Founded in 1965, the University of California, Irvine combines the strengths of a major research university with the bounty of an incomparable Southern California location. With a commitment to cutting-edge research, teaching, learning and creativity, UC Irvine is a driving force of innovation and discovery that benefits our local, national and global communities in multiple ways.

With more than 25,000 students, 1,800 faculty members and 8,600 staff, UCI is among the fastest-growing campuses in the University of California system. Increasingly a first-choice campus for students, UC Irvine ranks among the top U.S. universities in the number of undergraduate applications and continues to admit freshmen with highly competitive academic profiles. Orange County’s second-largest employer, UCI generates an annual economic impact on the county of $3.7 billion.

Excellence in Academics and Research

UCI is a center for quality education that fosters passionate and enthusiastic expansion of knowledge and approaches to scholarship. Graduates are prepared to be global citizens equipped with the tools of analysis, expression and cultural understanding required for leadership in today’s world.

UCI is consistently ranked among the nation’s best universities - public and private - with achievements in a broad range of fields that have garnered high national rankings for numerous schools, departments and programs. Three UCI researchers have won Nobel Prizes - most recently Irwin Rose, in chemistry, in 2004.

Interdisciplinary research, a UCI hallmark, is evident in Calit2 (California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology), the Center for the Study of Democracy, Institute of Transportation Studies, Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, Newkirk Center for Science and Society, Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture, as well as innovative instructional programs in biomedical engineering, health sciences, international studies, global cultures, and arts and technology, to name a few.

UCI’s tradition of combining research and teaching to produce new leaders for our region, state and nation has resulted in the extraordinary high quality of the campus’s research and graduate programs, an extensive commitment to undergraduate education, and a growing number of professional schools and programs of academic importance and great social significance. Recent additions include programs in public health, pharmaceutical sciences and nursing science, as well as a School of Law scheduled to open in 2009.

A Prime Resource for the Community

UCI reaches beyond its classrooms and laboratories to address societal issues and support human development. In the health sciences, UCI is noted for its research on cancer, the neurosciences and the genetic underpinnings of disease. UC Irvine Medical Center, Orange County’s only university hospital, is building a new world-class facility that, upon completion in 2009, will house the latest technologies and strengthen UCI’s ability to provide specialized medical and surgical treatments to the region’s citizens.

A major intellectual and cultural center, UCI engages the community through many public activities and events. Campus speakers have included Nobel Peace Prize winners such as His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi and Kenyan environmental advocate Wangari Maathai, who also received the UCI Citizen Peacebuilding Award for their efforts toward world peace.

Building an Even Brighter Future

UCI’s vital partnerships with the community continue to expand. Generous support has led to culturally significant projects such as the Arts Plaza designed by Maya Lin, creator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Prestigious faculty chairs have been endowed campuswide, with those in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, The Paul Merage School of Business and The Henry Samueli School of Engineering established through the generous support of their namesakes.

UCI is a strategic partner in OCTANe, an entrepreneurial network driving innovation and growth among Orange County’s biomedical and information technology businesses. Development also continues on the 185-acre University Research Park, adjacent to campus and offering companies collaborative opportunities in medical research, biotechnology, engineering, computer science and business.

UCI is benefiting the community and the world in countless ways through its scholarly, scientific, creative and economic contributions. UCI now has embarked on a strategic plan that will ensure the campus continues to inspire excellence as it fulfills its research, teaching and public service missions in the decades ahead.

Research

Research at the University of California is characterized by inquiry, investigation and discovery leading to new knowledge, insight and understanding. It encompasses traditional hypothesis-driven experimentation as well as multidisciplinary, technology-driven efforts leading to unanticipated discoveries. It includes analytical and interpretive activities in the humanities and social sciences, along with creative endeavors in the arts.

