ONE UNIVERSITY: The Evolution of an Idea

Abstract: 

The one-university idea—that the University of California is a single institution whose campuses are united in the pursuit of a common mission and common standards of quality—has been a guiding organizational principle since UC President Robert Gordon Sproul first articulated it in the 1930s. This paper examines the origins of the one-university idea in the Sproul era, the role it has played in UC’s institutional development through waves of decentralization and campus expansion, and whether it remains relevant today.

Publication date: 
January 1, 2011
Publication type: 
Research and Occasional Papers Series (ROPS)
Citation: 
ONE UNIVERSITY: The Evolution of an Idea by Patricia A. Pelfrey. CSHE.1.11 (January 2011)