelled, "Michael Oren, propagating murder is not an expression of free speech," "killers" and "how many Palestinians did you kill?" After the fourth disruption, Oren took a 20-minute leave before returning to the podium. Before continuing he said, "I’ve spent most of my life living in and studying the Middle East and one of the great and eternal cultural facets of the Middle East is hospitality...even if you do not agree with them, even if they’re ostensibly your enemy. I’m your guest here and I’m asking for the Middle Eastern hospitality for your guest, I’ve come into your house." By the end of the program, 11 UC Irvine and Riverside students were reportedly arrested.
According to
New UniversityThe UCI New University is a student-operated newspaper at the University of California, Irvine. Originally named the Spectrum, later Spectre, The Tongue, and The Anthill, it is published once a week during the regular academic year. Although the New University is officially a university department,...
newspaper, 11 students were charged with section 403 of the UCIPD penal code – disrupting a public event on the University’s property, for their actions. Nine were enrolled at UCI and three were from UCR.
During the event, UCI Chancellor
Michael DrakeMichael V. Drake is an American physician and current chancellor of the University of California, Irvine .-Early years:...
and political science department chair Mark Petracca "chided the protesting crowd and called the disruptions embarrassing." At one point, Chairman Petracca yelled "Shame on you" to the heckling crowd. In a statement issued the next day, UCI Chancellor Drake called the students' behavior "intolerable," saying that "Freedom of speech is among the most fundamental, and among the most cherished of the bedrock values our nation is built upon." UCI Law School Dean
Erwin ChemerinskyErwin Chemerinsky is an American lawyer and law professor. He is a prominent scholar in United States constitutional law and federal civil procedure...
also condemned the disruptions. He stated, "Imagine if they had brought their own speaker and that person had been shouted down. There would be no free speech. There is no right to a ‘
heckler’s vetoA heckler's veto occurs when an acting party's right to freedom of speech is curtailed or restricted by the government in order to prevent a reacting party's behavior...
.’"
In response, the university suspended the group for the 2010-2011 school year and the group will undergo a probationary period for the following year. In addition, the members will be responsible for completing a collective 50 community service hours before the group can be reinstated. The
Muslim Student UnionThe University of California Irvine Muslim Student Union is an affiliated chapter of MSA National. The MSU at UCI strives to embody that tradition and engage the UCI campus with various programs from humanitarian to educational to political...
has appealed the suspension. The punishment was later modified to one academic quarter, one hundred hours of community service, and two years probation.
The
Zionist Organization of AmericaThe Zionist Organization of America , founded in 1897, was one of the first official Zionist organizations in the United States, and, especially early in the 20th century, the primary representative of Jewish Americans to the World Zionist Organization, espousing primarily Political Zionism.Today,...
, describing UCI as "a campus that permitted bigotry", has called for college-bound students and financial donors to avoid UCI.
Notable alumni
As of 2011, UCI has more than 124,000 alumni. As with any major university, many UC Irvine alumni have achieved fame after graduating. These people include athletes (Steve Scott,
Scott BrooksScott William Brooks is a retired American professional basketball player from Lathrop, California and is the current head coach of the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA...
,
Greg LouganisGregory "Greg" Efthimios Louganis is an American Olympic diver and author.He received the James E. Sullivan Award from the Amateur Athletic Union in 1984 as the most outstanding amateur athlete in the United States....
and 34 Olympians), Broadway, film, and television actors (
Bob GuntonRobert Patrick "Bob" Gunton, Jr. is an American actor. He is known for playing strict, authoritarian characters, with his best known roles as Warden Samuel Norton in the 1994 prison film The Shawshank Redemption, Chief George Earle in 1993's Demolition Man, and President Juan Peron in the original...
,
Jon LovitzJonathan "Jon" Lovitz is an American comedian, actor, and singer. He is best known as a cast member of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live from 1985 to 1990.-Early life:...
), and technological innovators (
Roy FieldingRoy Thomas Fielding is an American computer scientist, one of the principal authors of the HTTP specification, an authority on computer network architecture and co-founder of the Apache HTTP Server project....
and
Paul MockapetrisDr. Paul V. Mockapetris is the inventor of the Domain Name System.In 1983, he proposed a Domain Name System architecture in RFCs 882 and 883 while at the Information Sciences Institute of the University of Southern California....
