University of California

University of California History and Archives

Earning My Degree: Memoirs of an American University President

David P. Gardner
2005

University of California History

Chronicle of the University of California Archive

Clark Kerr and the Californian Model of Higher Education

Simon Marginson
2014

Fifty years on, Clark Kerr’s multiversity and the Californian Master Plan for Higher Education stand as signal high points in the building of not just great public institutions but high participation modern human society. Key features of the Californian Model have become a universal template for research universities and system design. Seminal ideas and practices of higher education developed by Clark Kerr, Martin Trow, Burton Clark and others continue to colonize the thinking of policy makers, scientists, scholars, students and citizens, with profound effects not just in the United States...

An Analysis of Alternatives for Gaining Capacity so as to Maintain Access to the University of California

C. Judson King
2006

This paper analyzes the need for providing additional undergraduate enrollment capacity at the University of California (UC) and of alternatives for gaining such capacity at UC and, by extension, other public research universities. In addition to the creation of new campuses, other approaches are capable of giving significant additional capacity as well. Some of these approaches are congruent with academic objectives; others are substantially neutral in that regard; and others probably do lessen the academic experience. A desirable approach is to have new campus sites continually...

Civic & Academic Engagement in the Multiversity: Institutional Trends and Initiatives at the University of California

Symposium Objectives: share national perspectives on how research universities are developing and supporting academic environments that integrate civic engagment; present national and UC specific data (including UCUES data) on student civic and academic engagement; discuss system-wide reports and white papers addressing current UC best practices in community-based learning and research; and discuss future innovative academic initiatives within the UC

The Effects of a Changing Financial Context on the University of California

Gerald R. Kissler
Ellen Switkes
2005

California’s loss of capital gains and stock options revenue during the recent economic downturn was one of the worst in the nation, and the resulting fiscal crisis led to reductions in State appropriations to the University of 15% over the past four years, while enrollments grew by 19%. This article examines the effects of this reduction in State funding and outlines the actions taken by the University of California to minimize the impact of these reductions in State funding. Despite sharp increases, student tuition and fee increases offset less than one-third of the total cut....

HOW AND WHY THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA GOT ITS AUTONOMY

John Aubrey Douglass
2015

The University of California became a “public trust” in 1879 as part of a larger revision of California’s Constitution approved by California voters. The University henceforth gained the exclusive power to operate, control, and administer the University of California, becoming virtually a fourth branch of state government, a "constitutional corporation . . . equal and coordinate with the legislature, the judiciary and the executive. It was a watershed moment in the history of California’s land-grant public university, fundamentally shaping the state’s subsequent development of the...

CLARK KERR: TRIUMPHS AND TURMOIL

David P. Gardner
2012

This paper is a personal recollection of Clark Kerr and his presidency of the University of California by a friend of 43 years, not from a distance, but as a former student, colleague and successor president of the University. It is also a summary remembrance of the contributions made by his three most influential predecessors. These three presidents: Gilman (1872-75), Wheeler (1899-1919), and Sproul (1930-1958), essentially defined the trail of history that led to and helped shape Kerr’s own presidency (1958-1967). The principal focus of this paper is Kerr’s beliefs, values, style,...