University of California, San Diego

The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego or UCSD) is a public land-grant research university in the La Jolla neighborhood of San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960, it is the southernmost of the ten campuses of the University of California. It occupies 2,178 acres (881 ha) near the Pacific coast.

UC San Diego consists of 12 schools and has 8 undergraduate residential colleges. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity". The university offers over 200 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, enrolling 35,442 undergraduate and 10,736 graduate students.

History

When the Regents of the University of California originally authorized the San Diego campus in 1956, it was planned to be a graduate and research institution, providing instruction in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering. Local citizens supported the idea, voting the same year to transfer to the university 59 acres (24 ha) of mesa land on the coast near the pre-existing Scripps Institution of Oceanography. The Regents requested an additional gift of 550 acres (220 ha) of undeveloped mesa land northeast of Scripps, as well as 500 acres (200 ha) on the former site of Camp Matthews from the federal government, but Roger Revelle, then director of the Scripps Institution and main advocate for establishing the new campus, jeopardized the site selection by exposing the La Jolla community's exclusive real estate business practices, which were antagonistic to minority racial and religious groups. This outraged local conservatives, as well as Regent Edwin W. Pauley. Revelle also got involved in a bitter debate with Jonas Salk over where Salk's proposed institute would be located relative to the new campus.UC president Clark Kerr satisfied San Diego city donors by changing the proposed name from the University of California, La Jolla, to the University of California, San Diego. The city voted to agree to its part of the deal in 1958, and the UC Board of Regents approved construction of the new campus in 1960. Because Revelle's tactless approaches to the clashes with Pauley and Salk had damaged his reputation with the board of regents, Kerr realized he could not nominate Revelle as the campus's first chancellor. Revelle's nomination would have become "an angry and drawn-out affair" and greatly detracted from the campus's future development. Herbert York, first director of Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was selected instead. York planned the main campus according to the "Oxbridge" model, relying on many of Revelle's ideas.

According to Kerr, "San Diego always asked for the best," though this created much friction throughout the UC system, including with Kerr himself, because UC San Diego often seemed to be "asking for too much and too fast." Kerr attributed UC San Diego's "special personality" to Scripps, which for over five decades had been the most isolated UC unit in every sense: geographically, financially, and institutionally. Scripps had originally explored the simple idea of adding a small program for graduate students to its existing research program. Over time, that idea evolved into something much larger and more complex, and it was a great shock to the Scripps community to learn that Scripps was now expected to become the nucleus of a new UC campus and would now be the object of far more attention from both the university administration in Berkeley and the state government in Sacramento.

Campus

UC San Diego is located in the residential neighborhood of La Jolla of northern San Diego, bordered by the communities of La Jolla Shores, Torrey Pines, and University City. The main campus consists of 761 buildings that occupy 1,152 acres (466 ha), with natural reserves covering about 889 acres (360 ha) and outlying facilities taking up the remaining area. The San Diego Freeway (Interstate 5) passes through the campus and separates Jacobs Medical Center and Mesa apartment housing from the greater part of the university. The Preuss School, a college-preparatory charter school established and administered by UC San Diego, also lies on the eastern portion of the campus.

Standing at the center of the university is the iconic Geisel Library, named after Dr. Seuss following a $20 million donation from his wife Audrey Geisel. Library Walk, a heavily traveled pathway leading from the library to Gilman Drive, lies adjacent or close to Price Center, Center Hall, International Center, and various student services buildings, including the Student Services Center and the Career Services building. The layout of the main campus centers on the library, which is roughly surrounded by the eight residential colleges of Revelle, Muir, Marshall, Warren, Roosevelt, Sixth, Seventh, and Eighth, in addition to the School of Medicine. The eight colleges maintain separate housing facilities for their students and each college's buildings are differentiated by distinct architectural styles. As residential colleges were added while the university expanded, buildings in newer colleges were designed with styles that were starkly different from that of the original campus. The disparate architectural styles led Travel + Leisure, in its October 2013 issue, to name the university as one of the ugliest campuses in America, likening it to "a cupboard full of kitchen appliances whose function you can't quite fathom."

