In its relatively brief 40-year history, the University of California, Irvine has become one of the best research universities in the world. One of 62 members of the prestigious Association of American Universities, UCI is home to three Nobel laureates, three recipients of the National Medal of Science, 33 fellows of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 25 members of the National Academy of Sciences, five members of the National Academy of Sciences – Institute of Medicine, and nine members of the National Academy of Engineering. Twenty-two members of the faculty have held Humboldt Fellowships, 41 have received at least one Guggenheim Fellowship, 55 have held Fulbrights, nine fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts and 34 from the National Endowment for the Humanities, 27 Research Career Development Awards from the National Institutes of Health, and 55 awards from the National Science Foundation.

The individual accomplishments of the faculty are matched by the collaborative efforts of our academic programs and centers. More than 40 of those programs are ranked among the top 50 in their fields, with 14 in the top 20 and five in the top 10.² The University of California, Irvine Medical Center, Orange County’s only university hospital and Level I Trauma Center, is ranked among the nation’s 50 best hospitals by U.S. News & World Report in four specialty care areas, and was named among the “100 Top Hospitals” by Solucient, a leading source of health care business information. The Chao Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at the medical center is the only Orange County facility to earn the National Cancer Institute’s esteemed “comprehensive” designation.

Faculty continue to compete successfully for extramural research funds, another measure of quality in many areas of the campus. Though not equally important to all fields, extramurally sponsored research is exceedingly important to the university as a whole because it provides direct support for research, student stipends, faculty salaries, salaries and benefits for professional researchers, equipment and research travel. In addition, because most of these awards arise from national competition, they demonstrate the competitive capability of our faculty and are a factor in increasing our visibility and reputation among research universities nationally.

In 2005-06, extramural awards totaled $310.8 million – an 18-percent increase from the prior year and a record amount for the fifth consecutive year. Private support to UCI rose to $101.4 million, continuing a trend that has seen a 189-percent increase since 2001-02. The amount raised is the highest in the campus’s 41-year history. UCI now has a total endowment of nearly $195 million, with 60 endowed chairs across the campus. Several support groups, including The UCI Foundation, the Chancellor’s Club, and the CEO Roundtable, serve as consultants to the university and often lead efforts to generate support for the campus throughout the county and region. The number of gifts to UCI from individuals rose to an all-time high of 25,053 in 2005-06, extending a record of private philanthropy that includes recent naming gifts for The Henry Samueli School of Engineering (1999), Claire Trevor School of the Arts (2000), Jack Langson Library (2003), Donald Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences (2004), and The Paul Merage School of Business (2005). The International Center for Writing and Translation (2001) is being funded largely by a UCI alumnus; the Center for Pervasive Communications and Computing was founded in partnership with two of the largest communications corporations in the world; and the California Institute for Telecommunications and Information Technology (founded in 2001 jointly with UC San Diego) receives significant support from corporations as well as the federal government.

Private industry regularly provides $25 million to $30 million to UCI in funding for research, and the university receives another $6 million annually from its intellectual property rights, including patents. UCI has given rise to more than 30 start-up companies, some of which have offices immediately adjacent to campus in the University Research Park. With 40 buildings and 2.4 million square feet of space for research, technology and business, University Research Park currently houses 30 tenant corporations including divisions of AOL, Cisco, Canon, and the future corporate headquarters and research and development laboratory for Broadcom. The technology transfer behind these partnerships has extended the influence of UCI far beyond the borders of the campus and is a crucial part of our service to the state as a public research university.

At the heart of any university are the students, and among UCI’s 85,000 graduates are leaders in the arts, sciences, business and education, including four Pulitzer Prize winners and the architect of the “HTTP/1.1” Internet protocol used worldwide. In 2004-05, UCI students were awarded some of the nation’s most prestigious scholarships and fellowships. The year’s recipients included three U.S. Fulbright scholars, three Barry M. Goldwater scholars, a Merage American Dream fellow and a Donald A. Strauss scholar. For both Fulbright and Goldwater scholarships, UCI tied its record highs for number of student winners in one year: three Fulbright scholars and three Goldwater winners. 2004-05 also was the second consecutive year that a UCI student has received the Merage Fellowship, which was inaugurated in 2004.

UCI athletic teams have earned 22 national titles in eight sports; more than 60 individual Anteaters have won national titles; and more than 30 have competed in the Olympics. UCI teams for women’s golf, women’s swimming and men’s tennis won 2004-05 Big West Conference championships, while a record 162 Anteaters were named Big West Conference Scholar-Athletes.

Universities cannot function without highly skilled administrative and staff support. Administrative offices, hospital staff, the early academic preparation (outreach) staff, and those who maintain campus facilities and grounds are just a few among the many examples of staff who provide the critical functions that keep our campus and medical center in operation each day. In the past few years, several of those groups have received national attention for their extraordinary performance. No U.S. research university has received more awards than UCI for streamlining administrative processes, including the USA Today “Quality Cup,” the EDUCAUSE “Award for Excellence in Administrative Information Systems” and the top prize for administrative improvement from the National Association of College and University Business Officers. Overall, UCI has been recognized with 12 national awards for administrative best practices and innovations.

Other national distinctions were recently bestowed to University Advancement by the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE). The Office of Stewardship is the 2005 recipient of CASE’s Gold Medal for “Institutionalizing Stewardship at UC Irvine.” The Office of Gift and Trust Administration won the Silver Medal in the Advancement Services Programs: Gift/Bio Administration category for its “Effective, Efficient and Expedient = Excellence!” initiative.

The UCI Athletics marketing and promotions staff was recognized in 2005 with four awards by the National Association of Collegiate Marketing Administrators at its recent conference in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. UCI earned top honors for “Best Single Newspaper Display Ad” and “Best Activation Program with a Sponsor,” and second-place awards for “Best Online Promotion” and “Best Sponsor Follow-Up Report.”

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Last Updated: January 22, 2007