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More News November 01, 2019

The University of California, Riverside Library and campus partners will host several events in celebration of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) Day.

This year, UCR will observe GIS Day on Thursday, Nov. 14, with other related events leading up to it.

GIS Day, first established in 1999, provides an international forum for users of geographic information systems technology to demonstrate real-world applications that are making a difference in our society.

The 2019 event will showcase the variety of disciplines using GIS, illustrate how GIS is used in both academic and community settings, and provide students opportunities for learning and networking.

This is the third year a poster contest for students is being held. Contest posters will be exhibited in the Orbach Library atrium from November 12 – 22, with the winners being announced on the afternoon of Nov. 14 at the poster display.

GIS Day 2019 at UCR will feature talks by researchers and community members who will share how they use GIS to advance their work. The talks will be held from 12:30 – 2:30 pm in Orbach Science Library, Room 240.

Pre-GIS Day events

October 23: Introduction to QGIS workshop, 2:00 pm, Orbach Library Room 122

October 31: deadline for students to enter the GIS Day poster contest

November 6: Introduction to GIS workshop, 2:00 pm, Orbach Library Room 122

November 7: Campus Safety Walk – Housing Edition, 5:30 pm, meet in Parking Lot 15

November 12-13: Visit our table on the quad from 11:00 am-1:00 pm to learn more about GIS @ UCR and enter our prize giveaway!

November 12: Poster contest display begins, Orbach Library atrium

GIS Day event schedule: November 14

11:00 -12:00 – Geography-related activities in the Creat’R Lab, Orbach Library

12:00 – 12:30 – Lunch and mingle, Orbach Library, Room 240

Speaker Schedule:

12:30: Elia Scudiero, Assistant Research Agronomist

• GIS for Precision Agriculture

12:50: Ahmed Eldawy, Assistant Professor of Computer Science

• UCR STAR: The UCR Spatio-temporal Active Repository

1:10: Sunny Shao, Researcher, Center for Social Innovation

• The Use of GIS in IE Census 2020 Planning

1:30: David Yu, Data Scientist, GeoAI, Esri

• Exploring the Intersection of AI and GIS

1:50: Paea LePendu, Professor of Teaching, Dept. of Computer Science & Engineering, and Ulyana Tkachenko, UCR undergraduate student in Computer Science

• Homelessness in Riverside: Analyzing the Point-in-Time Counts 

2:10: Elizabeth Perez, Campus Space/GIS Coordinator, and Alan Siero, Data & Process Analyst; both from Facilities Services

• Campus Safety Walk: Collector App in Action for Public Safety

***

2:30 – 3:30: Meet the poster contestants, Orbach Library Atrium

3:30 – 3:45: Giveaway Prize Drawing

3:45: Announcement of poster contest winners

***

Cosponsoring the GIS Day events are UCR Facilities Services and the Departments of Anthropology, Entomology, History, and Environmental Sciences. Additionally, logistical support is being provided by the Center for Conservation Biology and the R’Geospatial student organization.

More News March 29, 2019

UC Riverside hosted the 2019 Statewide Assembly for the Librarians Association of the University of California (LAUC).

LAUC is a statewide organization of all librarians employed at least half time by the University, and its formal objectives are: to advise the University on professional and governance matters, to make recommendations concerning the UC librarians' rights, privileges and obligations, and to promote full use of UC librarians' professional abilities.

More than 60 librarians from all ten UC campuses attended, with additional participants watching the proceedings remotely via Zoom.

On Thursday, March 28, 2019 the Assembly met in the Fox Hole in the Pentland Hills complex on the UCR campus. LAUC President Roger Smith (UC San Diego) called the Assembly to order shortly after 9:30 a.m. Following general announcements, UCR University Librarian Steven Mandeville-Gamble gave welcoming remarks.

In the morning, the Business Meeting consisted of roll call, and reports from Standing Committees, the Nominations Committee, LAUC Representatives, and the President.

At lunch break, attendees were invited to join student-led campus tours. LAUC-Riverside Chair Kent LaCombe also led two walking trips to the UCR Botanic Gardens. A LAUC-themed word search puzzle was also distributed.

