 | |
| Motto | Fiat lux (Latin) |
|---|---|
Motto in English | "Let there be light" |
| Type | Publicland-grantresearch university |
| Established | November 18, 1960; 64 years ago (1960-11-18) |
Parent institution | University of California |
| Accreditation | WSCUC |
Academic affiliations | |
| Endowment | $1.36 billion (2023)[1] |
| Chancellor | Pradeep Khosla[2] |
Academic staff | 10,810 (fall 2023)[3] |
Administrative staff | 28,878 (fall 2023)[3] |
| Students | 43,381 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Undergraduates | 33,792 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Postgraduates | 9,589 (fall 2023)[4] |
| Location | , United States 32°52′48″N117°14′02″W / 32.8801°N 117.234°W /32.8801; -117.234 |
| Campus | Large city[6], 2,178 acres (881 ha)[5] |
| Newspaper | The UCSD Guardian |
| Colors | UC San Diego Navy, Blue, Yellow, and Gold[7] |
| Nickname | Tritons |
Sporting affiliations | |
| Mascot | King Triton[8] |
| Website | ucsd |
 | |
 | |
TheUniversity of California, San Diego[a] (UC San Diego orUCSD) is apublicland-grantresearch university inLa Jolla, San Diego, California, United States. Established in 1960 near the pre-existingScripps Institution of Oceanography inLa Jolla, UC San Diego is the southernmost of the ten campuses of theUniversity of California. It offers over 200 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, enrolling 33,096 undergraduate and 9,872 graduate students, tied withUCLA for the largest student housing capacity in the nation.[13] The university occupies 2,178 acres (881 ha) near thePacific coast.[14]
UC San Diego consists of 12 undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools as well as 8 undergraduateresidential colleges.[15][16] The university operates 19 organized research units as well as 8 research units at the School of Medicine, 6 research centers at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and 2 multi-campus initiatives.[17] UC San Diego is also closely affiliated with several regional research centers such as theSalk Institute for Biological Studies,Scripps Research,Sanford Burnham Prebys, and theSanford Consortium.
UC San Diego is considered aPublic Ivy. It isclassified among "R1: Doctoral Universities – Very high research activity".[18]
When theRegents of the University of California originally authorized the San Diego campus in 1956, it was planned to be a graduate and research institution, providing instruction in the sciences, mathematics, and engineering.[19] Local citizens supported the idea, voting the same year to transfer to the university 59 acres (24 ha) of mesa land on the coast near the pre-existingScripps Institution of Oceanography. The Regents requested an additional gift of 550 acres (220 ha) of undeveloped mesa land northeast of Scripps, as well as 500 acres (200 ha) on the former site ofCamp Matthews from the federal government, butRoger Revelle, then director of the Scripps Institution and main advocate for establishing the new campus, jeopardized the site selection by exposing the La Jolla community's exclusive real estate business practices, which were antagonistic to minority racial and religious groups. This outraged local conservatives, as well as RegentEdwin W. Pauley.[19] Revelle also got involved in a bitter debate withJonas Salk over where Salk'sproposed institute would be located relative to the new campus.[19]
UC presidentClark Kerr satisfied San Diego city donors by changing the proposed name from the University of California, La Jolla, to the University of California, San Diego.[20][19] The city voted to agree to its part of the deal in 1958, and the UC Board of Regents approved construction of the new campus in 1960. Because Revelle's tactless approaches to the clashes with Pauley and Salk had damaged his reputation with the board of regents, Kerr realized he could not nominate Revelle as the campus's first chancellor. Revelle's nomination would have become "an angry and drawn-out affair" and greatly detracted from the campus's future development.Herbert York, first director ofLawrence Livermore National Laboratory, was selected instead.[19] York planned the main campus according to the "Oxbridge" model, relying on many of Revelle's ideas.[21]
According to Kerr, "San Diego always asked for the best," though this created much friction throughout the UC system, including with Kerr himself, because UC San Diego often seemed to be "asking for too much and too fast."[19] Kerr attributed UC San Diego's "special personality" to Scripps, which for over five decades had been the most isolated UC unit in every sense: geographically, financially, and institutionally.[19] Scripps had originally explored the simple idea of adding a small program for graduate students to its existing research program.[19] Over time, that idea evolved into something much larger and more complex, and it was a great shock to the Scripps community to learn that Scripps was now expected to become the nucleus of a new UC campus and would now be the object of far more attention from both the university administration in Berkeley and the state government in Sacramento.[19]
UC San Diego was the first general campus of the University of California to be designed "from the top down" in terms of research emphasis.[22] Local leaders disagreed on whether the new school should be a technical research institute or a more broadly based school that included undergraduates as well.John Jay Hopkins ofGeneral Dynamics Corporation pledged one million dollars for the former while the City Council offered free land for the latter.[21][23] The original authorization for the San Diego campus given by theUC Regents in 1956 approved a "graduate program in science and technology" that included undergraduate programs, a compromise that won both the support of General Dynamics and the city voters' approval.[21]
Nobel laureateHarold Urey, a physical chemist from theUniversity of Chicago;James R. Arnold, a pioneering cosmochemist; andHans Suess, who had published the first paper on thegreenhouse effect with Revelle in the previous year were early recruits to the faculty in 1958.[23]Maria Goeppert Mayer, later the second femaleNobel laureate inphysics, was appointed professor of physics in 1960.[23] The graduate division of the school opened in 1960 with 20 faculty in residence, with instruction offered in the fields of physics,biology,chemistry, andearth science. Before the main campus completed construction, classes were held in Scripps Institution of Oceanography.[21]
By 1963, new facilities on the mesa had been finished for the School of Science and Engineering, and new buildings were under construction for Social Sciences and Humanities. Ten additional faculty in those disciplines were hired, and the whole site was designated the First College of the new campus (it was later renamed after Roger Revelle). York resigned as chancellor that year and was replaced byJohn Semple Galbraith.[23] The undergraduate program accepted its first class of 181 freshman atRevelle College in 1964.[21][24] Second College was founded in 1964, on the land deeded by the federal government, and named after environmentalistJohn Muir two years later.[25] TheSchool of Medicine also accepted its first students in 1966.[23]
