Campus Description — UC Irvine

Interdisciplinary and cutting-edge research are hallmarks of UC Irvine. Since its founding in 1965, UCI has been a driving force of innovation and discovery that benefits local, national and global communitites in multiple ways. The campus is a center for quality education that fosters passionate, enthusiastic and ongoing expansion of knowledge and approaches to scholarship, and attracts a stellar facutly and many of the most interesting and energetic students in the country to its incomparable Southern California location.

Academic Highlights

UCI is noted internationally for its rich academic programs and the quality of its faculty. The campus’s long-standing commitment to undergraduate education yields strong programs across all academic disciplines.

Irvine's distinctive undergraduate research programs allow students to work closely with faculty mentors as early as the freshman year. More than one-third of UCI's graduating class has participated in undergraduate faculty-mentored research or creative projects. In 2006, the undergraduate research program was strengthened further by the addition of programs in Public Health Policy and Public Health Sciences.

Students may choose from 75 undergraduate majors, 50 minors and a myriad of specializations, concentrations and emphases offered by the Claire Trevor School of the Arts, School of Biological Sciences, the Henry Samueli School of Engineering, School of Humanities, Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, School of Physical Sciences, School of Social Ecology, School of Social Science, and the Paul Merage School of Business.

UCI's nationally ranked Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (ICS) offers students a broad range of educational and research opportunities, including majors in Computer Science, Computer Science and Engineering (through a joint major with the Henry Samueli School of Engineering), and Information and Computer Science. Students may also specialize in artificial intelligence, computer systems and information systems, among other specialties. Offering a broad, interdisciplinary curriculum, the School of Biological Sciences recently added majors in Developmental and Cell Biology, Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Genetics, and Plant Biology to its existing programs in Applied Ecology, Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, and Neurobiology. Through its Research in Excellence Program, many students engage in field or laboratory research under the tutelage of world-renowned faculty, and several present their results at UCI's prestigious Biological Sciences Research Symposium.

In the School of Humanities, students have the opportunity for personal and intellectual growth most often associated with a small liberal arts college, but with the benefits of a large research university. Along with acclaimed majors in English and Comparative Literature, the School offers a degree in literary journalism, which weds nonfiction writing with critical theory and literary and sociopolitical history.

The Campuswide Honors Program and Humanities Honors Program are open to outstanding students in all majors. The programs’ special curricula feature seminar-style classes, independent research projects or creative performance, and mentorship from top UCI faculty.

Campus Life

The contemporary campus sits on 1,500 acres of coastal foothills just five miles from Newport Bay and the Pacific Ocean.

Aldrich Park, located in the center of campus, is a popular gathering place for the campus community. The 21-acre park, landscaped with eucalyptus trees, native shrubs and exotic plants, is ringed by classrooms, laboratories, research facilities and libraries.

Campuswide activities and events abound at UCI. There are more than 300 student clubs and organizations. Multicultural festivals, concerts, films, lectures, plays and fine arts performances provide a broad range of social and leadership opportunities.

The Anteater Recreation Center is a state-of-the-art facility offering recreational sports and fitness activities to the campus community. Individual and team sports, martial arts and relaxation classes are among the popular offerings. Sailing classes are also available in nearby Newport Bay.

UCI's Division I intercollegiate athletics program features 23 sports (11 men's and 11 women's teams and a coed sailing program). The Anteaters have won 25 national team championships in eight sports, and more than 2,000 students have been honored as Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes in the last 20 years.

Student housing at UCI exists in a variety of community settings — residence halls, academic theme houses and Greek chapter houses. Furnished, on-campus apartments for sophomores, juniors and seniors are the newest housing alternative.