University of California, Berkeley

UC Berkeley Extension

In keeping with its populist ideals, Berkeley provides a variety of continuing education options. Extension courses are offered in many cities in the Bay Area, in addition to online courses and enrolling in regular courses without credit. They have quality teachers and programs, and fairly reasonable prices (though still much higher than the community colleges). You do not need to have a GRE, GED, diploma, or apply for admission in order to take a course. For the details see http://www.unex.berkeley.edu/

The flagship campus of the University of California system. Located in the city of Berkeley, 20 minutes and a bridge (or BART tube) away from San Francisco. Generally regarded as the Best Public University in the United States, its status was confirmed by a National Research Council (part of the National Science Foundation) report that named it the best research university in the country. Also home to the country's best English, Chemistry, History, and Mathematics departments. Its College of Engineering is considered one of the "Big 3", along with MIT and Stanford. It is a member of the Pacific-10 (or Pac-10) Division-1A Athletic Conference, and its major rival is Stanford. Its mascot: the Golden Bears. Also referred to as Berkeley, Cal, UC Berkeley, and the University of California (in an athletic context).

The University of California at Berkeley (also known as Cal) is one of the most distinguished research universities in the United States. Although the university has been home to 18 Nobel Prize winning faculty members and its graduate programs are consistently ranked among the top five by US News & World Report and the National Research Council, the university is most famous for its ultraliberal student body and their political activities.

The UC campus is situated in the heart of Berkeley, California, which is adjacent to Oakland and directly across the bay from San Francisco. For an urban campus, it is surprisingly lush and beautiful. There are botannical gardens, streams, redwood groves, and spacious lawns. Many of the buildings are wonderful displays of classical Greek architecture. Towering over the campus and the city of Berkeley is a campanile, which can be seen from San Francisco on a clear day.

UC Berkeley-related nodes that already exist

• Free Speech Movement--A UC student-led rebellion over the right to protest (the Vietnam War) on campus. The movement is now memorialized by the popular Free Speech Movement Cafe adjacent to the main library.
• Sproul Plaza--The zaniest place on campus. During the school year Sproul Plaza is filled with protestors, special interest groups, musicians, solicitors, dancers, bums, druggies, etc. Popular protest topics currently include (this is the language of the protestors) the condition of apartheid in Israel, UC's use of the racist SAT, the evils of capitalism, the lack of an affirmative action policy at UC, the ongoing racist war in Afghanistan, unfair stereotyping of Muslims, and the terrorist activities of the United States.
• Telegraph Avenue--This runs into Sproul Plaza and can be even nuttier. Telegraph Avenue is lined with bums asking for money and hippies selling incense, pipes, shirts, bumper stickers, etc.
• Sather Gate--A nice gate (well the node exists!)
• Sather Tower
• Campanile
• Berkeley
• Berkeley in the 60's
• People's Park--This means a lot to some people, as evidenced by the writeup.
• BART
• Oakland
• Tilden Park
• San Francisco

UC Berkeley Nobel Prize winners

• 1939 Ernest Lawrence (Physics)
• 1945 John Northrop (Chemistry)
• 1946 Wendell Stanley (Chemistry)
• 1949 William Giauque (Chemistry)
• 1951 Edwin McMillan (Chemistry)
• 1951 Glenn Seaborg (Chemistry)
• 1959 Owen Chamberlain (Physics)
• 1959 Emilio Segre (Physics)
• 1960 Donald Glaser (Physics)
• 1961 Melvin Calvin (Chemistry)
• 1964 Charles Townes (Physics)
• 1968 Luis Alvarez (Physics)
• 1980 Czeslaw Milosz (Literature)
• 1983 Gerard Debreu (Economics)
• 1986 Yuan Lee (Chemistry)
• 1994 John Harsanyi (Economics)
• 2000 Daniel McFadden (Economics)
• 2001 George Akerlov (Economics)

And let's not forget the unabomber, Ted Kaczynski.