University of California, Irvine. Office of Research and Graduate Studies

The Office of Research and Graduate Studies is the University of California, Irvine's primary institutional agent in administering federal, state and private foundation regulations for research and graduate education.

To carry out its institutional responsibilities, RGS operates six administrative units under the direction of the Vice Chancellor and Dean. Included in the initial planning for the University of California, Irvine, the Graduate Division was formally activated in September, 1964, when Ralph Waldo Gerard, professor of biology and member of the National Academy of Sciences, was appointed dean. The University's Coordinating Committee on Graduate Affairs approved Irvine's first master's and doctorate programs in December, 1964. The four departments of the Division of Biological Sciences were the first graduate programs approved, followed by chemistry, mathematics, physics, and English in May, 1965. When the campus formally opened in the fall of 1965, all campus divisions were authorized to offer graduate instruction. Mirroring the growth of the entire university, the Graduate Division gradually expanded in both size and scope. This progression manifested itself in two important ways. First, the Graduate Division subsumed the already existing Public Policy Research Organization, the Center for Pathobiology, and the Institute of Transportation and Traffic Engineering (later renamed Institute for Transportation Studies) under its wing in 1974. These Organized Research Units (ORUs) were the first of fifteen that would eventually fall within the parameters and mission of the Graduate Division. In concert with the University of California Regents guidelines for such units, Irvine's ORUs developed as interdisciplinary research facilities consisting of two or more academic departments or schools. A second key indicator of the research-oriented focus within the Graduate Division was reflected in a name change. In 1981, the division officially became the Division of Graduate Studies and Research. Another sign of the prominent role of graduate education at Irvine was the creation of a separate Vice Chancellor position for Graduate Studies. Beginning with Dean Lewis Nosanow in 1987, the Graduate Dean took on the dual title of Vice Chancellor for Research and Dean of Graduate Studies. Prior to this, Graduate Studies was directly accountable to the Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. This structural change effectively fused together the academic side of the Graduate Division with its research arm under the authority of one university administrator. A second surge of growth took place within Graduate Studies in the 1990s. By 1992, the Office of Research and Graduate Studies had seven Organized Research Units. In an attempt to demarcate the different research interests and institutional boundaries, two new research categories were created to complement the ORUs. The first, Irvine Research Units, was established with the purpose of initiating and sustaining collective research endeavors within a single school or between multiple schools. The second, Special Research Programs, was assigned research activities not necessarily confined to the Irvine campus or the University of California. These endeavors combine efforts between the University of California and corporations, as well as state and federal government agencies.

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