Political theoristHerbert Marcuse joined the faculty in 1965. A champion of theNew Left, he reportedly was the first protester to occupy the administration building in a demonstration organized by his student, political activistAngela Davis.[26] TheAmerican Legion offered to buy out the remainder of Marcuse's contract for $20,000; the Regents censured ChancellorWilliam J. McGill for defending Marcuse on the basis ofacademic freedom, but further action was averted after local leaders expressed support for Marcuse.[23] Further student unrest was felt at the university, as the United States increased its involvement in theVietnam War during the mid-1960s, when a student raised aViet Minh flag over the campus.[21] Protests escalated as the war continued and were only exacerbated after the National Guardfired on student protesters atKent State University in 1970. Over 200 students occupied Urey Hall, with one student setting himself on fire in protest of the war.[21][27] On May 11, 1970, George Winne, Jr., an undergraduate student majoring in history,killed himself on campus byself-immolation while carrying a sign that read "In God's name, End this war".[28]
Early research activity and faculty quality, notably in the sciences, was integral to shaping the focus and culture of the university. Even before UC San Diego had its own campus, faculty recruits had already made significant research breakthroughs, such as theKeeling Curve, a graph that plots rapidly increasing carbon dioxide levels in the atmosphere and was the first significant evidence for globalclimate change; theKohn–Sham equations, used to investigate particular atoms and molecules inquantum chemistry; and theMiller–Urey experiment, which gave birth to the field ofprebiotic chemistry.[29][30][31]
Engineering, particularly computer science, became an important part of the university's academics as it matured. University researchers helped developUCSD Pascal, an early machine-independent programming language that later heavily influencedJava;[32][33][34][35] theNational Science Foundation Network, a precursor to theInternet; and theNetwork News Transfer Protocol during the late 1970s to 1980s.[36]
UnderRichard C. Atkinson's leadership as chancellor from 1980 to 1995, the university strengthened its ties with the city of San Diego by encouragingtechnology transfer with developing companies, transforming San Diego into a world leader in technology-based industries. He oversaw a rapid expansion of theSchool of Engineering, later renamed afterQualcomm founderIrwin M. Jacobs, with the construction of theSan Diego Supercomputer Center[37] and establishment of the computer science, electrical engineering, and bioengineering departments.[38] Private donations increased from $15 million to nearly $50 million annually, faculty expanded by nearly 50%, and enrollment doubled to about 18,000 students during his administration. By the end of his chancellorship, the quality of UC San Diego graduate programs was ranked 10th in the nation by the National Research Council.[39]
The university continued to undergo further expansion during the first decade of the new millennium with the establishment and construction of two new professional schools — theSkaggs School of Pharmacy and theRady School of Management—and theCalifornia Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology, a research institute run jointly withUC Irvine. UC San Diego also reached two financial milestones during this time, becoming the first university in the western region to raise over $1 billion in its eight-year fundraising campaign in 2007[40] and also obtaining an additional $1 billion through research contracts and grants in a single fiscal year for the first time in 2010.[20] Despite this, due to theCalifornia budget crisis, the university loaned $40 million against its own assets in 2009 to offset a significant reduction in state educational appropriations.[41] The salary ofPradeep Khosla, who became chancellor in 2012, has been the subject of controversy amidst continued budget cuts and tuition increases.[2] In 2012, campus launched a 10-year, $2 billion fundraising campaign, which the campus completed 3 years early in 2019, making it the youngest university in the United States to have completed a $2 billion fundraiser.[42][43]
On November 27, 2017, the university announced it would leave its longtime athletic home of theCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association, anNCAA Division II league, to begin a transition toNCAA Division I in 2020. It joined theBig West Conference, already home to four other UC campuses (Davis,Irvine,Riverside,Santa Barbara). The university transitioned to NCAA Division I competition on July 1, 2020.[44] The transition period ran through the 2023–24 school year.[45]
In connection with theUniversity Pro-Palestine Protests, an encampment was formed adjacent to Library Walk on May 1, 2024. Police cleared the encampment on May 6, 2024, and arrested 64 people.[46] Students responded to the arrests with awalk-out two days later.[47]
UC San Diego is located in the residential neighborhood ofLa Jolla of northernSan Diego, bordered by the communities ofLa Jolla Shores,Torrey Pines, andUniversity City. The main campus consists of 761 buildings that occupy 1,152 acres (466 ha), with natural reserves covering about 889 acres (360 ha) and outlying facilities taking up the remaining area.[14] TheSan Diego Freeway (Interstate 5) passes through the campus and separatesJacobs Medical Center and Mesa apartment housing from the greater part of the university. ThePreuss School, a college-preparatorycharter school established and administered by UC San Diego, also lies on the eastern portion of the campus.[48]
Standing at the center of the university is the iconicGeisel Library, named afterDr. Seuss following a $20 million donation from his wifeAudrey Geisel. Library Walk, a heavily traveled pathway leading from the library to Gilman Drive, lies adjacent or close toPrice Center, Center Hall, International Center, and various student services buildings, including the Student Services Center and the Career Services building. The layout of the main campus centers on the library, which is roughly surrounded by the eight residential colleges ofRevelle,Muir,Marshall,Warren,Roosevelt,Sixth,Seventh, andEighth, in addition to theSchool of Medicine. The eight colleges maintain separate housing facilities for their students and each college's buildings are differentiated by distinct architectural styles. As residential colleges were added while the university expanded, buildings in newer colleges were designed with styles that were starkly different from that of the original campus. The disparate architectural styles ledTravel + Leisure, in its October 2013 issue, to name the university as one of the ugliest campuses in America, likening it to "a cupboard full of kitchen appliances whose function you can't quite fathom."[49]
In addition to its academic and housing facilities, the campus features eucalyptus groves,[50]Birch Aquarium, and several major research centers. The Scripps Institution owns a sea port and several open ocean vessels for marine research.[51][52] Several large shake facilities, including the world record holding Large High Performance Outdoor Shake Table, used for earthquake simulations, are also maintained by the university.[53]
