UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, RIVERSIDE

The 'University of California, Riverside', commonly known as 'UCR' or 'UC Riverside', is a public research university and one of ten campuses of the University of California system. Its 1200 acre main campus is in a suburban district of Riverside, California, with a branch campus in Palm Desert. Founded in 1907 as the University of California Citrus Experiment Station, Riverside research pioneered biological control, the use of natural predators to reduce pest populations, and the use of growth regulators responsible for extending the citrus growing season in California from 4 months to 9 months. California's Future: It Starts Here, UC's Contributions to Growth, Health, and Culture Significant science collections at Riverside include its famous Citrus Variety Collection, and one of the largest entomological museums in the United States.^[1] UCR Entomological Research Museum
UCR's undergraduate College of Letters and Science opened in 1954. The campus was declared a general campus by the Regents in 1959, and started accepting graduate students in 1961. An unfortunate reputation for air pollution in the surrounding area held back campus development through the 1970s. Transcription of an Oral History Interview with Ivan and Birk Hinderaker Student enrollment recovered by the mid-1980s, and is currently projected to grow by 6% annually through 2010, the fastest rate in the U.C. System.^[2] To accommodate this growth, more than $730 million dollars have been invested in new construction projects since 1999.^[3] UCR operated under a $435 million dollar budget in 2006, and plans are currently underway to open California's first new medical school in 40 years at UCR by 2012.^[4]
UCR provides 78 majors and 45 minors, 50 Master's degree programs, and 38 Ph.D. programs, and is currently ranked 96th among national universities and 45th among public institutions by US News and World Report. University of California, Riverside, at a glance (registration required for public institution ranking) In 2007, the Washington Monthly ranked UCR 15th among National Universities based on social mobility, academic quality, and community service. The Washington Monthly College Rankings 2007 UCR is currently the most ethnically and economically diverse of all the UC campuses.Richard C. Paddock, For many minorities, UC Riverside is the campus of choice, ''Los Angeles Times, January 15, 2007. This diversity is reflected in a wide variety of special interest housing options and student organizations on campus.
UCR's athletic teams are in the NCAA Division I of the Big West Conference, and are known as the Highlanders for the elevation of the campus on the foothills of the Box Springs Mountain. For the past two years, the UCR Women's basketball team represented the Big West Conference in the NCAA Division I tournament, but unfortunately only made the first round of playoffs. In 2007, the men's baseball team won its first Big West conference championship and made it to the regionals for the second time since the university moved to the Division 1 level in 2001.

Contents

History

Founding of the UC Citrus Experiment Station

Founding of UCR

Tidal Wave II

Campus

Main campus

UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center

Academics

Administration

Research

Libraries and collections

Rankings

Admissions, enrollment and retention

Student life

Housing

Student organizations and activities

Campus security

Athletics

Spirit

See also

References

External links

History

Main articles: History of the University of California, Riverside

Founding of the UC Citrus Experiment Station

At the turn of the 20th century, Riverside was home to a multi-million dollar citrus industry, Southern California's primary agricultural export. The industry developed from the first navel oranges grown in the United States, which were planted in Riverside in 1873. On February 14, 1907, the University of California Board of Regents, in response to heavy lobbying from the Southern California citrus industry, established the UC Citrus Experiment Station on 23 acres of land on the east slope of Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside. The purpose of the new station was to support the burgeoning citrus industry by conducting experiments in fertilization, irrigation and crop improvement. In 1917, the expanded laboratory was moved to the west slope of the Box Springs Mountains.^[5]

Founding of UCR

In the late 1940s, the UC system was experiencing a massive influx of students as former servicemen took advantage of the 1945 GI Bill, and a state education committee was scouting out locations for a new campus. A local group of citrus growers and civic and business leaders lobbied the state legislature for the establishment of a small liberal arts college in Riverside. In 1949, California Governor Earl Warren signed legislation approving the establishment of a College of Letters and Science attached to the Citrus Experiment Station.^[6]
Gordon S. Watkins, dean of the College of Letters and Science at UCLA, organized the new college at Riverside. The school officially opened on February 15, 1954, with 127 students and 65 professors beginning the first day of classes.^[7] The first buildings of the new campus included: the library, Webber Hall, Physical Sciences, Physical Education, and Social Sciences. UCR's Long Range Development Plan, October 2005

