UCIrvine Graduate Division

Welcome to UCIrvine!

Since our foundation in 1965, UC Irvine has quickly grown to become a world-class research university. Our faculty and graduate students continue to spearhead new technologies, explore innovative approaches to environmental challenges, and foster excellence in scholarship.

Our mission in the UC Irvine Graduate Division is to advocate on behalf of graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. We offer challenging and intellectually rich curricula designed to help our students achieve academic and professional fulfillment.  The combined efforts of our accomplished faculty, dedicated administrators and staff — along with steadfast support from our community and exceptional students and alumni — allow us to remain at the forefront of academic excellence. In the last academic year, we conferred 62 percent more master’s and 95 percent more doctoral degrees than in 2000-2001, attesting to our ongoing growth in graduate education. Today, UC Irvine holds the 34^th position among the Top 50 doctorate-granting institutions in the United States. We also are recognized as being one of the top producers of underrepresented minority Ph.D.s in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math.

As a longtime professor of pharmacology at UC Irvine, with several doctoral students in my lab, I can say with confidence that graduate students are the heart and soul of our campus. Not only are they critical to  faculty success, but they also conduct cutting-edge research that provides solutions to real-world problems.  UC Irvine’s commitment to rigorous academics, combined with leadership and character development, make our graduate community a driving force for innovation and discovery.  As you chart your educational path, I encourage you to explore all the possibilities awaiting you at UC Irvine and to consider what our students are saying about their UCIrvine experience.

Since joining the Graduate Division in 2007, my staff and I have worked to strengthen UC Irvine’s commitment to all dimensions of graduate education. Our graduate services are unparalleled; in fact, our Graduate Resource Center (GRC) is one of the first such centers in the country, offering a wide variety of personal and professional development opportunities — including funding workshops, peer review sessions and work-life balance discussions — for graduate students and postdoctoral scholars. The GRC also offers writing tutors and space for students to study or to meet in small groups.

Among our current instructional faculty are Nobel Prize laureates, Medal of Science recipients and the 2010 winner of the prestigious Templeton Prize. UC Irvine’s notable alumni — pioneers and leaders across our 53 master’s and 45 Ph.D. programs — include three Pulitzer Prize winners.   Our graduate students become leaders in their fields – paving the way for tomorrow’s next generation of researchers, entrepreneurs, teachers and mentors.

I hope you find our campus to be as interactive, collaborative, energetic and supportive as I did during my first visit 30 years ago, and as I still do today.

Sincerely,

Frances Leslie
Dean, Graduate Division