The university has actively sought to reduce carbon emissions and energy usage on campus, earning a "gold" sustainability performance rating in the Sustainability Tracking Assessment and Rating System (STARS) survey. It was also praised inThe Princeton Review's Guide to 322 Green Colleges: 2013 Edition for its strong commitment to sustainability in its academic offerings, campus infrastructure, activities and career preparation.[54]
When the campus opened in 1964, it consisted only ofRevelle College andScripps Institution of Oceanography. The school's rapid increase in enrollment and opening to undergraduate students over its first decade spurred major campus expansion.Muir,Marshall, andWarren Colleges were established and built during the late 1960s through 1980s as the student population continued to grow considerably. Initially, the campus followed a rough north–south axis alongsideHistoric Route 101, though construction in the following decades deviated from this, with the core of the campus shifting towards Geisel Library.[20]
The school's two engineering departments were merged into theSchool of Engineering (renamed the Jacobs School of Engineering in 1987 in honor of Irwin Jacobs, founder of Qualcomm, and his wife Joan Jacobs) in 1982. New buildings have been continually added as the division expands. Major additions include theSan Diego Supercomputer Center, completed in 1986; Powell-Focht Bioengineering Hall, completed in 2003; and the Structural and Materials Engineering building, completed in 2012.[37][55][56] Significant construction work on the previously undeveloped northern part of campus also took place during this time. Two graduate professional schools, theSchool of Global Policy and Strategy and theRady School of Management, were constructed in the area adjacent to and near the Supercomputer Center, as well asRoosevelt College, a transfer student apartment complex called The Village at Torrey Pines, and theRIMAC athletic facilities.
UC San Diego's Joan and Irwin Jacobs Theatre District, located just south ofRevelle College, houses the Mandell Weiss Center for the Performing Arts. The center's facilities are shared withLa Jolla Playhouse, aTony Award-winning professional theatre which is partnered with the university. UC San Diego and La Jolla Playhouse share four large performance venues in the Theatre District: theMandell Weiss Theatre, the Mandell Weiss Forum, the Sheila and Hughes Potiker Theatre, and the Theodore and Adele Shank Theatre. These venues, on top of hosting the undergraduate and graduate productions of the UC San Diego Department of Theatre and Dance, often host the Playhouse's professional productions of plays and musicals, of which several have transferred toBroadway. Other theatre performance facilities at UC San Diego include the Molli and Arthur Wagner Dance Building, also located within the Theatre District, and the Arthur Wagner Theatre located inRevelle College's Galbraith Hall.[57][58][59]
Other arts facilities include the 800-seat Mandeville Auditorium andConrad Prebys Music Center, used by UC San Diego's music department, as well as Mandeville Center, the Visual Arts Facilities (VAF) building, and the Structural and Material Engineerings (SME) building, used by UC San Diego's visual arts department.[60][61] In 2022, UC San Diego opened the Epstein Family Amphitheater, a 2,650-seatopen air performance venue featuring a year-round program (including summer) of concerts, performances, and events.[62][63]
The 1978 filmAttack of the Killer Tomatoes was filmed on campus.[64]
More than a dozen public art projects, part of theStuart Collection, decorate the campus. The first, and a particularly well-known installation,Sun God, a large winged creature byNiki de Saint Phalle located near the Faculty Club. Other collection pieces includeRichard Fleischner'sLa Jolla Project (a collection ofStonehenge-like stone blocks),Do Ho Suh'sFallen Star (a house sitting atop an engineering building in Warren College), a table byJenny Holzer, an installation byBruce Nauman on the Powell Structural Systems Laboratory titledVices and Virtues, and three metallicEucalyptus trees byTerry Allen.
The collection also includes a work byAlexis Smith consisting of a path made of a large coiling snake whose head guides towards Geisel Library, with a quote fromJohn Milton'sParadise Lost carved along its length: "And wilt thou not be loath to leave this Paradise, but shalt possess a Paradise within thee, happier far." The path circles around its own garden and a large granite book-shaped block. One of the newest additions to the collection isTim Hawkinson's giant teddy bear made of six boulders located in between the newly constructedCalit2 buildings.[65] Another notable campus sight was the graffiti staircase of Mandeville Hall, a series of corridors that had been tagged withgraffiti by generations of students over decades of use; this was recently replaced with the Graffiti Art Park.[66] Students in the university's visual arts department also create temporary public art installations as part of their coursework. In 2007, the university sponsored a $56,000performance art project to develop a sense of community at the sprawling campus.[67]
Shepard Fairey, most notable for hisBarack Obama "Hope" poster, painted a mural at theChé Café, one of UC San Diego's most famous buildings and collectives, on an outside wall facing Scholars Drive, that features the likenesses ofMartin Luther King Jr. and other political figures. Underground street artist Swampy created a large piece inside the Ché Café, visible through the courtyard depicting his signature mammoth skeleton. Local San Diego artist Mario Torero, in collaboration with university art students, painted a mural at the Café in commemoration of Angela Davis and Rigoberta Menchú, along with other notable political figures. The Ché Café remains a hub for underground and politically progressive artists. Torero was invited back to the university in 2009 to create a mural called "Chicano Legacy" based on content suggested byChicano students.[68] The mural is a $10,000 digital image on a 15-by-50-foot (4.6 by 15.2 m) canvas mounted on the exterior of Peterson Hall, which includes representations ofCésar Chávez andDolores Huerta as well as the kiosk structure atChicano Park.[69] In 2016 a mural entitled "Enduring Spell" was completed by El Mac in the Argo courtyard,[70]
UC San Diego maintains about 17,000 parking spaces and offers a number of alternative transportation options.[71][72] The university runs a shuttle system, which is provided free for students, faculty, and staff, that services the main campus,UC San Diego Medical Center, university affiliated research centers, as well as nearby apartment complexes. As part of a greater initiative to reduce the university's impact on the environment, a portion of the shuttle fleet has been refitted to exclusively use biodiesel fuel derived from vegetable oil.[73] In 2023, UC San Diego Triton Transit begun operating electric shuttles for its SIO route. However, plans to expand electric bus usage are currently paused as the company who manufactures the buses has declared bankruptcy.[citation needed] UC San Diego also reserves parking spaces for carpools, maintains a fleet of on-campusZipcars, and provides free bike rentals.