In 1958, the Regents designated Riverside as a general UC campus. Herman Theodore Spieth, UCR's first chancellor, oversaw the beginnings of the school's transition to full university status in accordance with the developing California Master Plan for Higher Education.^[9]
Ivan Hinderaker, UCR's second chancellor, was installed on September 29, 1964, the same year the Free Speech Movement erupted at UC Berkeley. Hinderaker was credited with cooperating with student activists throughout his administration so that political confrontations did not occur on the dramatic scale of political protests at larger UC campuses in the 1960s. Transcription of an
Oral History Interview with Ivan and Birk Hinderaker
In 1972, Riverside gained a reputation for severe air pollution when the mayor of Riverside asked Governor Ronald Reagan to declare the South Coast air basin a smog disaster area, a condition that significantly hampered recruitment of both students and faculty. In a 1998 interview, Hinderaker said he developed UCR’s innovative biomedical program and popular business administration program partly to lessen the enrollment problems created by Riverside's air quality. Transcription of an
Oral History Interview with Ivan and Birk Hinderaker He also established UCR’s graduate schools of education and administration and streamlined UCR’s departmental structure during this period.
The 1978 passage of Proposition 13, a California ballot measure that cut property taxes, further reduced budgets for UCR as well as all other public education institutions in California through the 1980s. After Hinderaker retired in 1979, a series of four chancellors served relatively brief appointments throughout the decade. While enrollment began to make modest but sustained annual gains, more than doubling by 1991, an economic recession reduced enrollment throughout California's public higher education systems during the early nineties.^[10]

Tidal Wave II

With the improvement of the economy in 1994, the UC campuses began receiving more applications than anticipated.^[11] This surge became known as "Tidal Wave II" (the first "tidal wave" of students having been the Baby Boom generation born in the post-World War II era). To help the UC system accommodate this growth, planners targeted UCR for an annual growth rate of 6.3%, the fastest in the UC system, and anticipated 19,900 students enrolled at UCR by 2010.^[2]
As enrollment increased, so did the ethnic diversity of the student body. By 1995, fully 30% of UCR students were members of non-Caucasian groups, the highest proportion of any campus in the UC system at the time. The 1997 implementation of Proposition 209 — which banned the use of race and ethnicity as criteria for admissions, hiring, promotions and contracting by state agencies (including the University of California) — had the effect of further increasing ethnic diversity at UCR while reducing it at the most selective campuses in the system.^[13] Diversity in the affirmative, Some point to UCR as an example of why race-based policies are not necessary.
With UCR scheduled for dramatic population growth, efforts are being made to increase its popular and academic recognition. The students voted to increase fees to move UCR athletics into NCAA Division I standing in 1998. Proposals to establish a law school and a medical school at UCR have been in development since the 90s.^[2] In June 2006, UCR received its largest gift, 15.5 million from two local couples, in trust towards building its medical school.^[15] The Regents formally approved UCR’s medical school proposal in November 2006, and a search is currently underway for its founding dean. Regent's ratify Med School

Campus

Main campus

The UCR main campus is located within the City of Riverside in western Riverside County, three miles (5 km) east of downtown, and comprises 1112 acres divided into eastern and western boundaries by the California State Route 60 freeway. Nearly half of the total area is devoted to agricultural teaching and research fields, most of which are located west of the freeway.
The University Avenue underpass of Route 60 forms a "gateway" between east and west campus and between UCR and the City of Riverside. Painted on the support walls of the underpass is the Gluck Gateway Mural, a 190 ft memorial of Riverside and UCR history from the days before the Citrus Experiment Station through 2000, the year the mural was painted.^[16]
In downtown Riverside, the UCR/California Museum of Photography and Sweeney Art Gallery occupy adjacent historical buildings along the Main Street pedestrian mall. In 2008, a third institution, the Culver Center for the Arts, is expected to round out the UCR/ARTSblock, an exhibition and studio space collaboration with the city.^[17]

The East Campus, comprising approximately 600.8 acres, provides the setting for the core cluster of academic buildings. Devoted primarily to teaching and research, it includes student and administrative services, the Student Commons and the Rivera and Science Libraries. Student housing is provided in its northernmost portion near the Box Spring Mountains, with residence halls, family housing, apartment housing, and recreation facilities. Wide grassy pedestrian malls run throughout the center and outlying areas.
In the center of the main campus stands the UCR Carillon Bell Tower, one of only four in California. It was given as a gift by former UC regent Philip Boyd and his wife Dorothy. The dedication of the carillon and tower took place on October 2, 1966. Designed by A. Quincy Jones - Jones & Emmons of Los Angeles, the tower is 161 ft tall and contains 48 bells, cast in France. The bells cover four chromatic octaves and weigh from 28 to 5,091 pounds.^[18] Live performances generally occur Mondays at noon during the academic year, with occasional performances scheduled on the weekends.^[19]
The Commons student center was previously located directly northwest of the Bell tower. The four-decades old building was demolished at the end of 2005, and construction is under way to more than double the size of the center from 65,000 to 142000 sq ft. Currently the cafeteria is host to the "Temporary Student Commons" containing student dining, study areas, as well as pool tables and arcade games that used to be located in the demolished student Commons.^[20] The new $50 million Commons (slated for completion in 2008) will include meeting rooms, dining areas and places to study.^[21]
Southeast of the Bell tower is the Tomás Rivera Library, the main library. Further southeast past the intersection of Citrus and Eucalyptus Avenues are the buildings that make up the instruction halls and research centers of the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences, including some of the original 1917 buildings.
Forming the eastern border of the Riverside campus are the Botanic Gardens, which occupy 40 acres of rugged terrain in the Box Springs foothills. Prominent natural features include two arroyos and a variety of plants native to the site, including brittlebush ''(Encelia farinosa),'' California buckwheat ''(Eriogonum fasciculatum),'' California sagebrush ''(Artemisia californica)'' and deerweed ''(Lotus scoparius).'' More than four miles (6 km) of hiking trails traverse the grounds.^[22]
In addition to supporting research and education at UCR, the gardens offer a place of respite for students, visitors, and members of the community. Though maintained separately from the Botanic Gardens, UCR’s campus grounds are also landscaped with plants that thrive in Riverside's climate.²²

