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Chronological Timeline
1853	Contra Costa Academy opened in Oakland, June 6.
1855	College of California chartered, April 3.
1860	Dedication of Berkeley site by College of California trustees, April 16.
1866	Agricultural, Mining and Mechanical Arts College created by the legislature. Berkeley named by Frederick Billings.
1868	Legislation creating the University of California signed by Governor Henry H. Haight, March 23.
1869	University of California opened in Oakland, September 23; the following colleges were established and began instruction: College of Letters (now College of Letters and Science); College of Agriculture; College of Chemistry; College of Mechanic Arts (one of the forerunners of the College of Engineering, established 1931); College of Mining (one of the forerunners of engineering); and the College of Civil Engineering (another of the forerunners of engineering).
1870	Henry Durant elected first President of the University, August 16.
1872	Daniel Coit Gilman accepted the Presidency following Durant's resignation.
1873	Medical School founded as a result of gift by Dr. H. H. Toland.
	California Pharmaceutical Society affiliated with the University.
	First Commencement held at Berkeley.
1874	Lick Observatory established by gift from James Lick; accepted by the Regents as the Lick Astronomical Department of the University in 1888.
1875	John LeConte became President of the University upon Gilman's resignation.
1878	Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco opened, August 9.
1881	W. T. Reid became President of the University upon LeConte's resignation.
	Los Angeles State Normal School established.
	College of Dentistry established in San Francisco.
1885	Edward S. Holden elected President of the University upon Reid's resignation.
1888	Horace Davis elected President of the University upon Holden's resignation.
1890	Martin Kellogg elected President of the University pro tempore upon Davis' resignation.
1891	University Extension inaugurated.
1892	First Stanford-California football game played, March 19.
1893	Martin Kellogg elected President of the University.
	Mark Hopkins Institute of Art (now San Francisco Art Institute) established.
1895	Graduate Council (forerunner of the Graduate Division at Berkeley) established as a standing committee of the Academic Senate.
1898	College of Commerce established at Berkeley.
1899	Benjamin Ide Wheeler inaugurated as President of the University upon Kellogg's resignation.
1900	Summer School began.
	Regents adopted the architectural plan for the Berkeley campus created by Paris architect Emile Bérnard, winner of the international competition sponsored by Mrs. Phoebe Apperson Hearst.
1901	Marine Station at La Jolla (now Scripps Institution of Oceanography) endowed by Ellen B. and E. W. Scripps; made part of the University in 1912.
1905	University Farm School at Davis created by the legislature.
1906	Following San Francisco earthquake, College of Medicine transferred the first two years of instruction to the Berkeley campus.
1907	Citrus Experiment Station established at Riverside.
	Training School for Nurses established at San Francisco.
	University Hospital began operation.
1909	University Farm School at Davis began operation.
1911	Citrus Experiment Station at Riverside officially named; John Webber appointed first director.
1912	School of Jurisprudence (now School of Law) established at Berkeley.
	Extension Division established.
1914	Agriculture Extension Service supported jointly by University and U.S. Department of Agriculture.
	School of Education organized at Berkeley.
1917	University of California Hospital opened in San Francisco.
1919	David Prescott Barrows elected President of the University upon Wheeler's resignation.
	Los Angeles State Normal School became Southern Branch of the University of California; Ernest Carroll Moore named first director (title changed to vice-president and director in 1930, to vice-president and provost in 1931).
	College of Letters and Science established at Los Angeles.
1923	William Wallace Campbell elected President of the University upon Barrows' resignation.
1926	School of Librarianship established at Berkeley.
1927	Regents changed name of the "Southern Branch" to the University of California, Los Angeles.
1929	Robert Gordon Sproul elected President of the University upon Campbell's resignation.
	University of California, Los Angeles moved to Westwood campus; first USC-UCLA football game played, September 28.
1930	Ernest O. Lawrence invented the cyclotron at Berkeley.
1936	Schools of Business Administration established at Los Angeles.
1939	School of Nursing established at San Francisco.
	School of Education organized out of old Teachers College; College of Agriculture established at Los Angeles.
	UC Berkeley professor Ernest O. Lawrence receives the Nobel Prize in Physics.
1941	School of Optometry established at Berkeley.
1943	School of Business Administration established at Berkeley.
	Davis campus taken over by the Army Signal Corps (1943-45).
1944	Santa Barbara State College became a campus of the University; Clarence L. Phelps named first provost.
	School of Public Health and School of Social Welfare established at Berkeley.
1945	Clarence A. Dykstra named provost of the University; College of Engineering and School of Medicine established at Los Angeles.