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The UC San Diego campus is also served by theBlue Line of theSan Diego Trolley. The campus has two trolley stations:UC San Diego Health La Jolla andUC San Diego Central Campus station.[74] As part of the university's existing public transit partnerships, all students have unlimited access to MTS regional buses and trolleys, as well as mostNorth County Transit District transportation services, upon paying a "transportation fee" as part of registration.[75]
In May 2023, the university announced the construction of Triton Center, a new facility near University Center that will host numerous student services along with an Alumni & Welcome Center.[76] It is expected to open Winter of 2026.[77]
In September 2023, chancellor Pradeep Khosla announced his intention to present a housing proposition to theRegents of the University of California. The housing proposition currently aims to house an additional 6,000 students, though Khosla states he is open to changing the scale of the project. The proposition is expected to reach the Regents sometime in 2024.[78] If the proposition is accepted by the regents, the new student housing would occupy what is currently Pepper Canyon East.
The university also has various planned and ongoing projects in other locations, such as atScripps Institution of Oceanography,UC San Diego Health La Jolla, and atUC San Diego Medical Center in Hillcrest. These projects include renovations toBirch Aquarium, a new fire station, and a 30-acre science research center, among many others.[79]
UC San Diego is a large, primarily residential, public research university accredited by theWestern Association of Schools and Colleges that offers a four-yearBachelor of Arts andBachelor of Science degree to undergraduate students.[80] The full-time undergraduate program, which administered by Division of Undergraduate Education (2014) comprises the majority of enrollments at the university. The university offers 125 bachelor's degree programs traditionally organized into five disciplinary divisions: arts and humanities, biological sciences, engineering, mathematics and physical sciences, and social sciences.[81][82] Students are also free to design special majors or engage in dual majors.[83] As of 2010, 38% of undergraduates majored in the social sciences, followed by 25% in biological sciences, 18% in engineering, 8% in sciences and math, 4% in humanities, and 3% in the arts.[84][needs update]
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UC San Diego's comprehensive graduate program, which administered by the Division of Graduate Education and Postdoctoral Affairs (2018) is composed of several divisions and professional schools (in parentheses their founding), includingScripps Institution of Oceanography (1903),School of Medicine (1968), Institute of Engineering in Medicine (2008),School of Global Policy and Strategy (1986),Jacobs School of Engineering (1964),Rady School of Management (2001),Skaggs School of Pharmacy (2002),Herbert Wertheim School of Public Health and Human Longevity Science (2019),School of Computing, Information, and Data Sciences (2024), Halicioğlu Data Science Institute (2018), School of Arts and Humanities (1965), School of Biological Sciences (1961), School of Physical Sciences (1960) and School of Social Sciences (1986). The university offers 35 masters programs, 47 doctoral programs, five professional programs, and nine joint doctoral programs withSan Diego State University and other UC campuses.[85] UC San Diego has highly ranked graduate programs in biological sciences and medicine,[86] economics, social and behavioral sciences, physics, and computer engineering.[87]
The university also offers a continuing and public education program through the UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies. (1966)[88] Approximately 50,000 enrollees per year are educated in this branch of the university,[88] which offers over 100 professional and specialized certificate programs.[88] Courses are offered at Extended Studies facilities, located both on the main campus and off-campus, and also online.[88] UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies offers programs in Arts & Humanities, Business & Leadership, Data Analysis & Mathematics, Digital Arts, Education, Engineering, Environment & Sustainability, International Programs, Languages, Law, Occupational Safety & Health, Pre-College, Sciences, Technology, and Writing, as well as public programs such as the UC San Diego Osher Lifelong Learning Institute and the Helen Edison Lecture Series.[89] UC San Diego Division of Extended Studies also has a 66,000-square-foot hub at the corner of Park Boulevard and Market Street in East Village, referred to as the Innovative Cultural and Education Hub. The project aims to "advance the burgeoning tech ecosystem downtown, contribute to the city's lively arts and culture scene, and connect in multiple ways with diverse neighborhoods such as Barrio Logan, the Diamond District, and Golden Hill."[90][91][92]
UC San Diego's undergraduate division is organized into eightresidential colleges, each headed by its ownprovost. They all set their own general education requirements, manage separate administrative and advising staff, and grant unique degrees. In chronological order by date of foundation, the eight colleges are:
Students affiliate with a college based upon its particular philosophy and environment as majors are not exclusive to specific colleges. Revelle and Sixth enroll the largest number of undergraduate students, followed by Warren, Muir, Roosevelt, and Marshall.[93] Each undergraduate college sets different requirements for awarding graduation and provost's honors, separate from departmental andPhi Beta Kappa honors.
Each college has a distinct area of campus for its administration, housing, dining, and student life facilities. From south to north, Eighth, Revelle, Muir, Marshall, Sixth, Roosevelt, and Seventh Colleges lie along an approximately straight line along Ridge Walk on the western side of the main campus. Warren College is situated to the northeast of Geisel Library and Price Center.
