[Congressional Record Volume 154, Number 127 (Tuesday, July 29, 2008)]
[Senate]
[Page S7626]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




        100TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, DAVIS

 Mrs. BOXER. Mr. President, I am pleased to recognize the 100th 
anniversary of the University of California, Davis.
  U.C. Davis began as a public land-grant university in 1905 when 
California Governor George Pardee signed into law an act establishing a 
university farm school for the University of California. One year after 
the act was signed, the small town of Davisville, today known as Davis, 
was selected as the site for the University Farm. The campus was 
established largely due to the vision of Peter J. Shields, then-
secretary of the California State Agriculture Society, who was 
dissatisfied by the fact California students were choosing to attend 
out-of-state universities due to the lack of programs offered by the 
University of California.
  The official opening of the University Farm was in January 1909 with 
a student body of 18 students from the University of California, 
Berkeley on a 778-acre campus. The campus opened with 16 regular 
instructors from U.C. Berkeley's College of Agriculture and 12 
nonresident instructors. In 1922, the University Farm was renamed the 
Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture and expanded to 3,000 
acres in 1951 to support its rapidly growing student body.
  In 1959, the Northern Branch of the College of Agriculture was 
declared by the Regents of the University of California as the seventh 
general campus in the University of California system. Since its 
inception as a U.C. campus, Davis has become one of the most renowned 
academic universities in the Nation. In 1996, Davis joined the 
prestigious Association of American Universities, which represents the 
top 62 research universities in North America. It has also been ranked 
by U.S. News and World Report as the 42nd best university in the United 
States and the 11th best public university in the Nation. In addition, 
Washington Monthly ranked U.C. Davis 8th among all U.S. universities 
based on its contributions to society.
  U.C. Davis offers its students 100 academic majors and 86 graduate 
programs within its 4 colleges and 5 professional schools. It currently 
ranks 14th in the Nation in total research expenditures, 2nd in 
agricultural research, 12th in life sciences, and 13th in biological 
sciences. Davis' impressive faculty include 21 members of the National 
Academy of Sciences, 13 members of the American Academy of Arts and 
Sciences, 7 members of the National Academy of Engineering, 5 members 
of the Institute of Medicine, 3 members of the Royal Society, 2 members 
of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2 Pulitzer Prize winners, 
and 2 MacArthur fellows. U.C. Davis alumni account for 1 in every 276 
Californians, many of whom have gone on to become leaders in their 
fields of expertise.
  Today U.C. Davis has 30,000 students on the largest campus in the 
U.C. system spanning over 5,300 acres. U.C. Davis is the only U.C. 
campus with its own airport and one of two campuses with a nuclear 
laboratory and fire department. The U.C. Davis School of Medicine 
operates one of the Nation's finest hospitals which is regularly ranked 
in the top 50 by U.S. News and World Report.
  As the community, students, staff and alumni gather to celebrate U.C. 
Davis's centennial anniversary, I would like to congratulate them and 
thank them for their outstanding commitment to education.

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