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Irvine: Historical Overview
The history of the Irvine campus begins in the
early 1950s when the Regents concluded from University-wide enrollment
projections that three new campuses must be in operation by 1970,
one of which should be located in the east Los Angeles-Orange County
area. Twenty-three locations in this area were examined and in March,
1959, a site on the Irvine Ranch, a few miles inland from Newport
Beach, was tentatively selected by the Regents.
The Campus
Situated at the center of a large urbanizing
area and connected with metropolitan Los Angeles by a network of
freeways, the site was on gently rolling land, with an inspiring
outlook over the Santa Ana Basin. Among principal reasons for its
choice was the great potential for development of an integrated
and interrelated campus and community, an opportunity provided through
mutual agreement with a single owner of the surrounding land.
After intensive studies by William Pereira and
Associates, architects and master planners, the site was determined
to be feasible according to criteria established by the Regents,
faculty, and planning committees, and a master plan of land use
for the area was agreed upon in principle. In July, 1960, the Irvine
Company offered 1,000 acres as a gift and the deed was recorded
on January 20, 1961. The Regents purchased an additional 510 acres
adjacent to the original site in January, 1964. Coordinated planning
of the ranch, the university community, and the campus was achieved
by the University and the Irvine Company, hiring Pereira and Associates
as master planners.
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Administrative and Academic Development
With the selection of Daniel G. Aldrich,
Jr., as first chancellor on January 19, 1962, Irvine was cast in
the role of carrying forward the spirit of the land grant colleges
and universities in meeting the needs of a new era.
As a soil scientist with the University for 20
years, Chancellor Aldrich was imbued with the land grant spirit
and practice through his association with the University Division
of Agricultural Sciences and Agricultural Extension. He was serving
as University dean of agriculture at the time of his appointment
as chancellor. An Academic Advisory Committee to assist in the development
of the Irvine program was appointed in April, 1963. Its members
were John S. Galbraith, chairman, William F. Kennedy, Robert F.
Gleckner, Carl H. Eckart and James M. Gillies. H. T. Swedenberg
later was appointed chairman to replace Galbraith when the latter
was named as chancellor at San Diego.
A "Provisional Academic
Plan for the Irvine Campus" was issued in April, 1963, with the
assistance of Ivan Hinderaker, vice-chancellor--academic affairs,
who became chancellor at Riverside in July, 1964. It outlined a
core academic organization consisting of a College of Arts, Letters
and Sciences, with Divisions of Social Sciences, Humanities, Fine
Arts, Biological Sciences and Physical Sciences, and a Department
of Physical Education. Also proposed at the outset were a School
of Engineering, a Graduate School of Administration, and an Institute
of Environmental Planning, which in 1965 was broadened into the
Public Policy Research Organization.
University Extension also became an integral part of the academic
plan. Irvine's first catalog, issued in July, 1965, followed this
outline. A statement of the "Irvine Approach," a consensus of the
faculty on the philosophy of the academic program, was issued informally
in July, 1965 by Jack W. Peltason, who replaced Hinderaker as vice-chancellor.
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The First Buildings
Pereira and Associates' "Long Range Development
Plan" for the Irvine campus presented in June, 1963 a physical scheme
centered about a large central park, with plazas for each academic
discipline radiating from an inner circle of buildings. An administrative
plaza linked the campus to the adjacent town center to be developed
on the Irvine property. Initial structures were the Library-Administration,
the Commons, the Humanities-Social Science, the Fine Arts, and the
Natural Science Buildings, and the Science Lecture Hall--all forming
part of the inner circle--a Central (utilities) Plant, Campus Hall
(including a gymnasium-auditorium and student health facilities)
and Mesa Court, a complex of ten residence halls accommodating 500
single students. Dedication of the site was held at impressive ceremonies
on June 20, 1964, with President Lyndon B. Johnson as principal
speaker.
Pending completion of initial major structures,
the staff first was located in the old Irvine Ranch home, then moved
late in 1962, with the step-up of recruitment, to interim offices
at the Service-Research Center. The Research Annex was established
at the center in 1964 to accommodate research by faculty members
who were involved in program planning prior to opening of the central
campus facilities. The UCI Computer Facility was established in
temporary quarters in June, 1965, with the announced intention of
making Irvine a model for computerization of university campuses.
All except campus maintenance and storehouse operations moved to
the central campus in late summer, 1965.
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The Campus Opens
Marking the opening of the campus, the first
student-faculty convocation was held in Campus Hall on September
26, 1965. A faculty of 114 members, 99 of whom held doctorates,
included 26 professors, 15 associate professors, and 56 assistant
professors. Enrollment for the fall quarter, 1965 was 1,589 students,
including 1,449 undergraduates, 140 postgraduates, among whom were
19 foreign students. Graduate programs were offered in each of the
college divisions and the School of Engineering. The library contained
approximately 100,000 volumes at opening and planned for 400,000
by 1970.
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Early Campus Life
Student activities at the outset concentrated
on establishing a student government, an honor system, and extracurricular
organizations. Intramural and recreational programs and intercollegiate
teams were initiated in water polo, swimming, basketball, crew,
sailing, tennis, and golf, with other major and minor sports to
be added later. The Arts and Lectures Committee and University Extension
also offered a wide variety of important cultural and topical programs
for students, faculty, staff, and the public.
Community support for the campus and its programs
showed early strength and was channeled into several organizations
formed during 1964-65 under the leadership of H. B. Atwood, public
affairs officer. These were: Friends of the University, a general
support group directed by business, professional, labor, and civic
leaders, with the stated purpose "to unite the communities and the
University in the development of a great intellectual and cultural
center. . ."; Friends of the UCI Library, which early developed
an extensive membership with the purpose of helping to create a
"distinguished reference and research center" and rendered
other services; UCI Town and Gown, composed of community social
leaders and wives of faculty members; UCI Public Relations Advisory
Council, composed of public relations executives of the area; and
the Big I Boosters, organized to assist in support of intercollegiate
and intramural sports programs. Alumni of other campuses of the
University also exhibited strong interest through membership in
UCI support groups and attendance at the annual All University Picnic
which quickly became an Irvine tradition.
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Future Directions
Established as a major University campus,
Irvine was expected to grow rapidly both in size and extent of its
programs, with enrollment planned to reach 27,500 by 1990. Commitments
for proposals gained rapid support in the mid-1960s. The Department
of Health Education and Welfare contributed $1.5 million toward
construction of a $9 million physical science building scheduled
for completion in 1968, which was to include an atomic reactor and
a low temperature laboratory. Other major buildings planned for
completion during 1969 were Library Unit II, Engineering Unit I,
and Fine Arts Unit I.
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