UCSD
CAMPUS NOTICE
University of California, San Diego
 

OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
January 5, 1994
ALL AT UCSD
Re: Publication of AN IMPROBABLE VENTURE
A HISTORY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA, SAN DIEGO by Nancy Scott Anderson
A history of UCSD has just been published and is available for purchase at the UCSD book store (paperback: $7.95; hard cover: $14.95). For those of you who were present at or shortly after the creation, it will bring back memories, some of them probably complex. For those of you who think that UCSD has always been here, the book should prove a fascinating account of the extraordinary quality -- indeed, the improbability -- of the circumstances surrounding the founding and growth of UCSD. The book is not administrative "puff." Nancy Scott Anderson is a journalist and historian. She required and was given complete independence in writing it. Working from extensive archival research and interviews with all the major players, she details how the State of California was first persuaded to build a campus on the foundation of the Scripps Institution of Oceanography and then how a number of brilliant academics were convinced to come from established universities around the country to a barren bluff overlooking the Pacific. They worked together, fought together and with each other, sometimes left in a huff. During the late 1960's, the conflicts that divided the country became salient lines of division on the UCSD campus: faculty against faculty, town against gown, campus against State, student against student and against faculty, and the administration, it sometimes seemed, against all. Through it all the institution prospered and the result is UCSD as we now have it.
I found the book fascinating and informative. I learned a lot about the history of our institution and think that others might also. I urge you to read it.
One other matter: should you read it and have comments, criticisms or corrections to make, we have established a file that will become a permanent part of the ongoing history of the campus. We would appreciate anything you might care to contribute. Please address your comments to:
UCSD HISTORY FILE
c/o Lynda Claassen, University Library, 0175-S (E mail: LCLAASSEN@UCSD). Thank you. TRACY B. STRONG
Associate Chancellor
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