Since 1999, more than $730 million dollars have been invested in construction projects.^[3] Active construction projects include:

★ Alumni and Visitors Center

★ New campus commons expansion

★ Engineering Unit 3 and Materials Science Building

★ Psychology Research Building

★ Genomics Building

★ 'Glen Mor' Arroyo Student Housing Apartments

★ CHASS Instructional and Research Center

★ Students Academic Support Services Building University of California, Riverside, Office of Design and Construction
Of the 511 acres of UCR property comprising the West Campus, approximately 295 acres are citrus groves and row crops used primarily by the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. University Extension, the USDA Germplasm Repository, International Village (student housing), a parking lot, office buildings (Human Resources and Highlander Hall), and other small facilities are also located on the West Campus. University Village, a mixed use development located across from University Avenue adjacent to the freeway, provides a movie theater, stores, restaurants, office space, an apartment complex, as well as a parking structure and surface parking. The movie theaters serve as lecture halls during the day, with a shuttle taking students to and from campus every 15 minutes. UCR's Long Range Development Plan, October 2005 Future capital expansion plans will convert dormant agricultural fields into new UCR infrastructure. University of California, Riverside, Office of Design and Construction

UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center

In fall 2005, UCR opened a new graduate center in Palm Desert in the Coachella Valley. Initially funded by a $6 million gift from a local entrepreneur, the Richard J. Heckmann International Center for Entrepreneurial Management was founded in 2001 and was UCR's first institutional presence in the area. The school encourages entrepreneurship through an Angel Network, called the Coachella Valley Angel Network (CVAN).^[24] The campus focuses on providing master's level instruction in management and in the fine arts.^[25]

Academics

UCR provides 78 majors and 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 and, along with the Berkeley campus, one of only two UCs to offer an undergraduate degree in Business Administration. Additionally, it is the only UC to offer a doctoral program in Dance History and Theory. UCR is organized into three academic colleges, two professional schools, and several interdisciplinary divisions:

★ 'College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences': CHASS can trace its history to the founding undergraduate institution at UCR, the College of Letters and Science, which first opened in 1954. (During a consolidation period in the early 1970s, its natural science departments merged with UCR's College of Agriculture, founded in 1958, to form the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences.) 9,411 undergraduates and 638 graduate students are currently enrolled, the most popular majors being Psychology (944 undergraduates) and Business Administration (929 undergraduates). Fall 2006 Headcount Enrollment by College/School, Dept/Area & Major (Third link from the top.) Notable research centers include the Center for Bibliographical Studies and Research, the Center for Family Studies, the Ernesto Galarza Applied Research Center, and the Robert Presley Center for Crime & Justice Studies. UCR Research

★ 'College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences': CNAS dates back to 1907 when the Citrus Experiment Station was founded at the base of Riverside's Mt. Rubidoux. In 1958, the College of Agriculture was formed as the first research oriented, degree granting institution at UCR. Steady growth and a series of mergers with other departments led to the 1974 formation of the present College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences. CNAS currently enrolls 4,121 undergraduates and 700 graduate students, the most popular majors being Biological Sciences (1,206 undergraduates), Biology (784 undergraduates) and Biochemistry (726 undergraduates). Fall 2006 Headcount Enrollment by College/School, Dept/Area & Major (Third link from the top.) Notable research centers include the Air Pollution Research Center, the Center for Invasive Species Research, and the Institute for Integrative Genome Biology. UCR Research

★ 'Bourns College of Engineering': The BCOE is named in honor of Marlan and Rosemary Bourns, founders of Bourns, Inc., an international electronics corporation, in recognition of a generous gift from the Bourns Foundation in 1994. BCOE currently enrolls 1,259 undergraduates and 281 graduate students, the most popular major being Mechanical Engineering (337 undergraduates), followed by Computer Science (227 undergraduates). Fall 2006 Headcount Enrollment by College/School, Dept/Area & Major (Third link from the top.) Notable research center include the Center for Environmental Research & Technology, the Center for Nanoscale Science & Engineering, and the Center for Research in Intelligent Systems. UCR Research