In addition to its academic and housing facilities, the campus features eucalyptus groves, Birch Aquarium, and several major research centers. The Scripps Institution owns a sea port and several open ocean vessels for marine research. Several large shake facilities, including the world record holding Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table, used for earthquake simulations, are also maintained by the university.

The university has actively sought to reduce carbon emissions and energy usage on campus, earning a "gold" sustainability performance rating in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) survey. It was also praised in The Princeton Review's Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition for its strong commitment to sustainability in its academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.

Organization

UC San Diego is a large, primarily residential, public research university accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges that offers a four-year Bachelor of Arts and Bachelor of Science degree to undergraduate students. The full-time undergraduate program, which administered by Division of Undergraduate Education (2014) comprises the majority of enrollments at the university. The university offers 125 bachelor's degree programs traditionally organized into five disciplinary divisions: arts and humanities, biological sciences, engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, and social sciences. Students are also free to design special majors or engage in dual majors. As of 2010, 38% of undergraduates majored in the social sciences, followed by 25% in biological sciences, 18% in engineering, 8% in sciences and math, 4% in humanities, and 3% in the arts.

UC San Diego's comprehensive graduate program, which administered by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (2018) is composed of several divisions and professional schools (in parentheses their founding), including Scripps Institution of Oceanography (1903), School of Medicine (1968), Institute of Engineering in Medicine (2008), School of Global Policy and Strategy (1986), Jacobs School of Engineering (1964), Rady School of Management (2001), Skaggs School of Pharmacy (2002), Wertheim School of Public Health (2019), School of Computing, Information, and Data Sciences (2024), Halicioğlu Data Science Institute (2018), School of Arts and Humanities (1965), School of Biological Sciences (1961), School of Physical Sciences (1960) and School of Social Sciences (1986). The university offers 35 masters programs, 47 doctoral programs, five professional programs, and nine joint doctoral programs with San Diego State University and other UC campuses.

The university also offers a continuing and public education program through the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. (1966) Approximately 50,000 enrollees per year are educated in this branch of the university, which offers over 100 professional and specialized certificate programs. Courses are offered at Extended Studies facilities, located both on the main campus and off-campus, and also online. UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies offers programs in Arts & Humanities, Business & Leadership, Data Analysis & Mathematics, Digital Arts, Education, Engineering, Environment & Sustainability, International Programs, Languages, Law, Occupational Safety & Health, Pre-College, Sciences, Technology, and Writing, as well as public programs such as the UC San Diego Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the Helen Edison Lecture Series. UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies also has a 66,000-square-foot hub at the corner of Park Boulevard and Market Street in East Village, referred to as the Innovative Cultural and Education Hub. The project aims to "advance the burgeoning tech ecosystem downtown, contribute to the city's lively arts and culture scene, and connect in multiple ways with diverse neighborhoods such as Barrio Logan, the Diamond District, and Golden Hill."

Student life

In all, the university offers classical orchestras, intramural sports, and over 550 student organizations. 38 national and local Greek organizations are hosted on campus, with fraternity and sorority members representing 20% of the student population. The university operates on an academic quarter system, with three primary quarters beginning in late September and ending in mid-June. In 2015, 44% of undergraduate students received federal Pell Grants.

The undergraduate student body government is the Associated Students of the University of California, San Diego, organized as a cabinet and senate, while graduate students are represented by the Graduate Student Association, a proportional representative body with membership depending on the number of students in each graduate department. Additionally, graduate students who serve as teaching assistants are represented by the UC-wide union of Academic Student Employees. Each of the eight residential colleges has its own student council as well. Most student media publications distributed on-campus are services provided and governed by ASUCSD, including Triton Television, the school's student run film studio, and the KSDT radio station. A notable exception is The Guardian, which is directly governed by the university's Student Affairs department. Other student newspapers, include titles such as Black Voices, New Indicator (New Indicator Collective), Revellations, North star, Revelle Times, The New Wave, Sandscript, and Ujima.

