Furthering Humanities Research in the University of California
[Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs William Frazer and I] both believed that for between $2 and $4 million a year a great deal of good could be done for the humanities…the faculty would be supportive of such an initiative and urged us to explore it further. [An ad hoc committee under the leadership of Professor Stanley Chodorow, dean of arts and humanities at UC San Diego] recommended that a new University of California humanities research institute be created to host scholars in residence, to convene symposia…and to publish the proceedings…Funds would also be provided to support research fellowships for faculty members [and] predoctoral fellowships for graduate students in the humanities…across the campuses. (Earning My Degree, pp. 228-9)
University of California Humanities Research Institute, University of California, Irvine (UCHRI)
Opening Year brochure and logo—1987-88
Publications and Speeches
Publication
"The Humanities and the Educational Reform Movement: What Can Be Done?'' National Forum, 66, no. 2 (Spring 1986), 9-11. A publication of Phi Kappa Phi.
Speeches
5-31-1984--"The Humanities and the Fine Arts: The Soul and Spirit of Our Universities,” David Pierpont Gardner Graduate Lecture in the Humanities and Fine Arts, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah.
Related Publication:
- Article drawn from Gardner Graduate Lecture appeared as “The Humanities and the Fine Arts: The Soul and Spirit of Our Universities,” The Center Magazine, 17, #6 (November-December 1985), 5-10.
10-12-1984—“The Humanities and Our Future,” California Council for the Humanities, San Francisco, California
9-19-1987—Introductory Remarks on the UC Humanities Initiative, Regents meeting, Los Angeles, California
10-23-1987—“The Humanities Initiative,” UC Irvine, Irvine, California
Building the Keck Telescope—World’s Largest Optical Telescope
Some of the academic initiatives taken during my nearly ten years as president were new, others an expansion of well-known and respected programs, and others, as in the instance of the Keck Observatories, long-simmering but unfulfilled ideas merely awaiting the resources to bring them to life. (Earning My Degree, p. 219)
[Dedicated in November 1991, the] Keck Observatories were the result of American enterprise led bv two of the nation’s greatest universities, one public, the other private [University of California and California Institute of Technology], and with the full cooperation of the University of Hawaii, which controlled the site on Mauna Kea. The money came from the private sector with only modest but very useful help from the federal government and the states of Hawaii and California. It was a great success, and I was honored to join with others in making it happen. (Earning My Degree, p. 218; full discussion, pp. 212-18)
From left: Al Simone, President, University of Hawaii; George Ariyoshi, Governor of Hawaii; Howard Keck, Keck Foundation; Marvin L. Goldberger, President, California Institute of Technology; David Gardner; William Frazer, Vice President for Academic Affairs, University of California: Keck Telescope groundbreaking, Mauna Kea, Hawaii, 1986
W. M. Keck Observatory. Photo: Ethan Tweedie Photography
Speeches
9-12-1985—Remarks for the Groundbreaking Dinner for the W. M. Keck Telescope and Observatory, Kamuela, Hawaii
11-7-1991—Dedication of Keck Telescope, Mauna Kea, Hawaii
Establishing the Center for German and European Studies, University of California, Berkeley
In early 1988, I received a call from Richard Buxbaum, a professor of law at Boalt Hall and a leader of Berkeley’s Institute for International Studies, asking if I would be willing to join with the presidents of several other American universities at meetings in Bonn, Germany, with the chancellor of the Federal Republic of German, Helmut Kohl…[The meetings were held] against the background of the central question regarding the future of German-American relations: “How can we maintain the cultural links between our two countries in the long run?”…Kohl’s idea was to help found and fund…German Study Centers at three American universities…I urged the chancellor to consider broadening the scope of his concern from German studies to European studies…he agreed…In November 1989 the chancellor approved one center for Harvard, one for Georgetown University, and one for UC. (Earning My Degree, pp. 225-28)
Center for German and European Studies
David Gardner with Chancellor Helmut Kohl, Federal Republic of Germany, and Mrs. Kohl, Tanner Lecture, UC Berkeley, September 1991. Photo: Peg Skorpinski
Speeche
9-12-1991—Opening Ceremony, Center for German and European Studies, University of California, Berkeley, Berkeley, California