).
The UC Irvine writing program has produced a number of authors, such as
Michael ChabonMichael Chabon born May 24, 1963) is an American author and "one of the most celebrated writers of his generation", according to The Virginia Quarterly Review....
,
James McMichael-Life:The Pasadena, California native received his Ph.D. from Stanford University. In 1970 he married his second wife, Phylinda Wallace, a translator, and has three children, Robert, Geoffrey and Owen....
,
Robert PetersRobert Louis Peters is a poet, critic, scholar, playwright, editor, and actor born in an impoverished rural area of northern Wisconsin in 1924. He holds a Ph.D in Victorian literature. His poetry career began in 1967 when his young son Richard died unexpectedly of spinal meningitis...
,
Alice SeboldAlice Sebold is an American novelist. She has published three books: Lucky , The Lovely Bones and The Almost Moon .-Early life:...
,
Aimee BenderAimee Bender is an American novelist and short story writer, known for her surreal plots and characters.-Biography:Bender received her undergraduate degree from the University of California at San Diego, and a Master of Fine Arts from the distinguished creative writing MFA program at University of...
,
Richard FordRichard Ford is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American novelist and short story writer. His best-known works are the novel The Sportswriter and its sequels, Independence Day and The Lay of the Land, and the short story collection Rock Springs, which contains several widely anthologized stories.-Early...
,
Yusef KomunyakaaYusef Komunyakaa is an American poet who currently teaches at New York University and is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers. Komunyakaa is a recipient of the 1994 Kingsley Tufts Poetry Award, for Neon Vernacular and the 1994 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. He also received the Ruth Lilly...
,
Marti LeimbachMarti Leimbach is an American fiction writer. Her first novel, Dying Young , was an international bestseller and the basis of the film, Dying Young, starring Julia Roberts, Campbell Scott and Vincent D'Onofrio....
Whitney Otto and
T. Jefferson Parkerthumb|T. Jefferson ParkerT. Jefferson Parker is an American novelist. Parker's books are police procedurals set in Southern California.-Early life and career:...
. The renown of these writers has contributed to the national reputation of the school's creative writing program. More recent alumni include
Glen David GoldGlen David Gold is known as the author of Carter Beats the Devil, a fictionalized biography of Charles Joseph Carter , an American illusionist performing from c.1900-1936 and Sunnyside. He writes in a narrative style, and the book was hailed as a very respectable venture into historical fiction...
,
Maile MeloyMaile Meloy is an American author of fiction. She was born in Helena, Montana, where she was also raised.Meloy graduated from the University of California, Irvine with an M.F.A...
,
Alex EspinozaAlex A. Espinoza is a former National Football League quarterback who played for one season with the Kansas City Chiefs. He went to college at Iowa State after transferring from Cal State-Fullerton...
and
Joshua FerrisJoshua Ferris is an American author best known for his debut 2007 novel Then We Came to the End. The book is a comedy about the American workplace, told in the first-person plural...
.
Several members of the faculty have been honored with the
NobelThe Nobel Prizes are annual international awards bestowed by Scandinavian committees in recognition of cultural and scientific advances. The will of the Swedish chemist Alfred Nobel, the inventor of dynamite, established the prizes in 1895...
and
PulitzerThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
.
In 1995, two UCI Professors earned the Nobel Prize:
- Dr. Frank Sherwood Rowland, Chemistry
- Dr. Frederick Reines, Physics
In 2004, UCI earned its third Nobel:
- Dr. Irwin Rose, Chemistry
Claude Yarbrough (aka Jonathan Pendragon), class of '76: two-time winner of the Academy of Magical Arts Magician of the Year Award. Named by Magic Magazine as one of the most influential magicians of the 20th and 21st centuries. He has starred with his partner/wife and UCI graduate, Charlotte Brown (aka Charlotte Pendragon) known together as The Pendragons in over 14 Prime Time TV specials on ABC, NBC and CBS.
