The University of California, Berkeley, Extension (UC Berkeley Extension) is the continuing education division of the

University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California) is a public land-grant research university in Berkeley, California. Established in 1868 as the University of California, it is the state's first land-grant u ...

(UC Berkeley) campus. Founded in 1891, UC Berkeley Extension provides continuing education through self-supporting academic programs. The extension is headquartered outside the main UC Berkeley campus in

Berkeley Berkeley most often refers to: *Berkeley, California, a city in the United States **University of California, Berkeley, a public university in Berkeley, California * George Berkeley (1685–1753), Anglo-Irish philosopher Berkeley may also refer ...

, California, with classrooms in

downtown San Francisco The Financial District is a neighborhood in San Francisco, California, United States, that serves as its main central business district and had 372,829 jobs according to U.S. census tracts as of 2012-2016. It is home to the city's largest conce ...

and other

Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Gov ...

locations. UC Berkeley Extension serves more than 48,000 annual student enrollments in over 2,000 courses and 80 programs. Through UC Berkeley, UC Berkeley Extension is accredited by the

Western Association of Schools and Colleges The Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC) was an organization providing School accreditation, accreditation of public and private universities, colleges, secondary school, secondary and elementary schools in California and Hawaii, ...

History

Following years of calls from the public to open access to Berkeley’s excellent courses and programs, University Extension came to life in 1891 when three professors crossed the Bay by ferry to offer courses in San Francisco in history (Prof. Bacon), mathematics (Prof. Stringham) and English literature (Prof. Gayley). On February 14, 1893, UC Berkeley's Regents adopted the extramural instruction plan and authorized extension courses to be taught in California. In 1902, the University Extension became a self-organizing body within UC Berkeley and Henry Morse Stephens was appointed Director of University Extension. In 1912, Ira W. Howerth was appointed Director. Howerth established a district organization to further extend the University Extension's reach to communities outside of Berkeley. After receiving a legislative appropriation to support University Extension in 1915, the extension began offering classes in

Southern California Southern California (commonly shortened to SoCal) is a geographic and Cultural area, cultural region that generally comprises the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. It includes the Los Angeles metropolitan area, the second most po ...

. In 1917, Leon J. Richardson was appointed Director. During his tenure, Richardson standardized academic work at the extension. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and the postwar era, Director Baldwin Woods changed the extension's coursework from only offering degree courses to also offering courses in subjects such as the sciences, business, and industry. Woods also authorized the extension to train women for defense jobs during wartime. Mary S. Metz was appointed Dean of University Extension in 1991. Metz oversaw the implementation of online learning at the extension for the first time. In 1996, UC Berkeley Extension Online was developed in collaboration with the extension's Center for Media and Independent Learning. In 2007, the UC Berkeley Extension offered their first bilingual classes in Chinese and

Mandarin Mandarin or The Mandarin may refer to: Language * Mandarin Chinese, branch of Chinese originally spoken in northern parts of the country ** Standard Chinese or Modern Standard Mandarin, the official language of China ** Taiwanese Mandarin, Stand ...

. In 2008, Diana Wu was appointed Dean of the UC Berkeley Extension. In 2012, Wu was also appointed as the first Executive Director of the Berkeley Resource Center for Online Education (BRCOE) after the extension created the new division.

Academics

UC Berkeley Extension offers more than 2,000 courses yearly. UC Berkeley Extension also offers professional certificate programs for students who already have a college education. Areas of study include business, technology and

information management Information management (IM) concerns a cycle of organizational activity: the acquisition of information from one or more sources, the custodianship and the distribution of that information to those who need it, and its ultimate disposal throug ...

STEM Stem or STEM may refer to: Plant structures * Plant stem, a plant's aboveground axis, made of vascular tissue, off which leaves and flowers hang * Stipe (botany), a stalk to support some other structure * Stipe (mycology), the stem of a mushro ...

, industry,

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

, health, and law.

Locations

UC Berkeley Extension's classes take place in several locations including the Golden Bear Building in

since 1995, 160 Spear Street in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and Cañada College in

Redwood City Redwood City is a city on the San Francisco Peninsula in Northern California's Bay Area, approximately south of San Francisco, and northwest of San Jose. Redwood City's history spans its earliest inhabitation by the Ohlone people to being a po ...

. Previously, the extension had also offered classes in the

Hayes Valley Hayes Valley is a neighborhood in the Western Addition district of San Francisco, California. It is located between the historical districts of Alamo Square and the Civic Center. Victorian, Queen Anne, and Edwardian townhouses are mixed with hig ...

neighborhood of San Francisco after purchasing a building from

San Francisco State College San Francisco State University (commonly referred to as San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a public research university in San Francisco. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers 118 different b ...

. Other previous locations include San Francisco's South of Market Center,

Powell Street Powell Street is a street in San Francisco, California that connects from Market Street through Union Square, North Beach, Nob Hill, Russian Hill and ends at Fisherman's Wharf. The intersection of Powell Street with Market Street is the sta ...

in San Francisco, Fremont, and Belmont.

Pictures

References

{{coord, 37.8721, -122.2713, type:edu_region:US-CA, display=title University of California, Berkeley Universities and colleges in Alameda County, California 1891 establishments in California Educational institutions established in 1891

History

Academics

Locations

Pictures

See also

References