EncyclopediaCalifornia, University of
California, University of, at ten campuses, main campus at Berkeley; land-grant and state supported; coeducational; chartered 1868, opened 1869 when it took over the College of California (est. 1853 at Oakland as Contra Costa Academy). In 1873 it moved to the present Berkeley campus. At Berkeley are the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (which the university runs for the U.S. Department of Energy); the main library, which houses over 7 million volumes; and an extensive museum system including museums of paleontology, zoology, and anthropology.
The Los Angeles campus (est. 1881 as Los Angeles State Normal School, transferred to the university 1919) is known for its theater department. Its research institutes include programs on the brain and on nuclear medicine. At La Jolla is the San Diego campus, centered around the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (est. 1901, transferred to the university 1912), whose research facilities include several ships and marine laboratories; a comprehensive undergraduate program was added in 1964. At San Francisco are the medical campus (est. 1864 as Toland Medical College, transferred to the university 1934) and Hastings College of the Law. Other campuses are at Riverside (est. 1907 as the Citrus Experiment Station), Santa Barbara (est. 1891 as a private school, transferred to the university 1944), Davis (opened 1909 as the Univ. Farm School), Irvine (est. 1960, opened 1965), Santa Cruz (est. 1965), and Merced (opened 2005). The university also operates the Lawrence Livermore and, as a partner in Los Alamos National Security, the Los Alamos national laboratories, the Lick Observatory, numerous agricultural experiment stations, and a statewide extension service. Total enrollment in the Univ. of California system is over 165,000 students.
The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.
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