The first part of the afternoon session was a working discussion, in which all attendees reacted to and generated ideas on the value of LAUC and barriers to engagement at the statewide and local levels. After a break, the Assembly concluded with a review of the major ideas generated and a summary of action items.

Roger Smith adjourned the Assembly shortly after 4:00 p.m. Interested parties were invited to continue the discussions at a happy hour gathering at the Getaway Cafe.

LAUC-Riverside Chair Kent LaCombe spearheaded making the local arrangements, with assistance from several LAUC-R members, including but not limited to: Geospatial Information Librarian Janet Reyes, Director of Teaching and Learning Dani Cook, Scholarly Communication Librarian Swati Bhattacharyya, Social Sciences Teaching Librarian Christina Cicchetti, University Programs Teaching Librarian Judy Lee, Collections Strategist for the Arts & Humanities Carla Arbagey, Early Experience Teaching Librarian Michael Yonezawa, Medical Education and Clinical Outreach Librarian Elisa Cortez, Head of Preservation Services Patricia Smith-Hunt (not pictured), Special Research Projects Director David Rios (not pictured), and Arts and Humanities Teaching Librarian Ken Furuta (not pictured).

More News November 07, 2016

UCR Library’s GIS Day Poster Exhibition opened on Thursday, November 3, 2016 in the atrium of Orbach Science Library, showcasing the use of Geographic Information Systems (GIS).

The 2016 display includes submissions from a diverse variety of contributors, including external community agencies as well as faculty, staff, and students of UC Riverside.

“I was really pleased with the diversity of departments that contributed posters this year,” stated Janet Reyes, Geospatial Information Librarian and the GIS Day Exhibition curator.

A number of posters focused on UCR biogeographic research. The Center for Conservation Biology produced a vegetation map of Dos Palmas Conservation Area in Coachella Valley, part of a habitat conservation plan. Environmental Sciences’ display used GIS to estimate groundwater recharge and evapotranspiration. A student in Soil and Water Sciences displayed locations suitable for irrigating avocados with recycled water.

The exhibition clearly demonstrated the application of GIS across the social science disciplines. The Psychology department submitted two posters. One shows how GIS can be applied in psychological sciences. Another is from a sibling and twins study that tracks environmental factors associated with cognitive performance from childhood to the cusp of middle adulthood.

A Public Policy poster demonstrates the relative prosperity of ethnic, minority-owned enterprises in the United States, based on location. Another poster with aerial photography of Vietnam shows how the Vietnam War affected the country’s landscape. An Anthropology graduate student created a map to show the language of origin for place names in a specific region of Mexico.

UCR administrative units contributed posters demonstrating the use of GIS for operations management. Agricultural Operations showed how GIS is used to manage UCR’s agricultural research land, and Capital Planning submitted three posters presenting information about the School of Medicine, the Sustainability Program, and the R’Garden. The Riverside Police Department contributed posters mapping crime data and demonstrating how they perform analysis on crime data.

This poster exhibition usually happens every November, in connection with GIS Day. Reyes added, “I think we’re going to see more GIS used on campus as time goes by, so that will make next year’s offerings more varied and informative. In the future, we might add workshops, live presentations, and other interactive, hands-on activities.”

Faculty and staff who contributed to this year’s event included: Hoori Ajami, Environmental Sciences; David Biggs, History; Chandra Reynolds, Psychology; Qingfang Wang, School of Public Policy; Steve Ries, Agricultural Operations; Roxann Merizan, Lynn Sweet, Bob Johnson, James Heintz, and Cameron Barrows from the Center for Conservation Biology; Elizabeth Munoz Diaz, postdoc scholar, Psychology; and Karen Jordan, Capital Planning. UCR Students included: Jenessa Stemke, Soil and Water Sciences; Joshua Lieto, Anthropology; Paige Trubenstein, Psychology; and Omar Staben, Psychology.

Reyes has initiated an ongoing monthly Brown Bag GIS Lunch for those interested in discussing the various ways that GIS can be applied across multiple disciplines at UCR. For more information, contact Janet Reyes (janet.reyes@ucr.edu).

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More News February 14, 2019

Here are a few highlights from University Archives that showcase some fun facts and figures, in honor of the 65^th anniversary of UC Riverside.