★ 'Division of Biomedical Sciences': Biomedical Sciences at UCR is an interdisciplinary division which currently administers a joint medical degree program with UCLA, the Thomas Haider program. The first two years of medical instruction are given on the UCR campus. Third- and fourth-year clerkships are served at UCLA and its affiliated medical centers. Students completing the program receive a bachelor of science degree in biomedical sciences from UCR and an M.D. degree from the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA. Up to 24 of each year's applicants are chosen to attend medical school at UCR and UCLA.^[26]

★ 'A. Gary Anderson Graduate School of Management': The origin of the AGSM can be traced back to 1970 when UC Riverside established the Graduate School of Administration. In 1994, the A. Gary Anderson Foundation gave a generous endowment to the school and it was named after the founder of Director's Mortgage. The AGSM currently enrolls 231 graduate students. Fall 2006 Headcount Enrollment by College/School, Dept/Area & Major (Third link from the top.) It administers the eLab2.0/Sloan Center for Internet Retailing. UCR Research

★ 'Graduate School of Education': UCR's Graduate School of Education involves the whole university in educational outreach programs through its ALPHA Center, an infrastructure for establishing long term engagements between faculty/campus personnel and K-12 education in Riverside County.^[27] 299 graduate students are currently enrolled. Fall 2006 Headcount Enrollment by College/School, Dept/Area & Major (Third link from the top.) Other significant research centers include the California Educational Research Cooperative, a partnership between the School of Education and educators in local public school systems, and the Copernicus Project, dedicated to increasing the quality of science educators and education. UCR Research

★ 'UCR Extension': UCR Extension offers continuing education programs to approximately 30,000 students from San Bernardino, Riverside, Inyo and Eastern Los Angeles Counties every year. An additional 4,000 international students attend classes offered by UCR Extension's International Education Programs in Gangnam, Seoul, South Korea and Beijing, China.^[28][29][30] The centers are run in partnership with local authorities and offer the same English language training programs as the main campus in Riverside. Students can transfer credits to UCR and are encouraged to continue their studies in California. UCR Extension also operates a "Global Nursing Review Program" that assists licensed nurses from other countries in gaining familiarity and proficiency with Western nursing practices, medical philosophy and culture.^[31]

Administration

As a campus of the University of California system, UCR is governed by a Board of Regents and administered by a president. The current president is Robert C. Dynes and the administrative head of UCR is Acting Chancellor Robert Grey.
Academic policies are set by the Academic Senate, a legislative body composed of all UCR faculty members. The systemwide faculty chair and vice-chair sit on the Board of Regents as non-voting members.^[32]
UCR operated under a $435 million dollar budget in fiscal year 2005-2006. The state government provided $153 million, while student fees provided for $111 million. $84 million was provided by the federal government, and $45 million was provided by university sales and services. Private support and other sources accounted for the remaining $18 million.
All in all, monies spent at UCR have an economic impact of nearly $1 billion in California, more than 70% of which directly and indirectly affects Inland Southern California.³
;Overseas investment controversies
As part of a UC-wide effort in 2006, student members of USAS picketed Chancellor Cordova's office to protest UCR’s contracts with corporations that exploit overseas factory workers.^[33] Although the issue is still unresolved, in 2006 the Regents voted to divest the system from companies tied to the government of Sudan, in protest of the ongoing conflict in Dafur.^[2]

Research

UCR hosts over 40 distinct research centers, groups and projects spanning the fields of the humanities, social sciences, management, education, engineering, and natural sciences. UCR Research UCR faculty received nearly $87 million in research funding in 2005-06, mostly from federal agencies such as the National Science Foundation and the National Institutes of Health.^[35] Total research expenditures at Riverside are significantly concentrated in agriculture. Over the course of UCR's history, Riverside researchers have developed more than 40 new citrus varieties and invented new techniques to help the $960 million-a-year California citrus industry fight pests and diseases.³ In 1927, entomologists at the CES introduced two wasps from Australia as natural enemies of a major citrus pest, the citrophilus mealybug, saving growers in Orange County $1 million in annual losses. This event was pivotal in establishing biological control as a practical means of reducing pest populations. In 1944, the Air Pollution Research Center published its breakthrough findings that smog damages plants and decreases crop yields. In 1963, plant physiologist Charles Coggins proved that application of gibberellic acid allows fruit to remain on citrus trees for extended periods. The ultimate result of his work, which continued through the 1980s, was the extension of the citrus-growing season in California to nine months from four months. In 1980, UC Riverside released the Oroblanco grapefruit, its first patented citrus variety. Since then, the citrus breeding program has released other varieties such as the Melogold grapefruit, the Gold Nugget mandarin (or tangerine), and others that have yet to be given trademark names. In 2002, Riverside research had a $329 million upper limit in economic and fiscal impacts in the state, and supported 10,828 jobs in the area. Top research centers at Riverside by expenditure, as measured in 2002, include the Agricultural Experiment Station, Center for Environmental Research and Technology, Center for Bibliographical Studies, Air Pollution Research Center, and the Institute of Geophysics and Planetary Physics. California's Future: It Starts Here, UC's Contributions to Growth, Health, and Culture
UCR is a primary partner in the Riverside Regional Technology Park, which includes the City of Riverside and the County of Riverside. The park is intended to assist entrepreneurs in developing new products. It also administers six reserves of the University of California Natural Reserve System.