Ralph Cicerone, an earth system science professor and former chancellor, is currently president of the
National Academy of SciencesThe National Academy of Sciences is a corporation in the United States whose members serve pro bono as "advisers to the nation on science, engineering, and medicine." As a national academy, new members of the organization are elected annually by current members, based on their distinguished and...
. Cicerone has been vocal in raising awareness on the issue of
Global WarmingGlobal warming refers to the rising average temperature of Earth's atmosphere and oceans and its projected continuation. In the last 100 years, Earth's average surface temperature increased by about with about two thirds of the increase occurring over just the last three decades...
. An article in Rolling Stone Magazine, described Cicerone as "
The Hardballer" on the controversial issue.
Faculty members who have taught literary criticism and critical theory at UCI have included Jaques Derrida and
Wolfgang Iser-Biography:He was born in Marienberg, Germany. His parents were Paul and Else Iser. He studied literature in the universities of Leipzig and Tübingen before receiving his PhD in English at Heidelberg with a dissertation on the world view of Henry Fielding...
, and visiting professors in these fields have included
Judith ButlerJudith Butler is an American post-structuralist philosopher, who has contributed to the fields of feminism, queer theory, political philosophy, and ethics. She is a professor in the Rhetoric and Comparative Literature departments at the University of California, Berkeley.Butler received her Ph.D...
,
Slavoj ŽižekSlavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and Lacanian psychoanalysis. He has made contributions to political theory, film theory, and theoretical psychoanalysis....
,
Giorgio AgambenGiorgio Agamben is an Italian political philosopher best known for his work investigating the concepts of the state of exception and homo sacer....
,
Barbara JohnsonBarbara Johnson was an American literary critic and translator. She was a Professor of English and Comparative Literature and the Fredric Wertham Professor of Law and Psychiatry in Society at Harvard University...
,
Fredric JamesonFredric Jameson is an American literary critic and Marxist political theorist. He is best known for his analysis of contemporary cultural trends—he once described postmodernism as the spatialization of culture under the pressure of organized capitalism...
,
Elizabeth GroszElizabeth A. Grosz is an Australian feminist academic living and working in the USA. She is known for philosophical interpretations of the work of French philosophers Jacques Lacan, Jacques Derrida, Michel Foucault and Gilles Deleuze, as well as her readings of the works of French feminists, Luce...
, and
Étienne BalibarÉtienne Balibar is a French Marxist philosopher. After the death of his teacher Louis Althusser, Balibar quickly became the leading exponent of French Marxist philosophy.- Life and work :...
.
Movie directors who attended UCI include McG, who directed the
Charlie's AngelsCharlie's Angels is a 2000 American action comedy film directed by McG, starring Cameron Diaz, Drew Barrymore, and Lucy Liu as three women working for a private investigation agency...
films and is the executive producer of the television series
The O.C.The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
, and Robert Beaucage, director of
SpikeSpike is a 2008 horror-romance directed by Robert Beaucage, produced by String And A Can Productions, and starring Edward Gusts, Sarah Livingston Evans, Anna-Marie Wayne, Nancy P...
.
Aras BaskauskasAras Baskauskas is the winner of Survivor: Panama. He is of Lithuanian descent, holding Lithuanian and American citizenship....
graduated with a degree in Philosophy in 2002 and an MBA in 2004, and played for the UC Irvine men's basketball team. Aras is the winner of
Survivor: PanamaSurvivor: Panama — Exile Island, also known as Survivor: Exile Island and Survivor: Panama, is the twelfth season of the American CBS competitive reality television series Survivor. The season was filmed in the Pearl Islands, off the coast of Panama. This location was previously used for Survivor:...
. He was the youngest male winner in the history of the show at the time of the taping.
Michael RamirezMichael Patrick Ramirez is a two-time American Pulitzer Prize-winning editorial cartoonist. His cartoons typically present conservative viewpoints....
is a two-time
Pulitzer PrizeThe Pulitzer Prize is a U.S. award for achievements in newspaper and online journalism, literature and musical composition. It was established by American publisher Joseph Pulitzer and is administered by Columbia University in New York City...
