Decade-by-decade: Creating a ‘City of Intellect’

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.