History of the UC System

Over our four day weekend, I have spent a lot of time researching colleges and the different majors they offer. In class, we learned about Berkeley and the Free Speech Movement and I wanted to read a little more on how the UC system came about. Berkeley is the oldest UC school so I started there. 

When the private College of California could not find enough funds to operate, they combined their school with the state school of Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College. They formed the University of California. When the school first opened in September 1869, they used the buildings of the College of California in Oakland while the new campus was being built. When the construction was complete, the university moved to Berkeley with only 167 males and 22 female students. The first woman to graduate from the University of California was Rosa L. Scrivner. She earned a Ph.B in Agriculture. Since the school was a public institution, the state required the first male undergraduates served two hours a week training in tactics, fortifications, camp duty, and marksmanship. At the time, North Hall was an armory. 

The Hearst family made many large donations to the school and endowed many of its programs. They funded programs such as the international architectural competition and funded the Hearst Memorial Mining Building and Hearst Hall. Another large donor was Levi Strauss who helped fund scholarships for students. 

UC Berkeley became increasingly popular as its president, Wheeler, brought in famous faculty and gained many research and scholarship funds. As the school grew, new buildings were constructed and many of the iconic buildings were designed by John Galen Howard in a neoclassical style. Howard was an American Architect who moved from New York to San Francisco. He was the architect of the Master Plan for the school. His most famous building on the campus is the Campanile.