Price Center, often referred to as PC, is the main student hub and is located in the center of campus, just south of Geisel Library. The building houses restaurants, the central bookstore, a movie theater, and office space for student organizations and faculty. A student referendum was passed in 2003 to nearly double Price Center, this "East expansion" was officially opened to the public on May 19, 2008. Many campus cooperatives, stores as well as The Hub (UCSD's Basic Needs program) operate out of the Student Center which is located towards the south-east of campus.

There are also seven community resource centers that cultivate community among faculty, staff, and students: the Cross-Cultural Center, the Women's Center, the Student Veterans Resource Center, the Intertribal Resource Center, the Raza Resource Centro, the Black Resource Center and the LGBT Resource Center. UC San Diego was the last UC campus to have such centers. All three, especially the Cross-Cultural Center that was created first, were founded in the mid-1990s as a result of student movements that demanded change despite opposition by the campus administration.

Athletics

UCSD's teams compete at the university's RIMAC facility, Triton Ballpark, and LionTree Arena.

On November 27, 2017, the university announced that its athletic programs have begun a six-year transition process from NCAA Division II to Division I, where it became a member of the Big West Conference. As of 2017 most of UC San Diego's 23 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams still participate in Division II, 12-member California Collegiate Athletic Association, and some compete independently. The water polo, fencing, and men's volleyball teams compete as part of Division I conferences. Before joining Division II in 2000, the school participated at the Division III level.

In all, the Tritons have won a total of 30 national championships in golf, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, and water polo. The 2006–07 season was marked as UC San Diego's best since moving to Division II, with 19 athletic programs qualifying for post-season competition, including 17 for the NCAA Championships. Eight of those teams finished with a top five national ranking.

Until 2007, UC San Diego was the only Division II school that did not offer athletic scholarships. In 2005, the NCAA created a rule that made it mandatory for all D-II programs to award athletic grants. Consequently, a measure was proposed to begin offering $500 "grants-in-aid" to all 600 intercollegiate athletes in order to meet this requirement. A student referendum was passed in February 2007, authorizing a $329 annual student fee to fund a raise in coaches' salaries, hire more trainers, and provide all athletes with a $500 scholarship.

The athletic department considered a move to Division I in 2011. The student body would have needed to approve a doubling of student fees to allow the university to meet minimum scholarship requirements for D-I participation. However, students overwhelmingly rejected this measure in 2012, halting any efforts for a move to Division I at that time.

On May 24, 2016, students at UC San Diego passed the vote to move their athletics to NCAA Division I. The school's newspaper, The Guardian, reported that voter turnout was 35 percent of the undergraduate population, when the measure only needed 20 percent to pass.

The university offers 30 sports club teams, including badminton, baseball, cycling, dancesport, ice hockey, lacrosse, rugby, sailing, soccer, snow skiing, tennis, volleyball, ultimate, water polo, and waterskiing. The UC San Diego surf team has won the national championship six times and is consistently rated one of the best surfing programs in the United States. UC San Diego does not have a football team. However, the university participated in intercollegiate football for one year during the 1968 season. The newly recruited Tritons lost all seven games that they played.

Administration

List of chancellors

The following persons have served as the chancellor of UC San Diego:

Table notes:

Alumni

UC San Diego faculty, researchers, and alumni have won 28 Nobel Prizes, 3 Fields Medals, 8 National Medals of Science, 8 MacArthur Fellowships and 4 Pulitzer Prizes. Additionally, of faculty past and present, 41 have been elected to the National Academy of Engineering, 110 to the National Academy of Sciences, 36 to the National Academy of Medicine and 130 to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

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