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 Carol T. Christ The Introduction to TheWorlds Around Us by Carol T. Christ The University of California was founded to realize a vision thatwas at once democratic and practical. In 1866, right after the Civil War, the legislatureof the very young state of California took advantage of the federal Morrill Land Grant Actto establish the Agricultural, Mining, and Mechanical Arts College. Its goal was "topromote the liberal and practical education of the industrial classes in the severalpursuits and professions of life." Two years later, the College was merged with asmall private institution in Oakland, the College of California, which had just purchaseda large tract of land a few miles to the north that they named Berkeley, after the Britishphilosopher. Together the two colleges formed the University of California, and in 1873,with an enrollment of 191 students, the university moved to Berkeley. Much has changed in our concept of a liberal and practicaleducation since the early years of the University, but faculty still concentrate, in theirresearch and teaching, on problems of an immediate and practical importance to ademocratic society. This volume of conversations with Berkeley professors gives 10examples: What can we do about violence in our schools? How will the Internet change ourlives? How is biodiversity important for the economy? How can we show that computers don'tthink? What kind of custody laws are best for children? What kind of diet protects usagainst cancer? What kind of AIDS information is most effective in discouraging riskybehavior? How is diversity important to our history as a country? Why is kidnapping amodern problem and does the media exploit it? Is the role of blacks in sports changing?Each of the interviews in this book addresses one of these questions and explains what itis the professor has discovered about it. ERROR MSGOne of the wonderful things about the Berkeley academic communityis the fact that you can always find a scholar or researcher who knows something about anysubject you can imagine. The campus is a cornucopia of knowledge, not merely in themillions of books in its library but in the hundreds of professors on its faculty. Theseprofessors specialize in everything from how the cell works to the origins of theuniverse, from who were the earliest hominids to the history of twentieth-century China.This volume focuses principally on issues relating to social policy. Using the traditionaltools of research, the faculty interviewed discover data that lead them to new ideas aboutproblems that we confront in our daily lives. Another group of interviews could haveconcentrated on science, or on the arts and humanities. The university, as its nameimplies, contains, in small, the universe. ERROR MSGAnyone who spends much time around a university discovers quicklythat professors love to talk. These interviews bring the ideas about which the facultywrite in their books and articles into a conversation that you might have in your livingroom. I hope you enjoy these conversations, for they are what the university is all about. BOOKS BY CAROL T. CHRIST
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