University of California at Irvine

Founded in 1965, UC Irvine combines the strengths of a major research university with the bounty of an incomparable Southern California location. Over four remarkable decades, UCI has become internationally recognized for efforts that are improving lives through research and discovery, fostering excellence in scholarship and teaching, and engaging and enriching the community.

With 24,000 students, 1,400 faculty members and 8,300 staff, UCI is among the fastest-growing campuses in the University of California system. Increasingly a first-choice campus for students, UCI 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 $3.3 billion.

UCI is a center for quality education that honors classic instruction while incorporating the best new scholarship. U.S. News & World Report consistently ranks UCI among the nation’s best universities. Achievements in the sciences, social sciences, social ecology, arts, humanities, medicine and business also have garnered numerous national rankings for UCI’s 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 the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, or Calit2, Newkirk Center for Science and Society, Center for the Study of Democracy, Institute of Transportation Studies, Institute for Genomics and Bioinformatics, and innovative instructional programs in biomedical engineering, international studies, global cultures, arts and technology, and other collaborations.

Committed to the Community

UCI reaches beyond the classroom and laboratory to help solve 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. UCI 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. In 2005, the National Institutes of Health chose UCI to conduct an unprecedented 25-year National Children’s Study that will examine environmental effects on child development and health.

A major intellectual and cultural center, UCI engages the community through public activities and events. Speakers on campus, for example, have included Nobel Peace Prize winners His Holiness the XIV Dalai Lama, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, all of whom also received the UCI Citizen Peacebuilding Award for their efforts toward world peace.

Building a Brighter Future

UCI continues to develop mutually beneficial partnerships with the community. Generous community support has led to culturally significant projects such as the Arts Plaza designed by Maya Lin, creator of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. Enhancements have been made to Jack Langson Library, a valued campus and community resource, and numerous endowed chairs have been created in the Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, The Henry Samueli School of Engineering and The Paul Merage School of Business, thanks to generous support from 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, where R&D companies enjoy 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. On its way to becoming a flagship UC campus and one of the nation’s very best universities, UCI 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.