Students who choose to live on campus are not required to live at the college in which they are enrolled.
Beginning in 2020, new developments that the university refers to as "Living and Learning Neighborhoods" were constructed in an effort to increase the housing capacity of the campus. The first neighborhood constructed, the North Torrey Pines Living and Learning Neighborhood, was completed in 2020. The neighborhood became the current home ofSixth College (which had previously been located in Pepper Canyon to the east of University Center), and is located between John Muir College and Thurgood Marshall College.[94]
The Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood, which houses approximately 2,000 undergraduate students is the location ofEighth College.
The Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood is located in the west segment of the Pepper Canyon area of the university, next toUC San Diego Central Campus station.[95] The Pepper Canyon West Living and Learning Neighborhood houses 1,300 transfer students and upper-division undergraduate students from all eight UC San Diego colleges in single-occupancy rooms.[96]
The Ridge Walk North Living and Learning Community is the most recent neighborhood to be constructed. This neighborhood is located in the easternmost portion ofThurgood Marshall College, and houses 2,400 undergraduate students, primarily from Thurgood Marshall College. Construction was completed in advance of the start of the 2025-26 academic year.
As one of the 10 general campuses of theUniversity of California system, UC San Diego is governed by a 26-memberboard of regents consisting of 18 officials appointed by thegovernor of California, sevenex officio members, and a single student regent. The current president of the University of California isMichael Drake, and thechancellor of UC San Diego isPradeep Khosla.[97] Academic policies are set by the school's Academic Senate, a legislative body composed of all university faculty members.[98] Nine vice chancellors manage academic affairs, research, diversity, marine sciences, student affairs, planning, external relations, business affairs, and health sciences and report directly to the chancellor.[99]
As of 2025, there has been a total of 2student regents from UC San Diego: Linda Rae Sabo in 1982, an undergraduate senior at the time,[100] and Hayley Weddle in 2019, a graduate student at the time.[101]
TheNature Index lists UC San Diego as 8th in the United States for research output by article count from 2024-2025.[102] TheNational Science Foundation ranked UC San Diego 7th among American universities for research and development expenditures in 2021 with $1.42 billion.[103][104] The university operates several organized research units, including theCenter for Astrophysics and Space Sciences (CASS), the Center for Drug Discovery Innovation, and the Institute for Neural Computation.[105] UC San Diego also maintains close ties to the nearbyScripps Research andSalk Institute for Biological Studies. In 1977, UC San Diego developed and released theUCSD Pascal programming language. The university was designated as one of the original nationalAlzheimer's disease research centers in 1984 by theNational Institute on Aging.[106] In 2018, UC San Diego received $10.5 million from theNational Nuclear Security Administration to establish the Center for Matters under Extreme Pressure (CMEC).[107]
The university founded theSan Diego Supercomputer Center (SDSC) in 1985, which provides high-performance computing for research in various scientific disciplines. In 2000, UC San Diego partnered withUC Irvine to create theQualcomm Institute, which integrates research inphotonics,nanotechnology, andwireless telecommunication to develop solutions to problems in energy, health, and the environment.[108]
UC San Diego also operatesScripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO), one of the largest centers of research in earth science in the world, which predates the university itself. Together, SDSC and SIO, along with funding partner universitiesCaltech,SDSU, andUC Santa Barbara, manage theHigh Performance Wireless Research and Education Network (HPWREN).[109]
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UC San Diego is ranked 5th as Best Public University byAcademic Ranking of World Universities[120] and 16th in the U.S. by the Center for World University Rankings.[121]Washington Monthly ranked the university 24th in its 2024 National University ranking, based on its contribution to the public good as measured by social mobility, research, and promoting public service.[122] UC San Diego ranked fifth in the nation in terms of research and development expenditures in 2018, with $1.265 billion spent.[123]Kiplinger in 2014 ranked UC San Diego 14th out of the top 100 best-value public colleges and universities in the nation, and 3rd in California.[124] UC San Diego was ranked 29th among national universities in the United States and 6th among public universities byU.S. News & World Report's 2025 rankings.[125]
Recognized as aPublic Ivy, UC San Diego is a highly regarded research institution, ranked 35th in the world by theNature Index,[126] 38th in the world by theScrimago Institutions Rankings,[127] 14th globally in "Research Discipline" by theLens Metric,[128] 21st inU.S. News & World Report's 2025-2026 global university rankings,[129] 18th in the world by theAcademic Ranking of World Universities,[130] and 18th in the world by theCenter for World University Rankings.[131]
The University of California San Diego is ranked 18th by theAcademic Ranking of World Universities[132], and is ranked 33rd "Best University in the World" by theCenter for World University Rankings for 2025.[133] In 2025, UC San Diego was ranked 34th in the world by theTimes Higher Education World University Rankings.[134] In 2024, the Centre for Science and Technology Studies at Leiden University named UC San Diego 49th in the world for scientific impact.[135]
The UC San Diego School of Medicine is ranked tied for 18th for research and 12th for primary care in the 2018U.S. News & World Report rankings.[136] The Rady School of Management at UC San Diego is ranked 17th in the world for faculty research and 8th for alumni entrepreneurship in the 2014Financial Times’ Global MBA.[137] In 2014 the Rady School ranked 1st in the nation in intellectual capital byBloomberg Businessweek, which measured faculty research published in the top 20 business journals from 2009 to 2013.[138] UC San Diego was named 8th in the nation among doctoral institutions for the number of students who study abroad for a full academic year, according to theInstitute of International Education Open Doors report.[139] Three doctoral programs at UC San Diego—biological sciences, bioengineering, andScripps Institution of Oceanography—are 1st in the nation in theNational Research Council's Data-Based Assessment of Research-Doctorate Programs report.[140]
Departmental rankings (including specialties) in the national top 10 according to the 2025U.S. News & World Report Best Graduate Schools[141] report include Biology & Biochemistry (7th), Biotechnology & Applied Microbiology (8th), Microbiology (5th), Molecular Biology & Genetics (10th), and Gastroenterology & Hepatology (1st)
Academic subjects in the global top 20 according to theAcademic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU)[142] for 2025 include Oceanography (1st), Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences (9th), Earth Sciences (12), Political Sciences (12th), Human Biological Sciences (13th), Biological Sciences (14th), Economics (14th), Atmospheric Science (15th), Materials Science and Engineering (17th), and Mechanical Engineering (20th).