Establishment

The Riverside Citrus Experiment Station opened for business on February 14, 1907, but UC Riverside did not become a university until February 15, 1954 – 47 years and one day later. 

The groundbreaking ceremony took place on July 30, 1952, and construction began on Webber Hall, Geology, Physical Education, Watkins Hall and Life Sciences.

Feb. 15, 1954 is the first day of classes at UC Riverside, with 127 students and 65 faculty members. Campus covers 1,200 acres.

The official dedication of UC Riverside took place on October 19, 1954.

Watch a video from the UCR dedication, with an address from the President of the University of California, Robert Sproul:

Graduating class:

The first UC Riverside commencement on June 20, 1955 had 20 graduates. Early years' UCR graduates signed their names in concrete, and their signatures can still be found on campus today, on the walkway in between the Scotty the Bear statue and the Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

In contrast, our 2018 graduating class had 5,888 students (4,930 undergraduates, 578 graduates, 305 doctorates, 49 M.D. and 26 teaching credentials). 

Student population:

The first student admitted to UC Riverside was Navy veteran Jim McMillin, pictured below with Provost Gordon Watkins.

UCR’s student body in 1954 was comprised of one hundred and twenty-seven students. Compared to today’s enrollment of 23,278 students, that means our first crop of students was only 0.55% the size of today's student population. Of the original 127, only 107 are pictured below. (Full size image is available on Calisphere.)

Demographics:

Enrollment in the early years was predominantly white, and the first African-American to graduate from UC Riverside was Roy Overstreet (pictured below, number 12) in 1958.

Now, 86% of UCR's students are non-white and 57% percent are first-generation college students, according to UCR Rankings and Quick Facts.

First Provost

Gordon Watkins (below, center) served as UC Riverside's first Provost from 1949-1956. He is also the namesake for Watkins Hall.

The “C”

UC Riverside students built the big “C” on Box Springs Mountain in August 1955. At 132 feet long, it is the largest concrete block letter on record – larger than the “C” at any other UC campus.

Here is an article from UCR's 1954 yearbook with details about the history behind the big "C":

Campus

In 1907, the Citrus Experiment Station measured only 23 acres.

Now, UCR's main campus contains 1,900 acres, not including the satellite campus in Palm Desert.

Mascot

In 1955, the student body voted to adopt “Highlanders” as UC Riverside's campus mascot, inspired because UCR had the highest elevation of all the UC campuses. Various campus groups and buildings also embraced the Scottish theme.

Early iterations of the UCR Highlander included this illustration of Scotty Highlander, first pictured in the 1955 yearbook, The Tartan:

A young boy named Dick Hull and a bagpiper, also in 1955:

A Scottie named Buttons, also in 1955:

Scotty Highlander in 1992.

And a near miss for UCR's mascot, Humphrey the Buffalo in 1955:

Tartan Soul:

UCR's 1955 Yearbook was called “The Tartan.” In Scottish culture, each family's tartan was unique in pattern and color. UC Riverside's tartan is comprised of four colors that represent the four core values of Tartan Soul.

Bell Tower:

On Oct. 2, 1966, the dedication of UC Riverside's campus landmark Boyd Bell Tower took place. The carillon and tower at UCR were a gift from former UC regent Philip Boyd and his wife Dorothy. The bells range in weight from 5,091 pounds to 28 pounds and are housed in the bell chamber at the top of the 161 foot tall tower.

The Bell Tower was also pictured on the 1966 cover of The Tartan:

The Bell Tower's Carillonneur, David Christensen gives a live weekly concert on Mondays at 12 noon (with a few exceptions). He is the third Carillonneur at UCR since 1987, and has performed more than 500 concerts with music from a wide variety of genres.

Rivera Library:

In 1985, UC Riverside renamed the main campus library in honor of its recently deceased Chancellor, Tomás Rivera, who was the first Mexican-American Chancellor at a University of California campus.

We invite you to learn more about UC Riverside's history by viewing the UCR yearbooks online or by visiting University Archives on the fourth floor of Rivera Library to look through old photographs, campus flyers, archival copies of campus newspapers, and much more.