University of California, Berkeley

University of California, Berkeley, public, coeducational institution in Berkeley, California, and the oldest campus of the University of California system. The university was founded in 1868 with the merger of two schools: the College of California, founded in 1855 in Oakland, California, and the Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College, a land-grant institution established in 1866. The University of California operated on the site of the College of California until 1873, when it moved to a new campus in Berkeley.

In 1896 Phoebe Apperson Hearst, mother of newspaper publisher William Randolph Hearst, sponsored a prestigious international design competition to choose an architect to create a master building plan for the university. Noted French architect Henri Emile Benard was chosen, and he designed many of the campus’s stately older buildings.

In the early years of the 20th century the university grew rapidly, adding programs in agriculture, the humanities, and engineering. During the same period a business school was created that focused heavily on training students to conduct business and trade with Asia. A program to prepare students to work for the United States Foreign Service was also established. During the 1930s the university strengthened its programs in the sciences and established itself as a leading research institution.

The University of California, Berkeley, confers bachelor’s, master’s, professional, and doctoral degrees in the arts and sciences, the humanities, agriculture, education, engineering, the health professions, architecture, law, and business. Among the university’s many research institutions are the Theoretical Astrophysics Center, the Earthquake Engineering Center, and the Institute of Government Studies. Museums at the university include the Phoebe A. Hearst Museum of Anthropology, which features major collections of ethnographic material from around the world; the Berkeley Art Museum, one of the largest university art museums in the United States; and the Museum of Paleontology, established in 1874.