1946	School of Forestry established at Berkeley
	J. Harold Williams named provost at Santa Barbara.
	UC Berkeley professors John H. Northrop and Wendell M. Stanley receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1947	School of Social Welfare established at Los Angeles.
1948	Clarence A. Dykstra named vice-president and provost of the University (Los Angeles).
1949	Gordon S. Watkins named first provost at Riverside, five years prior to opening of the College of Letters and Science.
	School of Law and School of Nursing established at Los Angeles.
	School of Veterinary Medicine opened at Davis.
	UC Berkeley professor William F. Giaque receives the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1950	School of Criminology established at Berkeley.
1951	College of Letters and Science at Davis enrolled its first student.
	UC Berkeley professors Edwin M. McMillan and Glenn T. Seaborg receive the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
1952	Clark Kerr named first chancellor at Berkeley.
	Raymond B. Allen named chancellor at. Los Angeles; name of the Los Angeles campus changed to University of California, Los Angeles.
	Stanley B. Freeborn named first provost at Davis; title changed to chancellor in 1958.
1954	College of Letters and Science opened at Riverside.
	Santa Barbara campus moved to Goleta site.
1955	Clark George Kuebler named provost at Santa Barbara.
	Herbert C. Moffitt Hospital opened in San Francisco.
1956	Herman T. Spieth named provost of the Riverside campus; title changed to chancellor in 1958.
	Elmer R. Nobel named acting-provost at Santa Barbara; title changed to vice-chancellor and acting chief campus officer in 1958.
1958	Clark Kerr elected President of the University upon Sproul's retirement.
	Glenn T. Seaborg named chancellor at Berkeley.
	John B. deC. M. Saunders named first provost at San Francisco; title changed to chancellor in 1964.
	Santa Barbara designated a general campus of the University and renamed the University of California, Santa Barbara.
	Regents authorized establishment of an Institute of Technology and Engineering at La Jolla (now the School of Science and Engineering).
	School of Dentistry established at Los Angeles.
1959	Vern O. Knudsen named chancellor at Los Angeles.
	Emil M. Mrak named chancellor at Davis; Regents declared Davis a general campus of the University.
	Samuel B. Gould named first chancellor at Santa Barbara.
	Regents approved development of the La Jolla site as a general University campus; named University of California, San Diego in 1960.
	Site on the Irvine Ranch in Orange county tentatively selected for new campus of the University.
	College of Environmental Design established at Berkeley.
	UC Berkeley professors Emilio G. Segre and Owen Chamberlain receive the Nobel Prize in Physics
1960	Franklin D. Murphy named chancellor at Los Angeles; School of Library Service and School of Public Health established at Los Angeles.
	College of Agriculture established at Riverside.
	The Irvine Company offered 1,000 acres as a gift to the University for site of new campus; deed recorded, January 20, 1961.
	Two UC faculty members receive Nobel Prizes: Donald A Glaser (Physics, Berkeley), and Willard F. Libby (Chemistry, Los Angeles)
1961	Edward W. Strong named chancellor at Berkeley.
	Herbert F. York named first chancellor at San Diego.
	Dean E. McHenry named first chancellor at Santa Cruz.
	Graduate Divisions established at San Francisco, Riverside, Davis, and Santa Barbara.
	College of Letters and Science and College of Engineering established at Santa Barbara.
	Cowell Ranch property at Santa Cruz designated by the Regents as the south central coast site for a general campus of the University.
	College of Fine Arts established at Los Angeles.
	UC Berkeley professor Melvin Calvin received Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1962	Vernon I. Cheadle named chancellor at Santa Barbara; School of Education established at Santa Barbara.
	Daniel C. Aldrich, Jr., named first chancellor at Irvine.
	School of Architecture and Urban Planning established at Los Angeles.
	College of Engineering established at Davis.
	UC San Diego professor Francis Crick received Nobel Prize in Medicine.
1963	UC San Diego professor Maria Goeppert-Mayer received Nobel Prize in Physics
1964	Ivan Hinderaker named chancellor at Riverside.
	John S. Galbraith named chancellor at San Diego; San Diego campus commenced undergraduate instruction; School of Medicine at San Diego began organization, with plans to accept first students in the fall of 1968.
	School of Law established at Davis, with the first students to be admitted, fall, 1966.
	Graduate Divisions established at Santa Cruz and Irvine.
	UC Berkeley professor Charles H. Townes received Nobel Prize in Physics.
1965	Martin Meyerson named acting chancellor at Berkeley, serving from January to July; Roger W. Heyns named chancellor at Berkeley.
	Irvine campus opened; first student-faculty convocation held in Campus Hall, September 26.
	Cowell College began instruction at Santa Cruz.
	Establishment of a School of Medicine authorized for the Davis campus.