Departmental rankings in the global top 20 according to theQS World University Rankings for 2025 include Anatomy and Physiology (18th), Biological Sciences (11th), Pharmacy and Pharmacology (7th), Geophysics (20th). Additional rankings within the global top 40 include Earth and Marine Sciences (22nd), Medicine (22nd), Economics and Econometrics (26th), Geology (27th), Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (28th), Politics (33rd), Electrical/Electronic Engineering (37th), Chemistry (37th), Computer Science and Information Systems (37th), and Natural Sciences (38th).[143]
The Hollywood Reporter has ranked UC San Diego's graduate theatre program among the top ten drama schools in 2016 (6th), 2017 (5th), 2018 (4th), 2019 (3rd), 2020 (3rd), and 2021 (5th) also ranking the undergraduate theatre program as one of the top five in the nation in 2018.[144][145][146][147]
| 2022 | 2019 | 2018 | 2017 | 2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Applicants | 131,229 | 99,133 | 97,899 | 88,456 | 84,208 | 78,056 | 73,440 | 67,400 | 60,805 |
| Admitted | 31,102 | 32,062 | 29,577 | 30,204 | 30,028 | 26,509 | 24,595 | 24,832 | 22,963 |
| Admit rate | 22.7% | 32.3% | 30.2% | 34.1% | 36.0% | 34.0% | 33.5% | 36.8% | 37.8% |
| Enrolled | 6,547 | 6,021 | 6,704 | 5,699 | 5,746 | 5,292 | 4,922 | 5,228 | 4,573 |
| Average GPA | 4.21 | 4.08 | 4.07 | 4.08 | 4.05 | 4.08 | 4.08 | 4.06 | 4.00 |
| SAT range | Test Blind | 1250–1470 | 1300–1520 | NA | 1750–2073 | 1800–2150 | 1760–2110 | 1750–2080 | 1750–2070 |
| ACT range | Test Blind | 24–33 | 28–34 | 26–31 | 26–31 | 27–32 | 26–32 | 26–31 | 26–31 |
UC San Diego is categorized byU.S. News & World Report as "most selective" for college admissions ratings within the United States.[152][153] For the fall 2022 admissions cycle, the school received 150,963 applications from both freshman and transfer applicants. Of those 150,963 applications, 131,229 applications were from prospective freshmen with UC San Diego granting admission to just 31,102 applicants, almost 9,000 fewer than the previous year (acceptance rate of 23.7% for the fall 2022 admission cycle).[154]
In 2009, UC San Diego mistakenly sent Admit Day welcome emails to all its 47,000 freshmen applicants, instead of just the 17,000 who had been admitted.[155] However, school officials quickly realized the mistake and sent an apology email within two hours.[156]
Graduate admissions are largely centralized through the Office of Graduate Studies. However, theRady School of Management,Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and theSchool of Global Policy and Strategy (GPS) handle their own admissions. For Fall 2012, theUC San Diego School of Medicine offered admission to 5% of its applicants.[157]
| Race and ethnicity[158] | Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| Asian | 34% | ||
| Hispanic | 25% | ||
| White | 18% | ||
| Foreign national | 12% | ||
| Two or more races | 6% | ||
| Black | 2% | ||
| Unknown | 2% | ||
| Economic diversity | |||
| Low-income[b] | 32% | ||
| Affluent[c] | 68% | ||
In all, the university offers classical orchestras,intramural sports, and over 550 student organizations.[159][160] 38 national and local Greek organizations are hosted on campus,[161] with fraternity and sorority members representing 20% of the student population.[162] The university operates on anacademic quarter system, with three primary quarters beginning in late September and ending in mid-June.[163] In 2015, 44% of undergraduate students received federalPell Grants.[164]
The undergraduate student body government is the Associated Students of the University of California, San Diego, organized as a cabinet and senate,[165][166] while graduate students are represented by the Graduate Student Association, a proportional representative body with membership depending on the number of students in each graduate department.[167] Additionally, graduate students who serve as teaching assistants are represented by the UC-wide union of Academic Student Employees. Each of the eight residential colleges has its ownstudent council as well. Most student media publications distributed on-campus are services provided and governed by ASUCSD, including Triton Television,[168] the school's student run film studio, and theKSDT radio station.[169] A notable exception isThe Guardian, which is directly governed by the university's Student Affairs department. Other student newspapers, include titles such as Black Voices,New Indicator[170] (New Indicator Collective), Revellations, North star, Revelle Times, The New Wave, Sandscript, and Ujima.[171]
Price Center, often referred to as PC, is the main student hub and is located in the center of campus, just south ofGeisel Library. The building houses restaurants, the central bookstore, a movie theater, and office space for student organizations and faculty.[172] A student referendum was passed in 2003 to nearly double Price Center, this "East expansion" was officially opened to the public on May 19, 2008.[173] Many campus cooperatives, stores as well as The Hub (UCSD's Basic Needs program) operate out of the Student Center which is located towards the south-east of campus.[174]
There are also seven community resource centers that cultivate community among faculty, staff, and students: the Cross-Cultural Center, the Women's Center, the Student Veterans Resource Center, the Intertribal Resource Center, the Raza Resource Centro, the Black Resource Center and the LGBT Resource Center. UC San Diego was the last UC campus to have such centers. All three, especially the Cross-Cultural Center that was created first, were founded in the mid-1990s as a result of student movements that demanded change despite opposition by the campus administration.[175][176]
