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The University of California, Riverside is a public, coeducational university situated in Riverside, California beside Box Springs Mountain. It is one of ten University Of California (UC) campuses and is popularly known as '''UCR''' or '''UC Riverside'''. HISTORY On February 14, 1907, the University of California Board of Regents established an experiment/research station on 23 acres of land on the east slope of Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, California. The purpose of this research station was to conduct various agricultural experiments such as fertilization, irrigation, improvement of crops, and air pollution research. It was here that the Navel Orange was introduced to the United States. 1 The laboratory was later moved in 1917 to the west slope of Box Springs Mountains. It was not associated with any particular campus but rather with the system as a whole. The laboratory was dubbed the Rubidoux Laboratory and slowly grew in size. When the laboratory celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, the laboratory had grown considerably in size with several new buildings and usage of its acres for experimental plantings. The laboratory's original two staff personnel increased to 265 personnel by 1957.2 In 1961, to reflect the growth of the laboratory, the name was changed to the Citrus Research Center and Agricultural Experiment Station. At the time, the director was Alfred M. Boyce for which Boyce Hall, the home to the Entomology and Biochemistry Departments, is named. University President Robert Gordon Sproul persuaded Gordon S. Watkins , former dean of the College of Letters and Science at University of California, Los Angeles, to undertake the organization of a small college of liberal arts at Riverside, California. In 1949, Watkins accepted the job and started five years of planning, faculty recruitment, and building construction. He became the first Chancellor of the Riverside campus and presided at the opening of the College of Letters and Science with 131 students in February 1954. Martinez, Richard. "700 Join in UCR's Second Founder's Day Celebration." ''Riverside Press Enterprise'', October 7, 1987. Since its opening, UC Riverside has expanded significantly, with a peak undergraduate enrollment of 15,399 students in 2003. However, for each subsequent year, total enrollment of students has declined to its current number of 14,649 3. Despite this recent decline, UCR has been projected to grow to 17,250 students by Fall 2006, and 25,000 by 2015. 45. Financially, UCR has received sufficient funding to become a comprehensive university, but has lagged behind other UC schools with respect to growth in this area. Despite being the fourth University of California campus to open, today it ranks the lowest in "financial resources," according to US News & World Report .6 7 ACADEMICS UC Riverside is a research-based university and offers 78 majors, 45 minors, 50 Master's degree programs, and 38 Ph.D programs. It is the only UC campus to offer an undergraduate degree in Creative Writing , despite the fact that 60% of incoming freshman are not capable of writing standard college English. It is one of only two UC's to offer an undergraduate degree in Business Administration. For the past decade, UC Riverside has had the most American Association For The Advancement Of Science (AAAS) fellows on of any institution in the nation. 89 According to The Princeton Review 's ''Best 361 Colleges, 2006'' guide (ISBN 0375764836) UCR is listed as one of the "Best Western Colleges"10 (registration required) and "America's Best Value Colleges",11 (registration required) along with most other UC schools. However, this same book listed UCR in the bottom twenty among its top 361 for "Teaching Assistants Teach Too Many Upper-Level Courses",12 (registration required) "Professors Get Low Marks Teaching ",13 (registration required) and "Professors Make Themselves Scarce".14 (registration required). US News & World Report ranks the University of California, Riverside undergraduate program #85 among national universities and #37 among public institutions. UCR has a lower peer assessment score, selectivity rank, and overall ranking than any other campus in the University of California, and unlike most other UCs it has no Nobel laureates on its faculty. Currently, all UC-eligible high school seniors in California who apply to the Riverside campus will be offered admission.15 As such, UCR's acceptance rate has always been amongst the highest (79% for 2004-05) and average GPA/SAT (3.48 and 1074, respectively) amongst the lowest, compared to the other UC schools. In order to attract more competitive applicants, UCR has invited home-schooled and other nontraditional students to submit a portfolio of their work in addition to test scores.16 The Thomas Haider Program in Biomedical Sciences offers a joint medical degree program with UCLA . The first two years of medical instruction are taught on the UCR campus, and the biomedical teaching complex consists of two classrooms located adjacent to the campus greenhouses. Third and fourth year clerkships are conducted at UCLA and its affiliated hospitals along with the rest of the UCLA medical school class. Students admitted in the program receive a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from UCR and an MD degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. In the past, the UCLA program was only offered to biomedical science majors, but effective 2002, all qualified majors may apply to the program during their