Libraries and collections

UCR's library system is divided into general collections, music, media, science, and a newly developed branch library at the Palm Desert campus. General collections are housed in the main Tomás Rivera Library. The four story Rivera Library is one of the oldest buildings on campus, providing library services since 1954. It also serves as a Government Publications depository for federal and state documents.^[36]
The 533,000-volume Science Library opened in 1999. It includes collections in the physical, natural, agricultural, biomedical, engineering and computer sciences, with special strengths in the areas of citrus and sub-tropical horticulture, entomology, arid lands agriculture and soil sciences.^[37]
The Music Library, located in the basement of the Arts Building, holds over 4,000 compact discs, ~10,000 long-playing records, and over 34,500 scores, including notable collections of Scottish folk music, operas, and carillon music.^[38]
Total collections at UCR comprise more than 2,000,000 volumes, 14,017 electronic journals, 23,000 serial subscriptions, and 1.7 million microformats. The UCR Libraries
The UCR Library is one of 116 members of the prestigious Association of Research Libraries, and is ranked 93rd within this group. The UCR Libraries
The university has special research collections and museums, including an herbarium,^[39] one of the world's most important citrus variety collections, and one of the largest entomological museums in the United States.^[1] UCR Entomological Research Museum

★ The UCR library administers INFOMINE, a collection of online scholarly resources.^[41]

★ UCR hosts the 110,000-volume Eaton collection of science fiction, horror, fantasy, and utopian literature — the world's largest such compilation available to the general public, including the largest collection of Star Trek material.^[42]

★ UCR administers the UCR/California Museum of Photography in downtown Riverside. With more than 500,000 photographic images and related materials, the museum constitutes the most comprehensive photographic collection in the West; it includes Ansel Adams' Fiat Lux 1965 archive containing photos of UC campuses. Much of the museum's collection is viewable online; its website receives 3.5 million visitors a year and is the most visited photography museum website in the world.^[43]

★ The campus library is the home of one of the world's finest research collections of material on B. Traven, the author of the novel ''Treasure of the Sierra Madre.''^[44]

★ The Western Region Tuskegee Airmen Archive, an effort to preserve documents and personal papers of the Tuskegee Airmen, was initiated in 2006.^[2]

Rankings

In the 2008 issue of US News and World Report's "America's Best Colleges," UC Riverside was ranked 96th among national universities and 45th among public institutions. University of California, Riverside, at a glance (registration required for public institution ranking)
In 2007, the Washington Monthly, which assesses the quality of schools based on social mobility (e.g., percentage of Pell Grant recipients who graduate), academic quality (e.g., percentage of graduates who go on to earn Ph.D.s), and community service ranked UCR 15th among National Universities. The Washington Monthly College Rankings 2007
The ''Princeton Review's'' "2008 Best 366 Colleges Rankings" listed UCR as one of the "Best Western Colleges" and one of "America's Best Value Colleges." However, it also ranked UCR students 11th in terms of low interest in political participation and 11th in terms of low student happiness due to quality of life issues.^[46]
According to the Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index published by Academic Analytics in 2006, UCR faculty ranked 1st in soil science, 5th in Environmental Health Engineering, 8th in Environmental Sciences, 10th in Plant Pathology, 10th in Botany, and UCR as an institution ranked 46th among top research universities.^[47][48] The Philosophical Gourmet Report ranked UCR's faculty in philosophy 38th in the nation and 40th in the English-speaking world, with the No. 1 program in philosophy of action.^[49]
Since 1997, more than 110 UCR faculty members have been elected fellows of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. Over the course of UCR's history, seven current or former faculty members have been elected to the National Academy of Sciences, and over 50 have received Guggenheim Fellowships.³