UCI embraces the idea that undergraduate students, as well as graduate students, should not only be exposed to the research process but to participate as well. Through the Undergraduate Research Opportunities Program, students take advantage of research and creative opportunities in every campus discipline and through outside entities, including national laboratories, industrial partners and other universities. The Campuswide Honors Program actively encourages honors students to engage in research with faculty mentors. There are dozens of specialized research organizations on campus, and all UCI faculty members participate in some type of research, research-related scholarly activities and/or creative endeavors.

Teaching

UCI is among the fastest growing research universities in the nation, poised to expand at an unprecedented rate to help accommodate the largest influx of students in UC’s history. Enrollment, now around 25,000, is expected to grow to about 32,000 students by 2015. At the same time, the campus plans to add hundreds of new faculty positions. Today, with about 1,800 faculty members, the campus offers 76 bachelor’s programs, 49 master’s programs and 45 doctoral programs, including an M.D. and an E.D.

Academic units on campus include the arts, biological sciences, education, engineering, humanities, information and computer sciences, physical sciences, social ecology, and social sciences. In addition to the new law school, UCI has a professional business school, medical school, and Orange County’s only academic and research hospital.

Public Service

Each year, UCI academic preparation programs touch the lives of tens of thousands of pre-kindergarten and K-12 students in California. Such model programs as Artsbridge, California History-Social Science Project, COSMOS (California State Summer School in Mathematics and Science), HABLA (Home-based Activities Building Language Acquisition), HOT (Humanities Out There), Global-Connect and MESA (Mathematics, Engineering, Science Achievement) are providing support in areas from the arts, literacy, social sciences and history to math, engineering, science and college preparation.

Athletics and Recreation

UCI’s Intercollegiate Athletics Program features 23 sports, with 11 men’s teams, 11 women’s teams, and one co-ed sailing team. UCI’s teams compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association Division I. The university also is a member of the Big West Conference and, in selected sports, the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation.

Since its inception, UCI has captured 24 national team championships in eight different sports, with 63 individuals winning national titles and significantly more than 400 individuals earning All-American honors. UCI has won 54 conference championships since 1977.

Recent upgrades include Anteater Ballpark, home to the revitalized baseball program; Anteater Aquatics Complex, which houses the intercollegiate water polo, swimming and diving teams; and Anteater Recreation Center - a complete $25.8 million, 92,000-square-foot sports and fitness facility. The ARC features a three-court gymnasium with a suspended running track, a one-court gymnasium with rounded corners for indoor soccer, and a 10,000-square-foot weight room with state-of-the-art equipment. Other facilities include racquetball courts, three aerobics/martial arts rooms, and a 25-meter outdoor swimming pool. Faculty and staff may purchase memberships.

Campus and Community

When architect William Pereira was commissioned to plan a new UC campus in the city that would become Irvine, the community saw a unique opportunity for a university and city to develop together, working in partnership to enhance the quality of life in the city and the quality of the university. The city is located in the heart of Orange County, as dynamic as it is diverse, with a population of more than 3 million.

Irvine also boasts top-notch public K-12 education, with the Irvine Unified School District’s nationally recognized schools; student performance well-above state and national comparisons; and comprehensive programs in academics, the arts and athletics. UCI and the local school district enjoy a long-standing and mutually beneficial working relationship.

The 1,500-acre UCI campus is designed around a tree-filled, 19-acre park named after founding chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich Jr. Just minutes away from the Pacific coast, UCI enjoys a delightful Mediterranean climate and is ideally located for easy access to airports, outdoor recreation, performing arts and other cultural attractions. The Irvine Barclay Theatre, for example, is located right on campus, and the Orange County Performing Arts Center and South Coast Repertory are close at hand. The region also boasts world-class shopping, challenging golf courses, and such well-known attractions as Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm, Sea World, San Diego Zoo and Legoland. UC Irvine Medical Center is located on 46 acres in the city of Orange, about 13 miles north of the Irvine campus.

Commitment to Diversity

UCI shares in the University of California systemwide vision of excellence through diversity and is committed to the goal of reflecting diversity in its faculty, student and staff populations, as well as through its curriculum and research endeavors.