-winning American editorial cartoonist and a Senior Editor for
Investor's Business DailyInvestor's Business Daily is a national newspaper in the United States, published Monday through Friday, that covers international business, finance, and the global economy...
. He is the former editorial cartoonist for the
Los Angeles TimesThe Los Angeles Times is a daily newspaper published in Los Angeles, California, since 1881. It was the second-largest metropolitan newspaper in circulation in the United States in 2008 and the fourth most widely distributed newspaper in the country....
and
USA TodayUSA Today is a national American daily newspaper published by the Gannett Company. It was founded by Al Neuharth. The newspaper vies with The Wall Street Journal for the position of having the widest circulation of any newspaper in the United States, something it previously held since 2003...
, and a regular contributor to
The Weekly StandardThe Weekly Standard is an American neoconservative opinion magazine published 48 times per year. Its founding publisher, News Corporation, debuted the title September 18, 1995. Currently edited by founder William Kristol and Fred Barnes, the Standard has been described as a "redoubt of...
. He is the author of a new book, "Everyone Has the Right to My Opinion". His work is distributed to over four hundred newspapers and magazines through
Creators SyndicateCreators Syndicate is an independent distributor of comic strips and syndicated columns for daily newspapers. It was founded in 1987 by Richard S. Newcombe, and is based in Los Angeles. Creators was one of the first syndicates to allow its clients to maintain creative control of their material...
. He has been on
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
,
CNN InternationalCNN International is an international English language television network that carries news, current affairs, politics, opinions, and business programming worldwide. CNN is one of the world's largest news organizations. It is owned by Time Warner, and is affiliated with CNN, which is mainly...
,
Fox News SundayFox News Sunday with Chris Wallace is a public affairs program on the Fox network, hosted by Chris Wallace and airing on Sunday mornings. The show began on April 28, 1996, which predated the launch of Fox News Channel, and usually talks about items similar to Sunday morning talk shows...
,
BBC TelevisionBBC Television is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation. The corporation, which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927, has produced television programmes from its own studios since 1932, although the start of its regular service of television...
,
BBC RadioBBC Radio is a service of the British Broadcasting Corporation which has operated in the United Kingdom under the terms of a Royal Charter since 1927. For a history of BBC radio prior to 1927 see British Broadcasting Company...
,
NPRNPR, formerly National Public Radio, is a privately and publicly funded non-profit membership media organization that serves as a national syndicator to a network of 900 public radio stations in the United States. NPR was created in 1970, following congressional passage of the Public Broadcasting...
, the Michael Reagan Show and is a highly acclaimed international speaker. His cartoons have been featured on
CNNCable News Network is a U.S. cable news channel founded in 1980 by Ted Turner. Upon its launch, CNN was the first channel to provide 24-hour television news coverage, and the first all-news television channel in the United States...
, Fox News, The O'Reilly Factor, and The Rush Limbaugh Show. His work has been published in such publications as The New York Times, The Washington Post, The
New York PostThe New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, Time Magazine,
National ReviewNational Review is a biweekly magazine founded by the late author William F. Buckley, Jr., in 1955 and based in New York City. It describes itself as "America's most widely read and influential magazine and web site for conservative news, commentary, and opinion."Although the print version of the...
and US News and World Report.
Media references
- In Arrested Development, which is set in UCI's surrounding communities, Tobias Fünke watches a performance of the Blue Man Group
Blue Man Group is an organization founded by Chris Wink, Matt Goldman and Phil Stanton. The organization produces theatrical shows and concerts featuring popular music, comedy and multimedia; recorded music and scores for film and television; television appearances for shows such as The Tonight...
at UCI's Bren Events CenterDonald Bren Events Center is a 4,984-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium, on the campus of the University of Irvine, in California.-Construction and history:...
.
- Neuroscience labs and exteriors of UCI were featured in the science fiction-comedy film Creator
Creator is a 1985 film directed by Ivan Passer, starring Peter O'Toole, Vincent Spano, Mariel Hemingway, and Virginia Madsen. It is based on a book of the same title by Jeremy Leven.-Plot:...
.