	UCLA professor Julian S. Schwinger received Nobel Prize in Physics.
1966	Willard C. Fleming named chancellor at San Francisco.
1967	Regents fire UC President Clark Kerr; Acting President Harry R. Wellman succeeds him as head of the University system.
1968	Charles J. Hitch becomes UC's 13th president.
	UC celebrates its centennial
	UC Berkeley professor Luis Alvarez received the Nobel Prize in Physics.
	Charles E. Young named chancellor at Los Angeles.
	William J. McGill named chancellor at San Diego.
1969	James H. Meyer named chancellor at Davis
	Philip R. Lee named chancellor at San Francisco.
1970	Protests erupt over Vietnam War, invasion of Cambodia and killing of four students at Kent State University.
	Governor closes all State-funded campuses for two days. Many classes are canceled, taught off-campus, or "reconstituted" to focus on ending the war.
1971	William D. McElroy named chancellor at San Diego.
	Albert H. Bowker named chancellor at Berkeley.
1972	Francis A. Sooy named chancellor at San Francisco.
1974	Amendments made to the California Constitution affecting the length of Regental terms and the composition of the Board.
	Mark N. Christensen named chancellor at Santa Cruz
	UC San Francisco professor George Palade received Nobel Prize in Medicine.
1975	David S. Saxon named UC's 14th president.
	UC San Diego professor Renato Dulbecco received Nobel Prize in Medicine.
1976	UC participates in celebrating the nation's Bicentennial Year.
1977	Robert A. Huttenback named chancellor at Santa Barbara
	Robert L. Sinsheimer named chancellor at Santa Cruz
1978	Bakke affirmative action decision handed down by the U.S. Supreme Court.
1979	Tomás Rivera is named UC's first Hispanic chancellor; he is appointed by the Regents to head the Riverside campus.
1980	UC Berkeley professor Czeslaw Milosz received the Nobel Prize in Literature, becoming UC's first Nobel Laureate and a non-science field.
	Ira Michael Heyman named chancellor at Berkeley.
	Richard C. Atkinson named chancellor at San Diego.
1981	MELVYL� comes on line with links to computer terminals throughout UC's libraries. The system enables users to determine by computer what books are held by any UC library.
1983	The Regents name David P. Gardner to be UC's 15th president.
	UC receives the first of annual allocations from the State to fight AIDS and sets up a task force to allocate funds to researchers trying to learn more about cause and treatment of the deadly syndrome.
	The third Monday in January, beginning in 1984, is designated as a University holiday in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
	UC Berkeley professor Gerard Debreu received the Nobel Prize in Economics.
	Julius R. Krevans named chancellor at San Francisco.
1984	The President's Fellowship Program is established. It is believed that this is the largest program of its kind sponsored by a major university. The program offers more than $1 million in postdoctoral fellowships for minority and women scholars.
	Jack W. Peltason named chancellor at Irvine
1985	Review of the California Master Plan for Higher Education undertaken.
	In response to unprecedented enrollment, the University adopts a new multiple filing system allowing students to use a single application form to apply to as many UC campuses as they want.
	Theodore L. Hullar named chancellor at Riverside.
1986	President Gardner supports the establishment of the Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies at UC San Diego, the first of its kind to concentrate on the importance of the Pacific Rim.
	UC Regents take a final vote on the issue of UC investments in companies with business ties to South Africa, with regard to apartheid; at this time, the Board adopts a policy of phased full divestment.
	UC opens a regional office in Fresno to ensure that Central Valley students have ready access to information about UC campuses.
	Smelser Report on Lower Division Education is issued.
	UC Berkeley professor Yuan T. Lee received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
1987	Regents approve the historic appointments of four new chancellors all at once, two of them--Rosemary S. J. Schraer, at UC Riverside, and Barbara Uehling, at UC Santa Barbara, are UC's first women chancellors.
	President Gardner shepherds an initiative to enhance research and teaching in the humanities, featuring the establishment of a Universitywide Humanities Research Institute at UC Irvine.
	UCLA professor Donald J. Cram received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
	Rosemary S.J. Scraer named chancellor at Riverside.
	Theodore L. Hullar named chancellor at Davis.
	Barbara S. Uehling named chancellor at Santa Barbara.
	Robert Stevens named chancellor at Santa Cruz.
1988	UC launches planning for up to three new campuses to meet the state's growing college enrollment demands.
	Groundbreaking ceremony held for Keck Observatory to house the world's largest telescope.
1989	UC awards its one-millionth degree.
	UC is named a host institute for the Tanner Lectures on Human Values, joining institutions such as Cambridge, Oxford and Harvard.
	UC begins a phased move of Office of the President employees from Berkeley to the Kaiser Center in Oakland.
