As part of an on-going study, this presentation will explore a data-oriented history of UC Berkeley and the University of California system, including the demographic and geographic origin of students and faculty, faculty to student ratios, and budget sources. Data are based on digitizations of previously-published financial and administrative statistics as well as novel analysis of recently-digitized historical student records and course catalogs.
Some of the analysis will provide new perspectives on UC’s history and that of higher education in California, including the substantial and balanced growth of UC enrollment in the early part of the 20th century, the impact of the World Wars, the consequences of the California Master plan for UC, and the historical shift from an environment of high state subsidization to the decline in pubic investment and the rise of research and tuition based operating and capital budgets.
Participants in the talk will be invited to explore with the speakers the historical and contemporary trends exposed by the data as UC nears it's 150th anniversary in 2018. We hope that this event might be the first in a series of research projects and presentation that reflect on the history of UC and its role in California, and the world, as the Berkeley campus approaches 2018.