TheChé Café is a studentworker cooperative andsocial center that is perhaps best known for its role as a venue for underground music scene.[177] It is an on-and-off againvegan cafe and catering operation as well. The Ché also acts as a resource for the music and art departments on campus through hosting art shows, performances, and film screenings. Some of the most notable touring bands or musicians who have played at the Ché include:Bon Iver,Green Day,Rise Against,Jimmy Eat World,Matt & Kim,Billy Corgan,Blonde Redhead,Bomb the Music Industry!,The Get Up Kids,Deerhoof,Bright Eyes,Chumbawamba,Mike Watt,Hella,Dan Deacon,Unwound, andJawbreaker. Prominent local San Diego bands such asThe Locust andPinback, and national tours such asMates of State andThe Dillinger Escape Plan have given theChé Café some fame and praise as a radical vegan collective despite its small size and limited sound equipment.[178]
K35DG-D channel 35, branded on-air as UCSD TV, was alow-powered,Class A UCTV-affiliatedtelevision stationlicensed owned by the University of California, San Diego. Throughout its history, there was more than one incident of inappropriate content being broadcast by student staff. Oncable, the station was carried onSpectrum digital channel 1231 andCox digital channel 135. Thetransmitter was located atopMount Soledad and aired publiclectures,documentaries andfine arts programming from UCTV, withblack-and-whitemovies on Saturday. In theFederal Communications Commission (FCC)'sincentive auction, K35DG-D sold its spectrum for $24,020,383; at the time, the station indicated that it would enter into a post-auction channel sharing agreement.[179] K35DG-D ceased operations October 25, 2017,[180] and its license was surrendered to the FCC for cancellation on October 27, 2017; UCSD TV continues to be carried on Cox, Spectrum, andAT&T.[181]
The student body government coordinates a wide variety of concerts and events during the year. UC San Diego begins the fall quarter with Welcome Week to introduce new students to campus clubs and activities,[182] starting the week with the All Campus Dance. TheHullabaloo music festival takes place every November as part of the university's Founders' Celebration. Bear Garden, a carnival held near Price Center, takes place every quarter throughout the year. Additionally, events are frequently held at the Loft, a performance lounge within Price Center.[183]
TheSun God Festival, named afterthe statue in theStuart Collection, has become one of the largest annual campus events.[184] It is held annually in mid-May. It has grown into a 20,000 person event, featuring an eclectic mix of art, dance, and musical performances.[185]
The Watermelon Drop takes place at the end of the springquarter. One of the campus' oldest traditions, it originated in 1965 from a physics exam question centering on the velocity on impact of a dropped object. A group of students pursued that line of thought by dropping a watermelon from the top floor of Revelle's Urey Hall and measured the distance from the splat to the farthest travelling piece of fruit.[186]
There are eight undergraduate residential colleges. First-year students are usually housed in the residence halls while upperclassmen live in the college apartments. Transfer students are housed in separate facilities from the residential colleges, in an area called The Village at Pepper Canyon.[187] The housing facilities vary in design, though nearly all of them are ofmodern orbrutalist style. The vast majority of entering freshmen and about many undergraduates live on campus.[188]
| College[189] | Founded | Motto | Emphasis | Writing Sequence | Dining Hall[190] | Festival |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revelle College | 1964 | Purpose, Truth, Vision | Renaissance education | Humanities (HUM) | 64 Degrees | Watermelon Drop Festival, Revellution |
| John Muir College | 1967 | Celebrating the Independent Spirit | Individual Choice | Muir College Writing Program (MCWP) | Pines, Roots | Muirstock |
| Thurgood Marshall College | 1970 | Developing the Scholar and the Citizen | Social responsibility | Dimensions of Culture (DOC) | OceanView | Marshallpalooza |
| Earl Warren College | 1974 | Toward a life of balance | Balanced education | Warren Writing (Warren College Writing Program) (WCWP), Ethics and Society (POLI/PHIL 27&28) | Canyon Vista | Warren Live! |
| Eleanor Roosevelt College | 1988 | Developing World Citizens Through Scholarship, Leadership, and Service | International studies | Making of the Modern World (MMW) | Ventanas | Rockin' Roosevelt |
| Sixth College | 2001 | Preparing Effective Citizens for the 21st Century | Connections between culture, art and technology | Culture, Art and Technology (CAT) | Restaurants at Sixth College | Chocolate Festival, Kuncocshun |
| Seventh College | 2020 | A Changing Planet | Environmental sustainability | Synthesis (SYN) | The Bistro at the Strand | N/A |
| Eighth College | 2021 | Engagement & Community | Solving issues within the local community and beyond | Critical Community Engagement (CCE) | N/A (None - Served by Revelle College's Facilities, including 64 Degrees) | N/A |
Accommodations are made for students with specific needs. Undergraduate couples and families have the option of living in housing facilities that are normally available only to graduate students.[191] The university also dedicates a portion of its facilities for those who wish to live ingender-neutral or LGBT housing.[192]
Reflecting UC San Diego's diversity, International House, a complex of apartments located in Eleanor Roosevelt College, is dedicated to cross-cultural exchange between American and international students, housing about 350 students from more than 30 countries.[193] International learning is fostered through formal programs including current affairs discussions, cultural nights, and a community newsletter. Upper-division undergraduates from all eight colleges, graduate students, faculty, and researchers are eligible to live in International House, located in the Eleanor Roosevelt College townhouses. Demand is very high for this special program and there is often a waitlist. Spaces in International House are not guaranteed and admission requires a separate application.[194]
Housing plans also offer students access to dining facilities, which were named byPETA as the mostvegan-friendly in the United States.[195] As of 2025, each student living on campus, with few exceptions, is required to purchase a dining plan.
