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California Memorial Stadium, built in 1923 and renovated in 2012, seats approximately 55,000 people and is dedicated to Berkeley students who lost their lives in World War I. Cal fans pack the stadium every fall to cheer on the California Golden Bears football team. Memorial Stadium is the first collegiate stadium in the United States to incorporate academics into its facility. It is home to the Haas School of Business Innovation Lab and the College of Engineering Sutardja Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology. It is also home to the Koret Visitor Center, where all of our campus walking tours begin. Enjoy your tour of our beautiful campus, founded in 1868!
Before we get started, let me explain the many ways you can explore our beautiful space.
-You can click on the forward facing arrow to start walking around.
-You can jump to the next stop by clicking on the "Next" button.
-Now, if you already know where you want to go, you can select any location by using the list OR by clicking directly on the map.
-Lastly, remember that you can explore any particular location in more detail by clicking the supplemental icons.
Haas School of Business
Tour stop audio transcript
The Haas School of Business has its own beautiful campus on the eastern edge of the University. It offers several programs including an Undergraduate BS, multiple MBA programs, a Master's of Financial Engineering (MFE) and a PhD program. The undergraduate degree is highly selective and highly ranked. Freshmen are normally accepted to the College of Letters and Science and then apply during their sophomore year to the business school after completing a set number of prerequisite courses. Chou Hall is the greenest academic building in the nation and the first certified zero waste academic building in the world. There are a total of 2,200 graduate and undergraduate students that study at Haas.
Sproul Plaza
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From the Free Speech Movement in 1964 to now, Sproul Plaza has long been known as the heartbeat of campus. This site marks the location of what was then the largest mass arrest in U.S. history when over 800 students were arrested during a massive sit-in that started the Free Speech Movement. The steps of Sproul Hall continue to host a wide variety of demonstrations, performances and rallies. This building houses UC Berkeley's admissions offices, financial aid and other student services. On the opposite side of Sproul Hall is the Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union, a hub for student life and activity on campus.
Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union
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The Martin Luther King, Jr. Student Union serves as a home base for students. On its own, it houses the Multicultural Community Center, Basic Needs Center, eateries, the student store, study locations and more. The building joins several other buildings to form Lower Sproul Plaza. In Eshleman Hall lies the chambers for Associated Students of the University of California (ASUC), our student governing body. The Cesar Chavez Student Center houses numerous resources including the Student Learning Center for tutoring and academic support, the Transfer Student Center, Re-entry Student Program, Disabled Students' Program and other resources for marginalized communities and students seeking academic and professional support.
Sather Gate
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Berkeley's iconic Sather Gate, donated by Jane K. Sather and finished in 1910, is one of our most famous campus landmarks. The gate formerly marked the Southern entrance to the campus, which has since been extended to its current opening at Bancroft Way. The eight figures on the gate's panels were crafted masterfully to represent various fields of learning. Leading up to the gate is a long esplanade where student clubs and organizations typically set up booths to interact and engage with the campus community. The university boasts over 1100 active student groups, including career development organizations, cultural communities, performing arts clubs and many more, which allow students to explore widely and develop their passions.
Hearst Memorial Mining Building
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The Hearst Memorial Mining Building was donated by Phoebe Apperson Hearst in 1907 and once housed the College of Mining, one of the university's original colleges. A century-old, now inactive subterranean mine and tunnel system runs under the northeast section of campus. The Hearst Mining Building is one of three adjacent buildings to the Hearst Mining Circle, an area of campus that encompasses many of our STEM buildings. Stanley Hall houses 40 research laboratories and is the home of CITRIS, the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society. Evans Hall is home to Mathematics, Economics, Logic and Statistics.
College of Letters and Science - Wheeler Hall Auditorium
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This is the main auditorium in Wheeler Hall, seating over 700 students. It holds popular classes like Data 8 (Introductory Data Science), Astronomy C10, and Wealth and Poverty with former Secretary of Labor, Robert Reich. The College of Letters & Science, known as L&S, is the largest undergraduate college at Berkeley with three-quarters of the undergraduate population, offering 80 different majors including Political Science, Economics, English, Art, History, Physics, Math, Psychology and Computer Science. Students graduate with a strong interdisciplinary background, ensuring a vigorous intellectual curiosity after graduation. Many L&S classes are held here in Wheeler Hall, which houses our largest classroom space on campus!