Admissions, enrollment and retention

'Enrollment by ethnicity, 2006'[50]	'Under- graduates'	'Graduate students'
International	285	575
American Indian	47	12
African American	1056	33
Chicano/Chicana	2894	133
Hispanic or Latino	803	50
Filipino/Pilipino	910	34
Chinese	2149	70
Japanese	194	17
Korean	943	33
Other Asian	1484	43
Pakistani/East Indian/Other	756	106
White	2776	717
Not stated/Unknown	563	192

UCR is one of the more accessible UC campuses. Historically, UCR has accepted all students who qualify for admission to the UC system based on grade-point average and scores on college-entrance exams.^[51] Of freshman admits for the Fall of 2006, High School GPAs averaged 3.59, SAT Reasoning scores averaged 1674, and the average ACT Composite score was 23. Additionally, 43.4% of admits were first generation college students, 38.7% from low family income backgrounds, and 24% graduated from high schools with low API scores.^[52] Geographically, the vast majority (98.6%) of UCR admits are from California, with the most (1,409 or 39.2%) coming from Los Angeles, while Riverside (586 or 16.3%) and San Bernardino (527 or 14.7%) combined make up the second largest residential demographic.^[53]
Enrollment in the Fall of 2006 totaled 16,875 students, 14,860 undergraduates and 2,015 postgraduates. Of bachelor's degrees awarded, 60% are completed within four years, 33% within five years, and 7% within six years. The campus is projected to grow to 21,000 students by 2015.^[54] In 2007, U.S. News ranked UCR as the third most ethnically diverse and fifteenth most economically diverse student body (as measured by the percentage of students on Pell Grants) in the nation.^[55][56]
According to statistics released by the Education Trust, a national nonprofit, in 2005 UC Riverside graduated 65.3% of its students in six years, a figure consistent with national averages, but behind the average set by the top five public research universities by as much as 22%.^[57][58] However, UCR's consistency with the national average is well above the median of 39% for low-income-serving institutions as calculated in 2006 by the National Center for Education Statistics.^[59] According to Richard Whitmire, USA Today editorial writer:
:''“The knee-jerk explanation — that Riverside must succeed by limiting the number of poor and minority students admitted — is wrong. Riverside is very diverse, especially with Latino students, and 45% of its students receive federal Pell grants for poor students... ...The real answer emerges from a study recently released by the Pell Institute for the Study of Opportunity in Higher Education: Riverside treats students differently. Incoming freshmen get year-long orientation sessions that reach out to low-income students who are the first in their family to attend colleges. Those students get offered extra sessions by professors. A special campus center is devoted to encouraging minority students to take on math and science majors. In short, the university pays a whole lot of attention to solving the problem.”''^[60]

Student life

Student life on campus is supported by a vast array of student-focused administrative departments and programs, headed by a Vice-Chancellor for Student Affairs, who is further supported by a Dean of Students. These programs include: health services, financial aid, technology services, and various academic and social support units.^[61]

Housing

UCR's residence halls consist of three structures: Aberdeen-Inverness, Lothian, Pentland Hills, which house more than 3,000 students in triple, double and single rooms. UCR also features a large array of on-campus apartment complexes such as Stonehaven, Bannockburn and Village Plaza, and International Village. UCR also offers student family housing at the Canyon Crest Family Student Housing community. In fall 2007, 'Glen Mor' Arroyo Student housing, an upscale housing complex adjacent to Pentland Hills, will open for juniors and seniors. Also in 2007, the University purchased a nearby apartment complex, renamed "Falkirk Apartments," for student housing, and a gated 78-house development for subsidized faculty housing.^[62][63] Plans for a brand new family student housing complex to be located on the west campus are in planning stages.
Reflecting UCR's diversity, a number of ethnic, gender and academically-oriented residence halls have been established. These include a hall for students in the College of Humanities, Arts, and Social Sciences; a hall for students in the University Honors program; combined halls for majors in the College of Natural and Agricultural Sciences and the Bourns College of Engineering; and a hall for transfer students. Student-initiated theme halls include ''Unete a Mundo,'' for students seeking to support Latino or Chicano students in acclimating to life at UCR; a Pan African Theme Hall for students interested in developing consciousness of African culture in relation to other cultures of the world; and Stonewall Hall, dedicated to students of all gender identities and sexual orientations who wish to live in a gender-neutral community.^[64]
According to a 2007 US News profile, 31% of all undergraduates lived on campus, and thirty percent of students remained on campus for the weekend. University of California, Riverside, campus life Housing is available to all students for their first year, and 76% of all first-year students lived on campus.

