Pioneer Faculty
1965-66: One of the most iconic photos taken in UC Santa Cruz’s 50 years is this one, of the founders of Cowell College, taken in the first year.
Front row, l-r: Jack Michaelsen, Richard Randolph, George Benigsen, Bernard Haley, Manfred Shaffer, Harry Berger, Neal Oxenhandler, Mary Holmes, John Pierce, and Jasper Rose;
Second row, l-r: Thomas Volger, Robert Werlin, William Hitchcock, George Amis, Todd Newberry, Raymond Nichols, Bruce Larkin, Ronald Ruby, Michael Brailove, Gudrun Kamm, Paulette Fridling, Bert Kaplan, and Bhuwan Joshi;
Third row, l-r: Marshall Sylvan, Ronald Larsen, Carl Morris, John Dizikes, Leonard Kunin, Roger Keesing, Herman Ammon, Charles Daniel, and William Doyle;
Last row, l-r: Richard Mather, Karl Lamb, Glenn Willson, Betsy Avery, Provost Page Smith, Maurice Natanson, Siegfried Puknat, Elizabeth Puknat, and Gabriel Berns.
Not pictured, G. William Domhoff
Weekend campus dance
1965-66: While construction was beginning on the campus’s first two colleges, Cowell and Stevenson, the 652 students who attended UC Santa Cruz during its first year lived — quite sociably — in 64 trailers housed in star-shaped clusters on the East Field. And they didn’t have to go far to get to a weekend campus dance.
(Photo: Unknown)
The original sign
1966: UC Santa Cruz’s first chancellor, Dean McHenry (second from right), is among the founders photographed in 1966 following the installation of the original carved redwood sign that has defined the main entrance to campus.
In 2008, the original sign — having weathered the elements for more than 40 years — was replaced by the one that is there today. Like its predecessor, the wood for the new sign was donated to the campus by the McCrary Family.
Alan Chadwick
1967: Charismatic Englishman Alan Chadwick came to UC Santa Cruz in the late 1960s, and he and a group of students transformed a brush-covered hillside below Merrill College into a lush garden where vegetables and flowers were grown without chemical pesticides or fertilizers. Chadwick, in essence, sowed the seeds for UCSC’s leadership in sustainable agriculture and organic farming.
(Photo: Courtesy, UCSC Special Collections)
Special relationship with UC Santa Cruz
1967: In March of 1963, Ansel Adams and photography writer and curator Nancy Newhall accepted a commission from Clark Kerr, then president of the University of California, to produce a book to commemorate the centennial celebration of the University. Four years later, Fiat Lux: The University of California (McGraw Hill Book Company, 1967) was published. Framed by the 1960s, Fiat Lux captures university campuses, its people, and UC properties statewide.
Adams had a very special relationship with UC Santa Cruz and its founding chancellor, Dean McHenry. This “rough proof” of a student painter is believed to have been taken on campus in 1967.
(Photo: Ansel Adams)
California Governor Ronald Reagan
1968: In October, then California Governor Ronald Reagan attended a UC Regents meeting at UCSC. According to the Santa Cruz Sentinel, the governor was greeted by protests from UCSC students, Cabrillo students, and community members over a decision to restrict Black Panther Eldridge Cleaver from speaking on state campuses.
(Photo: Courtesy of Special Collections)
Stevenson Dorm 8
1969: This photo, taken in “Stevenson Dorm 8” in January of that year, perfectly captures the floor-to-ceiling artwork (and sometimes ceiling artwork), informal guitar strumming, and an abundance of conversation that could be found in many student residences on campus during UC Santa Cruz’s fourth year.
(Photo: Hans Namuth)
