1960: Irvine Company donates 1,000 acres to the University of California to create a new campus: UC Irvine.
1964: President Lyndon B. Johnson officiates at the dedication of UCI.
1967: University Park Elementary opens as the first school under the Irvine Master Plan.
1972: The Irvine Unified School District is founded.
1977: IUSD’s 10th school, Deerfield Elementary, opens. It has since been named a National Blue Ribbon School and California Distinguished School.
1985: Irvine Valley College becomes the state’s 105th community college, eventually enrolling over 6,000 students.
1985: California Distinguished Schools Program is established. Irvine schools have since been awarded 39 times.
1995: Frederick Reines (Physics) and F. Sherwood Rowland (Chemistry) receive UC Irvine’s first two Nobel Prizes.
2000: Over 3.7 billion people watch the Irvine High marching band perform at the Sydney Summer Olympics.
2014: President Barack Obama gives the commencement speech for UCI’s graduates. Zot! Zot! Zot!
2016: Measure E passes, providing $270 million to ensure all IUSD schools meet the same safety and academic standards.
2018: Loma Ridge Elementary School, Irvine’s 42nd village school, breaks ground.
2019: Money magazine names UCI the nation’s No. 1 college, knocking Princeton off the top spot.
2022: IUSD celebrates its 50th anniversary as a school district.
2022: Northwood High music teacher Ben Case is named one of five California Teachers of the Year.