Aldrich, Daniel G.

Daniel G. Aldrich was the founding Chancellor of the University of California, Irvine, serving from 1962 until 1984. Aldrich's background in agriculture and his connection with the land-grant system at the University of Rhode Island influenced his decision to design a campus in which environmental planning and community service would be crucial. After accepting the appointment of chancellor, he set out to create a university faithful to the land-grant tradition, yet appropriate to the opportunities and challenges of the 21st century. Born in Northwood, New Hampshire, on July 12, 1918, Aldrich received his Bachelor of Science degree from the College of Agriculture at the University of Rhode Island in 1939. He earned his Master⁰́₉s of Science degree at the University of Arizona in 1941 and married the former Jean Hamilton. He went on to get his Ph.D. at the University of Wisconsin in 1943 .Aldrich began his academic career at the University of California in 1944 as a soil chemist at the Citrus Experiment Station, now the University of California, Riverside. In 1955 he was appointed chair of the Soils departments concurrently for the University of California, Davis and The University of California, Berkeley. In 1958 he became dean of Agriculture for the University of California, presiding over agricultural teaching programs at Davis, Berkeley, Riverside and Los Angeles, as well as the Statewide Agricultural Experiment Station. He was responsible for activities on four campuses, a network of field stations, and the Agricultural Extension Service, with farm advisors and home advisors serving 56 of California's 58 counties. When appointed to the position of founding Chancellor of UC Irvine, Aldrich was given the responsibility for developing the new campus from blueprints to fully operating academic institution within three years. He accomplished this, encouraging the newly recruited deans and department chairs to establish academic programs that reflected new developments in intellectual inquiry. Aldrich retired as UC Irvine chancellor in 1984. However, with the sudden death of the UC Riverside chancellor, he became acting chancellor of that institution from 1984-85. He was called again from 1986-87 to become acting chancellor of UC Santa Barbara, after which he retired, finally, and became Chancellor Emeritus of UC Irvine.In recognition of Aldrich's key role in the planning and development of the buildings and programs of UC Irvine, the park in the center of campus was dedicated to him and named in his honor in 1984. Aldrich was involved in numerous civic and professional activities, receiving honorary degrees and awards from a number of academic institutions as well as many honors in recognition of his professional activities and his contributions to service organizations. He served on advisory committees and boards of a large number of local, national, and international organizations and provided leadership to groups concerned with world-wide problems of agriculture and natural resources, including the President's Agricultural Task Force to Zaire (1985). When Daniel Aldrich died on April 9, 1990, he had been with the University of California for 47 years.

From the description of University of California, Irvine, Chancellor Daniel G. Aldrich correspondence and other materials, 1962 - 1984. (University of California, Irvine). WorldCat record id: 669071183

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