The Pursuit of Knowledge Speeches and Papers of Richard C. Atkinson [Paperback]

Richard C. Atkinsons eight-year tenure as president of the University of California (19952003) reflected the major issues facing California itself: the states emergence as the worlds leading knowledge-based economy and the rapidly expanding size and diversity of its population. As this selection of President Atkinsons speeches and papers reveals, his administration was marked by innovative approaches that deliberately shaped U.C.s role in this changing California. These writings tell the story of the national controversy over the SAT and Atkinsons successful challenge to the dominance of the seventy-five-year-old college entrance examination. They also highlight other issues with national significance: U.C.s experiments with race-neutral admissions programs; the challenges facing academic libraries and the Universitys pioneering activities with the California Digital Library; and the Universitys involvement in new paradigms of industry-university research. Together, these speeches and papers open a window on an eventful period in the history of the nations leading public research university and the history of American higher education.

Richard C. Atkinsonis President Emeritus of the University of California. Before becoming president of the UC System, he served as chancellor of UC San Diego; prior to that he served as director of the National Science Foundation and was a long-term member of the faculty at Stanford University.

Foreword by David S. Saxon
Editors Note

A Brief History of the Atkinson Presidency, 19952003

SEVENTEENTH PRESIDENT
Remarks on Receiving the University of Chicago Alumni Medal
The Golden Fleece, Science Education, and U.S. Science Policy
Remarks on Appointment as President of the University of California

THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
The Future of the University of California: A Personal View
The Role of the President of the University