Regents OK Irvine as Site for UC’s New Administrative Office

A proposal to lease a branch office in Irvine for use by top administrators of the University of California, who are based in Berkeley, was approved on Friday by the UC Board of Regents, a spokesman said.

The Office of the President will be located in the Jamboree Center business complex and will serve as a “way to have a greater presence in Southern California,” UC spokesman Rick Malaspina said.

The branch office will be about three miles from the UC Irvine campus but will not be a part of it, officials said. The new office offers the most central access to UC campuses in Southern California, Malaspina said.

According to UC officials, the new facility will be the first such office away from Berkeley since 1936-37, when UC President Robert Sproul split his time between UCLA and Berkeley. The 6,100-square-foot Irvine office will include conference facilities, a few individual offices and a small permanent staff.

Most Growth in South

A Southern California branch administrative office is needed because most UC growth is in this part of the state, said Ron Kolb, director of news and communications, in an earlier interview.

In addition to Irvine, the other Southern California campuses are UCLA, UC Santa Barbara, UC Riverside and UC San Diego. There are four Northern California campuses. The regents granted the proposal during a meeting in San Francisco.

“The main reason we picked Irvine is geography,” Kolb said. “Irvine is at the center of the five UC campuses in Southern California, and the proposed site there is near a major airport.” The office will be located 2 1/2 miles from the John Wayne Airport.

“We want to diminish the (perception that the) president’s office is the exclusive domain of Northern California,” Kolb said. “He is nearly as often in the south as he is in the north, and as the university has grown, it has become increasingly important to function efficiently in Southern California.”

There is no cost estimate yet or date for opening the office, officials said.