Student organizations and activities

The Associated Students of the University of California, Riverside (ASUCR) represents undergraduates on administrative and policy issues. It is guided by a Senate composed of 20 elected officers representing three undergraduate colleges in proportion to their enrollment. Membership is composed of all UCR students who pay mandatory activity fees. ASUCR assesses these fees and distributes funds to various student groups on campus.^[65]
As of 2007-2008, UCR has 281 registered student groups. Of these, 40 are fraternities and sororities belonging to various national organizations. Ten men's fraternities belong to the North-American Interfraternity Conference, six women's sororities belong to the National Panhellenic Conference, seven men's fraternities and ten women's sororities represent the National Multicultural Greek Council, and two others fall under the campus Raza Assembly and are unique to UCR.^[66] 13% of the undergraduate student body participates in Greek life, although chapter houses are not permitted. University of California, Riverside, extracurriculars Including the Greek letter organizations, over 60 student volunteer service organizations at UCR contribute to more than 100,000 hours of collective and individual service done in the community each year.^[67]
Student media organizations include ''The Highlander'' student newspaper, currently published weekly during the academic year. First published in 1954, it was a completely independent student news publication until 2001, when ASUCR passed a funding referendum for it.^[68] Since then, ''The Highlander's'' reporting has brought it into conflict with certain representatives of student government, leading to an unsuccessful proposal in 2003 to redistribute the referendum funds to other student publications.^[69] Other student news publications on campus include the ''Asian Community Times, Indian Time, Nuestra Cosa, Queeriosity'', and the ''X-Factor Student Newspaper''. University of California, Riverside, extracurriculars Campus literary magazines include ''Mosaic'', published at UCR since 1959, and ''Crate,'' published by graduate students in UCR's Creative Writing MFA program since 2005.^[70][71]
UCR broadcasts over radio as KUCR at 88.3 FM.^[72] KUCR is an educational, noncommercial station managed and operated by UCR students, faculty, and staff. The station programs a variety of independent music, news and commentary.
On campus entertainment events are planned by a 14 member Associated Students Program Board (ASPB), comprised of six student-run divisions which include: concerts, films and lectures, cultural events, special events as well as a marketing and leadership division. ASPB's major events include the Block Party Concert, Student Film Festival, International Film Festival, World Fest, Welcome Week, Homecoming and Spring Splash.^[73]
The Graduate Student Association of the University of California, Riverside (GSAUCR) is the counterpart to ASUCR on the graduate level. It is guided by a Graduate Student Council consisting of representatives from every department on campus. GSAUCR assesses mandatory fees required of all graduate students and uses them to fund various activities of interest to graduate students, such as research awards and colloquium, conference travel grants, and speaker funds.^[74]

Campus security

Campus security is handled by the University of California Police Department (UCPD), which sends bulletins and other crime-prevention information via e-mail. The department employs full-time Police Officers and part-time Community Service Officers (CSOs, which are student employees) to provide public safety services to the campus community.^[75]
Officers are involved in outreach to community groups and student programs, and about one third are UCR graduates. The student newspaper has a weekly column titled ''The Rap Sheet,'' which highlights police activity for the previous week.^[76]

Athletics

UCR is in the NCAA Division I of the Big West Conference. Programs include volleyball, soccer, cross country, basketball, indoor and outdoor track and field, baseball, softball, tennis and golf, all for both men and women except for volleyball. Football was played until 1975, and won two state championships before it was discontinued due to the economical impact of Proposition 13 and Title IX on the school.^[77] UCR's intramural Karate Club is internationally known and organized under the auspices of the AJKA-I, an independent, national karate organization also hosted at UCR. It annually holds the Shotokan Karate Championships competition in the SRC.^[78] For the past two years, the UCR Women's basketball team has represented the Big West Conference in the NCAA Division I tournament but was unfortunately only able to make it to the first round of playoffs. In 2005 the women's soccer team also made it to the first round of the NCAA tournament. Furthermore in 2007 the baseball team won its first Big West conference championship and made it to the regionals for the second time since moving to the Division 1 level in 2001.
The schools only NCAA titles came while at the Division II level; baseball in 1977 and 1982 and women's volleyball in 1982 and 1986. Also two athletes have won individual championships in men's golf at the DII level; Gary McCord in 1970 and Matt Bloom in 1974.
The volleyball and basketball teams play home games in the Student Recreation Center, which seats 3,168. The baseball team competes at the Riverside Sports Complex, just off campus at the corner of Blaine and Rustin streets. Softball is played at the Amy S. Harrison Field, adjacent to the UCR Soccer Stadium on the Lower Fields.

