University of California, Riverside
The University of California, Riverside is a public land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of California system. The main campus sits on in a suburban district of Riverside with a branch campus of in Palm Desert. In 1907, the predecessor to UCR was founded as the UC Citrus Experiment Station, which conducted research in biological pest control and the use of growth regulators.
UCR's undergraduate College of Letters and Science opened in 1954. The Regents of the University of California declared UCR a general campus of the system in 1959, and graduate students were admitted in 1961. To accommodate an enrollment of 21,000 students by 2015, more than $730 million has been invested in new construction projects since 1999. UCR plans to have 35,000 students by 2035. Preliminary accreditation of the UC Riverside School of Medicine was granted in October 2012 and the first class of 50 students was enrolled in August 2013. It is the first new research-based public medical school in 40 years. UCR is a member of the Association of American Universities.
In 2000, UC Riverside was classified as an "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity." UCR's sports teams are known as the Highlanders and play in the Big West Conference of the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. Their nickname was inspired by the high altitude of the campus, which lies on the foothills of Box Springs Mountain.
History
At the turn of the 20th century, Southern California was a major producer of citrus, the region's primary agricultural export. The industry developed from the country's first navel orange trees, planted in Riverside in 1873. Lobbied by the citrus industry, the UC Regents established the UC Citrus Experiment Station on February 14, 1907, on of land on the east slope of Mount Rubidoux in Riverside. The station conducted experiments in fertilization, irrigation and crop improvement. In 1917, the station was moved to a larger site, near Box Springs Mountain.The 1944 passage of the GI Bill during World War II set in motion a rise in college enrollments that necessitated an expansion of the state university system in California. A local group of citrus growers and civic leaders, including many UC Berkeley alumni, lobbied aggressively for a UC-administered liberal arts college next to the CES. State Senator Nelson S. Dilworth authored Senate Bill 512 which former Assemblyman Philip L. Boyd and Assemblyman John Babbage were instrumental in shepherding through the State Legislature. Governor Earl Warren signed the bill in 1949, allocating $2 million for initial campus construction.
Gordon S. Watkins, dean of the UCLA College of Letters and Science, became the first provost of the new college at Riverside. Initially conceived of as a small college devoted to the liberal arts, he ordered the campus built for a maximum of 1,500 students and recruited many young junior faculty to fill teaching positions. He presided at its opening with 65 faculty and 127 students on February 14, 1954, remarking, "Never have so few been taught by so many."
UCR's enrollment exceeded 1,000 students by the time Clark Kerr became president of the UC system in 1958. Anticipating a "tidal wave" in enrollment growth required by the baby boom generation, Kerr developed the California Master Plan for Higher Education and the regents designated Riverside a general university campus in 1959. UCR's first chancellor, Herman Theodore Spieth, oversaw the beginnings of the school's transition to a full university and its expansion to a capacity of 5,000 students. UCR's second chancellor, Ivan Hinderaker led the campus through the era of the free speech movement and kept student protests peaceful in Riverside. According to a 1998 interview with Hinderaker, the city of Riverside received negative press coverage for smog after the mayor asked Governor Ronald Reagan to declare the South Coast Air Basin a disaster area in 1971; subsequent student enrollment declined by up to 25% through 1979. Hinderaker's development of innovative programs in business administration and biomedical sciences created incentive for enough students to enroll at Riverside to keep the campus open.
In the 1990s, UC experienced a new surge of enrollment applications, now known as "Tidal Wave II". The regents targeted UCR for an annual growth rate of 6.3%, the fastest in the UC system, and anticipated 19,900 students at UCR by 2010. By 1995, African American, American Indian, and Latino student enrollments accounted for 30% of the UCR student body, the highest proportion of any UC campus at the time. The 1997 implementation of Proposition 209—which banned the use of affirmative action by state agencies—reduced the ethnic diversity at the more selective UC campuses but further increased it at UCR.
With UCR scheduled for dramatic population growth, efforts have been made to increase its popular and academic recognition. The students voted for a fee increase to move UCR athletics into NCAA Division I standing in 1998. In the 1990s, proposals were made to establish a law school, a medical school, and a school of public policy at UCR, with the UCR School of Medicine and the School of Public Policy becoming reality in 2012. In June 2006, UCR received its largest gift, 15.5 million from two local couples, in trust towards building its medical school. The regents formally approved UCR's medical school proposal in 2006. Upon its completion in 2013, it was the first new medical school built in California in 40 years.
Campus
UCR's main campus sits at an elevation of to near Box Springs Mountain, 3 miles east of downtown Riverside, 3 miles south of neighboring Highgrove, CA, and comprises divided into eastern and western areas by the State Route 60 freeway.East Campus, occupying approximately, hosts the core cluster of academic buildings and services. The original buildings that formed the earliest kernel of the campus included the UC Citrus Experiment Station, residential buildings, and barn, all of which are still in use. They were designed by Lester H. Hibbard, in association with H.B. Cody. Built by 1917 at a cost of $165,000, the architecture of the major buildings followed the Mission Revival style suggesting the Spanish colonial heritage of Southern California.
Further major construction largely ceased on the site until the groundbreaking for the College of Humanities Arts and Social Sciences in April 1951. A group of five buildings designed by different architects in a decidedly more Modern style were completed by 1954: the Rivera Library, Webber Hall, Geology Building, Physical Education Building and Watkins Hall. After the Regents declared UCR a "general campus" of the UC system in 1958, many new buildings and additions were laid out over the following decade. Following an east–west axis, new student residence halls and athletic facilities were developed along the southeastern quadrant of the main campus, while academic and research facilities were built along the central campus area closer to the freeway. The Bell Tower, one of only five carillons in California, was built in this period. Designed by A. Quincy Jones, the tower is tall and contains 48 bells, each weighing from to, covering four chromatic octaves.
After the drop in enrollment and subsequent restructuring of academic programs in the 1970s, little capacity construction was undertaken over the next two decades. However, enrollment growth in the late 1980s justified considerable further campus expansion over the 1990s. Major additions built in the period include: Bourns Hall, completed in 1995; the Humanities & Social Science building, completed in 1996; and the Science Library, completed in 1998. The Pentland and Stonehaven residence halls were completed in 2000, and the Arts building was completed in 2001. Active construction projects include the "Multidisciplinary Research Building," new residence halls located east of A-I and ongoing renovations to Pierce Hall. The first phase of a new Commons was completed in 2007, and phase II is in development. Other ongoing projects include a new CHASS Instructional and Research Center and Students Academic Support Services Building. Since 1999, more than $730 million has been invested in construction projects.
File:UCR Bio Sci Landscaping.jpg|thumb|Xeriscaping in front of the Biological Sciences Building on the UCR campus |alt=Xeriscaping in front of the Biological Sciences Building
Of the of UCR property constituting West Campus, approximately along University Avenue have been developed. These include facilities such as University Extension, the United States Department of Agriculture Germplasm Repository, International Village, Human Resources and Highlander Hall. University Village, a mixed use commercial development, features a movie theater, stores, restaurants, office space, and an apartment complex, along with a parking structure and surface parking. Citrus groves and row crops occupy the remaining stretching northwest to the intersection of Chicago Avenue and Le Conte Drive. Plans for future expansion include converting a portion of these fields into new UCR infrastructure.
The University of California, Riverside has recently united its three downtown arts presentation venues under the umbrella name of the UCR ARTSblock. The ARTSblock is composed of the UCR/California Museum of Photography, The Sweeney Art Gallery, and the Culver Center of the Arts, a media lab and presentation facility. The three institutions reside side by side in the heart of downtown Riverside's historic pedestrian mall.