As of September 2025[update], UC San Diego had 24,500 beds in student housing, giving it the highest capacity in the United States tied withUCLA.[13][196] The university currently offers two years guaranteed housing to both incoming freshmen and incoming transfer students,[197] and it intends to reach capacity for a four-year housing guarantee.[196]
UC San Diego supports several fraternities and sororities.[198] The university also sponsors a Multicultural Greek Council (MGC), which currently recognizes eight fraternities and seven sororities.[199] Greek organizations at UC San Diego do not have chapter houses.[200]
| Men's sports | Women's sports |
|---|---|
| Baseball | Basketball |
| Basketball | Cross Country |
| Cross Country | Fencing |
| Fencing | Rowing |
| Golf | Soccer |
| Rowing | Softball |
| Soccer | Swimming & Diving |
| Swimming & Diving | Tennis |
| Tennis | Track & Field |
| Track & Field | Volleyball |
| Volleyball | Water Polo |
| Water Polo | Triathlon |
| Triathlon |
 | This section needs to beupdated. The reason given is: Missing information on UC San Diego's current status as a Division I program. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(September 2025) |
On November 27, 2017, the university announced that its athletic programs have begun a six-year transition process fromNCAA Division II toDivision I, where it became a member of theBig West Conference.[201] As of 2017 most of UC San Diego's 23 intercollegiate varsity athletic teams still participate in Division II, 12-memberCalifornia Collegiate Athletic Association, and some compete independently. The water polo, fencing, and men's volleyball teams compete as part of Division I conferences.[202] Before joining Division II in 2000, the school participated at theDivision III level.[203] The teams compete at the university'sRIMAC facility,Triton Ballpark, and LionTree Arena. The University of California, San Diego, was ranked #1 among all NCAA D-II schools in the country and #40 overall (for all divisions), according to theNext College Student Athlete's 2018 NCSA Power Rankings.[204] The NCSA Power Rankings recognize the best colleges and universities in the U.S. for student-athletes.[205] UC San Diego athletics also ranked #1 in men's and women's soccer, women's volleyball, men's and women's basketball, men's and women's swimming, men's and women's track and field, men's and women's tennis, men's golf, women's rowing, softball, and baseball, among all NCAA D-II schools. Additionally, UC San Diego ranked #1 in Men's Water Polo and Men's Volleyball among NCAA D-I schools.[206]
In all, the Tritons have won a total of 30 national championships in golf, soccer, softball, tennis, volleyball, and water polo.[207] The 2006–07 season was marked as UC San Diego's best since moving to Division II, with 19 athletic programs qualifying for post-season competition, including 17 for the NCAA Championships. Eight of those teams finished with a top five national ranking.[208]
Until 2007, UC San Diego was the only Division II school that did not offer athleticscholarships. In 2005, the NCAA created a rule that made it mandatory for all D-II programs to award athletic grants. Consequently, a measure was proposed to begin offering $500 "grants-in-aid" to all 600 intercollegiate athletes in order to meet this requirement. A studentreferendum was passed in February 2007, authorizing a $329 annual student fee to fund a raise in coaches' salaries, hire more trainers, and provide all athletes with a $500 scholarship.[209]
The athletic department considered a move to Division I in 2011. The student body would have needed to approve a doubling of student fees to allow the university to meet minimum scholarship requirements for D-I participation. However, students overwhelmingly rejected this measure in 2012, halting any efforts for a move to Division I at that time.[210]
On May 24, 2016, students at UC San Diego passed the vote to move their athletics to NCAA Division I. The school's newspaper,The Guardian, reported that voter turnout was 35 percent of the undergraduate population, when the measure only needed 20 percent to pass.[211]
The university offers 30sports club teams, includingbadminton,baseball,cycling,dancesport,ice hockey,lacrosse,rugby,sailing,soccer,snow skiing,tennis,volleyball,ultimate,water polo, andwaterskiing.[212] The UC San Diegosurf team has won the national championship six times and is consistently rated one of the best surfing programs in the United States.[213] UC San Diego does not have a football team. However, the university participated in intercollegiate football for one year during the 1968 season. The newly recruited Tritons lost all seven games that they played.[214]
The following persons have served as the chancellor of UC San Diego:[215]
| No. | Portrait | Chancellor | Term start | Term end | Refs. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 |  | Herbert York | February 18, 1961 | November 30, 1964 | [216] |
| 2 |  | John Semple Galbraith | December 1, 1964 | June 20, 1968 | [217][218] |
| 3 | William J. McGill | June 21, 1968 | August 31, 1970 | [219][220][221] | |
| Acting | | Herbert York | September 1, 1970 | January 31, 1972 | [222] |
| 4 | William D. McElroy | February 1, 1972 | June 30, 1980 | [223][224][225] | |
| 5 |  | Richard C. Atkinson[d] | July 1, 1980 | September 30, 1995 | [226][227][228][229] |
| Interim |  | Marjorie Caserio | October 1, 1995 | June 30, 1996 | [230] |
| 6 | | Robert C. Dynes[e] | July 1, 1996 | October 1, 2003 | [231][232] |
| Acting | | Marsha Chandler | October 2, 2003 | August 15, 2004 | [233] |
| 7 |  | Marye Anne Fox | August 16, 2004 | June 2012 | [234][235] |
| 8 |  | Pradeep Khosla | August 1, 2012 | present | [236] |
Table notes:
 | This sectionneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources in this section. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "University of California, San Diego" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(August 2024) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
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UC San Diego faculty, researchers, and alumni have won 28Nobel Prizes, 3Fields Medals, 8National Medals of Science, 8MacArthur Fellowships and 4Pulitzer Prizes.[237][238][239][240][241] Additionally, of faculty past and present, 41 have been elected to theNational Academy of Engineering,[242] 110 to theNational Academy of Sciences,[243][244] 36 to theNational Academy of Medicine[245] and 130 to theAmerican Academy of Arts and Sciences.[246]
{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
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