Spirit

UCR's founding class adopted the name "Highlanders" in 1954. The name imparts a Scottish identity to the campus reflecting its location as the highest elevation of all the UCs. After the student body passed a referendum to move to Division I competition in 1998, student athletes demanded a redesigned mascot. UCR partnered with New York based SME Design, Inc., a logo development company, to develop the design of a bear featuring a half-blue face in homage to William Wallace, the Scottish hero and subject of the movie Braveheart.^[79] The mascot's name is Scotty the bear, and the tartan he wears reflects the blue and gold tartans worn by the UCR Pipe Band, and is itself also a registered trademark of the University of California.^[80]
Early in the history of the school, UC Riverside fielded a traditional student-run pep band in support of athletic events (playing for football games before the program was dropped), but the athletic director dissolved it in 2002 in favor of a "little rock band." In early 2007, the rock band broke up and student pep band re-formed. It now performs for the men's and women's home basketball games and Big West Tournament and NCAA game appearances. UCR also fields a traditional cheer team, a "Highlander Girls" dance team,^[81] and also a dedicated bagpipe band made up of students and staff which plays at graduation and other campus events. For the women's basketball team's first appearance at the NCAA Tournament in 2006, UCR sent 22 members of the pipe band to support the team and play at halftime due to the lack of a pep band at the time.^[82] More recently with the reformation of the pep band, nine members of the pipe band team supplemented the UCR pep band for the women's second appearance at the first round of the NCAA basketball tournament at the Galen Center.

See also

★ University of California

★ University of California Students Association

★ California Master Plan for Higher Education

★ List of University of California, Riverside people

References

1. UCR Citrus Variety Collection
2.
3. UCR Facts and Impacts 2007
4. A Growth Spurt for Medical Schools
5. The Citrus Industry, Volume V, Chapter 5: The Origins of Citrus Research in California
6. Transcription of Videotape Interview with John G. Gabbert
7. UCR's half-century of progress CELEBRATION: The university is marking its 50th anniversary with a variety of events.
8. Riverside: Traditions
9. Riverside: Administrative Officers
10. Year-Average Headcount Enrollment
11. Tidal Wave II Revisited, A Review of Earlier Enrollment Projections For CA Higher Education
12.
13. Undergraduate Access to the University of California After the Elimination of Race Conscious Policies
14.
15. UC Riverside receives its largest gift, .5 million
16. The Story Behind the Gateway Mural
17. UCR/ARTSblock
18. History of the Bell tower
19. Performances
20. Student Commons Fact Sheet
21. UC Riverside Plays 'Catch-Up'
22. UCRBG
23. UCR Facts and Impacts 2007
24. Coachella Valley Angel Network
25. UCR Palm Desert Graduate Center
26. UCR Biomed Prospective Medical Students page
27. Academy of Learning through Partnerships for Higher Achievement
28. UCR Extension
29. GNUCR homepage
30. University of California, Riverside-Beijing International Education Center
31. Global Nursing Review Program
32. The Duties and Structure of the Academic Senate: A Brief Review, Academic Senate Office
33. Higher Education, Lower Standards, UCR does not sweat the small stuff
34.
35. Sponsored Programs Activity, Fiscal Year 2006 Annual Summary Report
36. Tomás Rivera Library
37. Science Library
38. Music Library
39. UCR Herbarium
40. UCR Citrus Variety Collection
41. INFOMINE, Scholarly Internet Resource Collections
42. UC library boasts world's largest sci-fi collection
43. UCR/California Museum of Photography
44. The B. Traven Collections at UC Riverside Libraries
45.
46. University of California--Riverside's Best 366 College Rankings (registration required)
47. A New Standard for Measuring Doctoral Programs
48. Top Research Universities in the 2005 Faculty Scholarly Productivity Index
49. "The Philosophical Gourmet Report, overall rankings"
50. University of California, Statistical Summary of Students and Staff
51. UC system fall '07 freshman admission numbers up
52. California Freshman Admit Profile Fall 2004, 2005, 2006
53. Fall 2006 Students by Home Location and by Citizenship (Second to last link under category "Fall Headcount Enrollment.")
54. UCR Factsheet
55. Ethnic Diversity: National Universities
56. Economic Diversity Among All National Universities
57. Measuring Up 2006, The National Report Card on Higher Education
58. University of California, Riverside, Graduation Rates
59. In California, a Public Research University Succeeds Because Its Low-Income Students Do
60. UC Riverside is Proof that Diversity is No Barrier to Excellence
61. Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs Departments
62. UCR Housing Services, Falkirk
63. UCR buying 78 houses to aid faculty recruitment
64. UCR Housing Services
65. ASUCR Constitution
66. Fraternity and Sorority Life
67. Community Involvement
68. Highlander Referendum, 2001
69. ASUCR Draft Bill Addressing Concerns Regarding Highlander
70. Mosaic
71. Crate
72. KUCR-FM 88.3-IE
73. ASPB
74. GASUCR, About the Council
75. About the UC Police Department
76. Program Highlights
77. UC Riverside Athletics Presents "Ask Stan Morrison"
78. UCR Karate News
79. The History of UCR's Mascot
80. The University of California Riverside Tartan
81. UC Riverside Cheer Team
82. Pipe Pep

External links

★ Official UCR site

★ Campus map

★ Fiat Lux The Campus magazine. In Fall of 2006, it was renamed "UCR" - The magazine of UC Riverside.