College of Environmental Design (Bauer Wurster Hall) / Hertz & Morrison Halls / Jean Hargrove Music
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The College of Environmental Design (CED) is in Bauer Wurster Hall, constructed in the Brutalist style of architecture. It includes the departments of Architecture, City and Regional Planning, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning. Notable graduates include San Francisco's Golden Gate Bridge architect Irving Morrow and Julia Morgan, who designed over 700 buildings in the state of California. Looking around you can see three music buildings: Hertz Hall, Morrison Hall, and the Jean Hargrove Music Library. These buildings are dedicated to the study and practice of music. Students may pursue a Music major or minor, or enjoy one of numerous extracurricular bands, orchestras, jazz groups and choral organizations outside of the classroom.
College of Engineering (McLaughlin Hall)
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McLaughlin Hall was built in 1931 and houses the main offices of the College of Engineering. This college has seven departments: bioengineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical engineering and computer science, industrial engineering and operations research, materials sciences and engineering, mechanical engineering and nuclear engineering. The college offers several specialized Master's programs and partners with the Haas School of Business to provide the M.E.T. Program (Management, Entrepreneurship and Technology,) in which students double major in Business and an Engineering discipline. Some notable alumni of the College include Steve Wozniak, co-founder of Apple, Julia Morgan, architect of Hearst Castle, and Rube Goldberg, inventor of the "Rube Goldberg Machine"!
Rausser College of Natural Resources (Mulford Hall)
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Mulford Hall, housing the Rausser College of Natural Resources' advising office, is situated near the picturesque West entrance to campus. Its hallways are lined by varying global wood specimens, fitting decor for the university's environmentally-focused college. Its 2,500 undergraduates graduate with Bachelor of Science (BS) degrees in 9 various major options. Neighboring Mulford Hall is the Li Ka Shing Center, a multidisciplinary center conducting research to prevent root causes of diseases like cancer, Alzheimer's, HIV and tuberculosis. The Eucalyptus Grove is a few minutes' walk away and meanders around forks of Strawberry Creek, which runs beyond the Grove and throughout campus. The Grove contains some of the tallest eucalyptus trees in California.
College of Chemistry (Gilman Hall)
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The College of Chemistry has existed since the beginnings of UC Berkeley. Originally housed in South Hall, our current oldest standing building (1873), it now lives in Gilman Hall and the Chemistry Complex on the East side of campus. Dean Gilbert Lewis was a notable figure from this college and is known for the discovery of the covalent bond and for creating the "Lewis Dot Structures" for showing the bonds between atoms. Another professor, Glenn Seaborg, discovered 10 elements and the heavy actinide series. A total of 16 elements on the Periodic Table have been discovered at UC Berkeley! This college offers three undergraduate majors in Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Chemical Biology.
Pimentel Classroom
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This lecture room in Pimentel Hall seats 550 people! Students enjoy dynamic lectures with its three-part rotating stage, letting professors set up experiments before class when another is in session. Some lower division classes can have many students, but they benefit from several resources on campus that help large classes feel much more manageable. Students have one-on-one access to their professors through weekly office hours and Graduate Student Instructors (GSIs) break down lecture material on a weekly basis in discussion sections. Students also have access to tutoring resources and academic support through the Student Learning Center, with a location on campus and as well as staff in the residence halls.
Memorial Glade
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Watch out… frisbee incoming! Sitting in the center of campus, Memorial Glade is a popular place for students to study, relax in hammocks or play sports like frisbee! Surrounding Memorial Glade are many of our 24 campus libraries including Doe Memorial Library, built by architect John Galen Howard in 1911 and the C.V. Starr East Asian Library, built in 2008. The UC Berkeley Library system houses over 13 million volumes. The space also offers a picturesque view of the Campanile in the distance. There are three seals of the university surrounding Memorial Glade -- legend has it, if you step on one of the seals as a student, you curse your GPA forever!