	UC San Francisco professors J. Michael Bishop and Harold Varmus received the Nobel Prize in Medicine.
1990	Chang-Lin Tien is the first Asian-American to be named a UC chancellor; he is appointed by the Regents to head the Berkeley campus.
	The first All-University Faculty Conference since 1976 is convened to discuss faculty and graduate student affirmative action.
	UC San Diego professor Harry Markowitz receives the Nobel Prize in Economics.
1991	Karl S. Pister becomes chancellor at UC Santa Cruz.
	The Pister Task Force Report on Faculty Rewards is issued.
1992	Jack W. Peltason, chancellor of UC Irvine since 1984, becomes UC's 16th president.
	Raymond L. Orbach becomes chancellor at UC Riverside.
1993	The University celebrates its 125th anniversary.
	Laurel L. Wilkening becomes chancellor at UC Irvine.
	Joseph B. Martin becomes chancellor at UC San Francisco.
1994	Larry N. Vanderhoef becomes chancellor at UC Davis.
	Henry T. Yang becomes chancellor at UC San Diego.
	UC Berkeley professor John C. Harsanyi receives the Nobel Prize in Economics.
1995	Richard C. Atkinson, chancellor of UC San Diego since 1980, becomes UC's 17th president.
	Three UC faculty members receive Nobel Prizes: F. Sherwood (Chemistry, Irvine), Frederick Reines (Physics, Irvine), and Paul Crutzen (Chemistry, San Diego).
1996	Regents approve formation of UCSF Stanford Health Care.
	Oakland City Council approves new UC headquarters.
	UC announces plans to open regional office in New Mexico.
	M.R.C. Greenwood becomes chancellor at UC Santa Cruz.
	Robert Dynes becomes chancellor at UC San Diego.
1997	UC announces founding of the California Digital Library.
	UC and Mexico agree on Joint Research and Education Pact.
	Regents approve lease for new Genome Sequencing Facility.
	Regents approve UC Partnerships Plan with public schools.
	Robert M. Berdahl becomes chancellor at UC Berkeley.
	Albert Carnesdale becomes chancellor at UCLA.
	Haile T. Debas becomes chancellor at UC San Francisco.
	20 UC faculty members are named Fulbright Scholars.
	Two UC faculty members receive Nobel Prizes: Stanley Prusiner (Medicine, San Francisco), and Paul Boyer (Chemistry, Los Angeles).
1998	New state budget invests in UC access and outreach.
	UC launches a national search for a chancellor to head the planned UC Merced campus, the first new campus in the system in 33 years.
	Graduate student teaching assistants go on strike throughout the UC system.
	Ralph J. Cicerone becomes chancellor at UC Irvine.
	J. Michael Bishop becomes chancellor at UC San Francisco.
	Two UC faculty members receive Nobel Prizes: Louis J. Ignarro (Medicine, Los Angeles), and Walter Kohn (Chemistry, Santa Barbara).
1999	Stanford University withdraws from UCSF Stanford Health Care.
	Fourteen UC faculty elected to National Academy of Sciences.
	UC launches Principal Leadership Institutes .
	California House opens in London.
	Groundbreaking at UC Washington Center .
	Carol Tomlinson-Keasey becomes chancellor at UC Merced.
2000	President Atkinson proposes new "dual admission" path for students to enter UC.
	UC initiates first large-scale U.S. university exchange program with the Philippines.
	UC makes $1 million award for first study of kidney and liver transplants in HIV patients .
	Guggenheim fellowships awarded to nine UC faculty.
	Nine researchers with UC ties elected to National Academy of Sciences .
	Three UC faculty members receive Nobel Prizes: Daniel McFadden (Economics, Berkeley), Herbert Kroemer (Physics, Santa Barbara), and Alan J. Heeger (Chemistry, Santa Barbara).
2001	UC announces plans to extend eligibility to applicants from "top 4 percent" whose transcripts are not submitted.
	President Atkinson calls for ending SAT I test requirement for UC admissions .
	UC announces formation of housing task force.
	UC joins class action suit against senior Enron management.
	Packard Foundation donates more than $11 million to UC for acquisition of proposed Merced campus site.
	Regents approve "dual admissions" plan, expanding UC access for high-achieving students.
	Regents establish a UC office in Mexico City.
	UC Berkeley professor George A. Akerlof receives the Nobel Prize in Economics.
2002	UC officially dedicates its new Washington Center.
	France A. Córdova becomes chancellor at UC Riverside.
	Citing safety concerns, UC recalls students studying in Israel.
	David Geffen gives an unrestricted gift of $200 million to UCLA medical center--the largest donation ever received by UC.