senior year. Up to twenty-four of each year's applicants are chosen to attend medical school at UCR and UCLA. Students not selected are still eligible to apply to other medical schools. UCR's library system is divided into general collections, music, media, and science specialties. General collections reside in the Tomás Rivera library, while the Science library building caters to the physical sciences, natural and agricultural sciences, biomedical sciences and engineering and computer sciences. It has no dedicated medical library for its 48 medical students, however. Of note, UCR is host to the world's largest academic collection of Star Trek material17, and houses the 80,000 volume Eaton Collection of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and utopian literature - the world's largest such compilation available to the general public. UCR is a primary partner in the Riverside Regional Technology Park, which also includes the City Of Riverside and the County Of Riverside . The park is intended to assist entrepreneurs in developing new products. STUDENT LIFE According to the 2005 College Board profile, 28% of all undergraduates live on campus. Housing is available to all students for their first year and 76% of all first-year students live on campus18. Additional housing is being constructed, but even so, only 30% of students choose to remain on campus for the weekend. Hate crimes are thought to occur once every 2-3 days in the Inland Empire, with 5 reported on the UCR campus alone in 2004.1920 According to 2003-05 data published by the UC Office of the President (Merced excluded) , UCR had the highest percentage of low socioeconomic status (SES) students compared to other UC's. Low SES was defined as family income below $30,000 per year and first generation college. Based on Academic Performance Index data, the freshman classes at UCR are composed of the highest percentage of students graduating from low-performing high schools. The retention rate for freshmen is 85%, the lowest of any UC.21 Additionally, only 5% of UCR alumni donate back to their alma mater, the lowest alumni giving rate of any national university. 22 The rates at UCLA and UC Davis are at 16% and 10% respectively. According to The Princeton Review 's 2004 publication of "Best 351 College Rankings", UC Riverside ranked #12 nationwide for "least happy students". Riverside is sometimes referred to as "The 909", which makes reference to the region's former primary area code but also carries somewhat of a negative connotation (compared to wealthier nearby Los Angeles and Orange Counties). Despite the 2004 prefix change to "951," the nickname remains in use. On the other side of the Moreno Valley Freeway , the University Village (UV) provides several shops and restaurants. UV's movie theaters also serve as lecture halls during the day, with a shuttle taking students every 15 minutes. The Commons serves as a small student center for the campus and includes study rooms and restaurants with benches for dining. Construction is underway to more than double the size of the Center from 65,000 square feet to 140,000 square feet. The new 50 million dollar Student Commons (slated for completion in 2008) is expected to include large buildings containing expanded meeting rooms, dining, and places to study.[http://california.construction.com/features/archive/0405_Feature11.asp The university has attempted to institute new instructional technologies such as online discussion groups, and its free wireless internet coverage has been praised by Intel.23 Riverside is part of what some locals refer to as the “smog belt” because of its above-average level of air pollution.24 The associated brown haze can be seen in the Carillon Tower photo to the upper-right, visible in the bottom third of the sky. According to the National Campaign Against Dirty Air Power (2003), the Riverside-San Bernardino-Ontario area was one of the most polluted areas in comparison to other U.S. cities. A study in the New England Journal of Medicine (2004) found that levels of pollution in Riverside were among the highest in southern California, and that the air in this region can damage the lungs of children. 25 2004;351:1057-1067 . The Pollution Research Center (PRC) at UCR serves to further study the effects of air pollution on the environment. ORGANIZATION Chancellors and chief campus officers
Colleges and schools UCR's academic departments and programs are organized into five colleges and schools:
UCR's University Extension program provides Continuing Education to community members of the Inland Empire . Future professional schools
ATHLETICS UCR competes in NCAA Division I of the Big West Conference , despite lacking a football team. The volleyball and basketball teams currently play in the Student Recreation Center . Construction of an actual arena has been proposed, although UCR athletic attendance ranks near the bottom of all Big West schools.28 Unlike every other undergraduate UC campus, UC Riverside does not have a marching band, but instead features a rock band with horns, a guitar, and a drummer. During many athletic events, UCR brings its Kilt ed Bagpipe and drum ensemble. Due to NCAA's restriction against amplified instruments, UCR sometimes must "rent" a marching band from other colleges such as UCI and UCSB.2930 The official UCR mascot is "Scotty," a Highlander tartan-wearing bear. NOTABLE FACULTY
NOTABLE ALUMNI Academia, Science, Technology
Arts, Film and Literature
Athletics
Business and Politics
Nobel Laureates
POINTS OF INTEREST
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