Doe Memorial Library
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Doe Memorial Library features some of our most beautiful indoor designs on campus. The library was named after Charles Franklin Doe, a businessman of San Francisco in the 19th century, benefactor of the University and great lover of books. Inside its north entrance is the Morrison Library, meant for recreational reading and a quiet sanctuary from busy campus life - no electronic devices are allowed here! The first floor also houses the Brown gallery, named for Bernice Layne Brown, wife of former California Governor Edmund "Pat" Brown. On the second floor, up the grand staircase, sits the North Reading Room, an expansive study space surrounded by volumes and topped with a classical arched ceiling.
Sather Tower (Campanile)
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Sather Tower, also known as the Campanile, was constructed in 1915 and stands at 307 feet tall. It is the third tallest clock and bell tower in the world and holds 61 bells at the top. These bells form an instrument called a Carillon which trained students play every day. To the delight of many, a pair of Peregrine falcons has decided to make the top of the Campanile their home, coming back year after year. The view from the observation deck situates Berkeley in the San Francisco Bay Area, home to technological innovation and progress. Across the bay lies San Francisco, a beautiful and dynamic city with plenty to do on the weekends.
Valley Life Science Building
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The Valley Life Sciences Building is home to lecture halls, over 60 laboratories, a biosciences library and three museums. One of the most interesting facts about the building was that it once was the largest academic building in the country! It was constructed in 1930 to revitalize the biological sciences on campus and provides research opportunities in integrative biology, molecular & cell biology and plant biology. Undergraduates can get involved in research on campus in a variety of ways, the most popular being the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP). The building is also home to Osborn, a life-size cast of a Tyrannosaurus Rex fossil, and Marsh, a pteranodon, discovered by a team of four Berkeley researchers.
Alumni House / Zellerbach Playhouse
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In this quad you'll see the Alumni House, Zellerbach Playhouse and Haas Pavilion. The Alumni House is home to our Cal Alumni Association (CAA), one of the most active alumni organizations in the world with over 500,000 living alumni. UC Berkeley's strong alumni network helps provide students with valuable connections and their generous support helps to fund the amazing work that goes on at the university. Zellerbach Auditorium functions as the main performance venue for Cal Performances, which has showcased students and visiting performing artists such as the Mariinsky Ballet, Yo-Yo Ma, and the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. Haas Pavilion is our next stop!
Haas Pavilion
Tour stop audio transcript
Here we stand inside of the 12,000 seat Haas Pavilion, one of UC Berkeley's main athletic centers. UC Berkeley, or Cal, is a member of the Pacific-12 Conference (Pac-12) and houses 30 NCAA Division 1A Sports Teams, but Haas Pavilion is specifically home to basketball, gymnastics and volleyball. Football and basketball games, especially, attract thousands of spectators from the community and beyond. On its own, Cal has earned a total of 207 Olympic medals, placing it at #4 on universities with the most medals. Berkeley also offers dozens of Club teams and an Intramural Program, which has 600 teams and over 8,000 students participating each year.
Recreational Sports Facility (RSF)
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The Spieker Aquatic Complex is one of four pool facilities at UC Berkeley. It sits within the Recreational Sports Facility (RSF), the main gym on campus with over 100,000 square feet of activity space. The gym has three weight rooms, seven basketball courts, squash courts, treadmills, ellipticals, stairmasters, stationary bikes and several fitness studios with yoga, pilates and cardio dance classes. The RSF contains an inclusive Universal Locker Room, with completely private changing rooms, showers and toilets that serve members regardless of who they are or how they identify. Gym membership is included with tuition and Cal Rec Sports' several satellite gyms make physical activity very accessible.
Blackwell Hall / Unit 3
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There are several campus housing options available for students, with 96% of freshmen and 36% of transfers living in university housing. Room and board includes a standard meal plan, all internet, academic resources, daily custodial services, and Resident Assistants (RAs) that protect security in the residence halls and organize events and activities. Freshmen typically live in Units 1, 2, and 3, high-rise residential towers, or Clark Kerr Campus, Foothill, Stern and Blackwell Hall. Each residence hall has close access to a dining hall, though students can choose to eat at any campus eatery at any time. These locations offer a wide range of rotating options, with many vegan, vegetarian, Kosher and Halal meals if students prefer them.
