University of California, Davis

The University of California, Davis, commonly abbreviated to UC Davis or UCD, is one of the ten University of California campuses. It is located in Davis, California, about fifteen miles west of Sacramento. in California's Central Valley. As of Fall 2003, it had a total student enrollment of 30,229 with over 147,000 degreed alumni.

History

What was to become the seventh UC Campus opened its doors to 40 degree students (all male) from Berkeley in January, 1909 as the University Farm¹. Its existence is largely the result of the vision and perseverance of Peter J. Shields, secretary of the State Agricultural Society, and the eponym of UC Davis' Peter J. Shields Library. He began to champion the cause of a University Farm to teach agriculture in a more applied fashion after hearing about Californian students who chose to go to out-of-state universities due to the lack of such a program in the University of California at that time. He later stated:

"There was a College of Agriculture at Berkeley in connection with the University of California, but it was purely academic. It was largely confined to the study of botany and chemistry; it had no farm and little prestige; it was apt to be thought of as a snap curriculum, attracting students who wanted to go to college but wanted to avoid its more difficult work."

After two failed bills, a law authorizing the creation of a University Farm was passed in 1905, and Yolo county, home to some of California's prime farmland, was chosen as the site. The Farm accepted its first female students in 1914 from Berkeley. Renamed in 1922 the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture, it continued growing at a breakneck pace: in 1916 the Farm's 314 students occupied the original 778 acre campus, but by 1951 it had already expanded to a size of 3,000 acres. In 1959, the campus was incorporated as the seventh general campus in the University of California system, with Stanley B. Freeborn as its first Chancellor. It has since grown into a vibrant and politically active campus, with noted protests during the Vietnam War years.

Organization

Chancellors

The office of Chancellor was begun in 1958 when Provost Stanley B. Freeborn became the campus' first Chancellor:

Stanley B. Freeborn (1958-1959)
Emil M. Mrak (1959-1969)
James H. Meyer (1969-1987)
Theodore L. Hullar (1987-1994)
Larry N. Vanderhoef (1994-)

Colleges and Professional Schools

Academics and Notables

UC Davis is a highly ranked research university, ranked 16th among public universities nationwide by the National Research Council, 11th among public universities nationwide by U.S. News & World Report, and 15th in research funding among U.S. universities by the National Science Foundation.

Its distinguished faculty counts among itself 18 members of the National Academy of Sciences, 6 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 7 members of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 1 Fields Medalist, and 2 MacArthur Fellows.

The university is known for its extremely selective Veterinary Medicine program, as well as for its Department of Applied Science, created and formerly chaired by noted physicist Edward Teller.

Sports

After finishing first in NCAA Division II six times in 2003, the UC Davis Aggies (or Ags) are currently in the four-year process of transitioning to NCAA Division I and the Big West Conference. The official school colors are blue and gold, and the mascot is a ]mustang]].

Notes

¹ The farm began accepting non-degree farmers' short courses in October of 1908; there were initially around 115 such attendees.

External links

University of California, Davis - Official Web site
U.C. Davis USENET FAQ - Unofficial FAQ

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