- Several of the Futurist
Futurist architecture is an early-20th century form of architecture characterized by anti-historicism and long horizontal lines suggesting speed, motion and urgency. Technology and even violence were among the themes of the Futurists. The movement was founded by the poet Filippo Tommaso...
buildings at UCI were involved in the production of the movie Conquest of the Planet of the ApesConquest of the Planet of the Apes is a 1972 science fiction film directed by J. Lee Thompson. It is the fourth of five films in the original Planet of the Apes series produced by Arthur P. Jacobs. It explores how the apes rebelled from mankind's ill treatment following Escape from the Planet of...
.
- The Engineering Tower is used as the STRATA Headquarters exterior in Saul of the Mole Men, an Adult Swim TV show inspired in part by the Planet of the Apes film series.
- Aldrich Park was shown during the wheelchair chase scene in the Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, composer, lyricist, comedian, actor and producer. He is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies. He began his career as a stand-up comic and as a writer for the early TV variety show Your Show of Shows...
film Silent MovieSilent Movie is a 1976 satirical comedy film co-written, directed by, and starring Mel Brooks, and released by 20th Century Fox on June 17, 1976...
.
- The school was featured in the production of Ocean's Eleven
Ocean's Eleven is a 2001 American comedy-crime caper and remake of the 1960 Rat Pack caper film of the same name. The 2001 film was directed by Steven Soderbergh and features an ensemble cast including George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Don Cheadle, Andy García, and Julia Roberts. The film was...
. In the movie, the building where the crew steals the EMPAn electromagnetic pulse is a burst of electromagnetic radiation. The abrupt pulse of electromagnetic radiation usually results from certain types of high energy explosions, especially a nuclear explosion, or from a suddenly fluctuating magnetic field...
device is actually the Gillespie Neuroscience Research Facility located in the College of Medicine.
- Exterior shots of the Langson library were used in the film Poltergeist.
- UCI is frequently mentioned in the television series The O.C.
The O.C. is an American teen drama television series that originally aired on the Fox television network in the United States from August 5, 2003, to February 21, 2007, running a total of four seasons...
Its executive producer, Joseph McGinty Nichol, is a UCI graduate.
- Commander Chuck Street, a helicopter pilot, traffic reporter for KIIS-FM
KIIS-FM is a Los Angeles, California, USA-based radio station with a partial Top 40 musical format. It is owned by Clear Channel Communications. KIIS is also simulcasted on KVVS in Rosamond, at 105.5 MHz...
and KTLAKTLA, virtual channel 5, is a television station in Los Angeles, California, USA. Owned by the Tribune Company, KTLA is an affiliate of the CW Television Network. KTLA's studios are on Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is located atop Mount Wilson...
, and local celebrity, landed in front of UCI's Gateway Study Center next to the Administration building lawn to participate in 2004 Wayzgoose celebrations. This stunt was made riskier in light of an unexpected rainstorm that occurred during his landing, which eventually led to the event's cancellation. Commander Chuck also made an appearance at UCI Medical Center in 2006.
- On MTV's America's Best Dance Crew
America's Best Dance Crew, often abbreviated as ABDC, is an American competitive dance reality television series that features street dance crews from the United States and around the world. It is produced by American Idol judge Randy Jackson and airs on MTV...
, various parts of UCI are shown as the dance crew Kaba Modern is at UCI.
- Neuroscientist lecturer James Fallon was featured, along with credits to University of California Irvine, on an episode of Criminal Minds
Criminal Minds is an American police procedural drama that premiered September 22, 2005, on CBS. The series follows a team of profilers from the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit based in Quantico, Virginia. The BAU is part of the FBI National Center for the Analysis of Violent Crime...
during its 5th season.
- Parts of the music video for "Live A Little" by Gym Class Heroes
Gym Class Heroes is an American hip hop rock band from Geneva, New York. They have collaborated with Fall Out Boy's Patrick Stump on numerous occasions, notably for providing backing vocals on the song "Cupid's Chokehold." Stump also produced the majority of their album The Quilt.The group formed...
were filmed at the Bren Events CenterDonald Bren Events Center is a 4,984-seat, indoor multi-purpose stadium, on the campus of the University of Irvine, in California.-Construction and history:...
during the fourth annual Shocktobersfest in 2009.
External links