UC Davis College of Letters and Science

The College of Letters and Science (L&S) is the largest college of the University of California, Davis.

In January 1922, to silence proposals from agricultural interests to sever the University Farm at Davis from the University of California, Berkeley, the Regents of the University of California authorized a two-year undergraduate program at Davis. This initial project soon evolved into a four-year undergraduate program leading to the degree of bachelor of science in agriculture, which was first awarded at Davis in 1926.

Several of the college's departments date back to the 1920s. They were originally developed as so-called "service divisions" of the College of Agriculture at Davis to provide courses in sciences and humanities to undergraduates at Davis.

In 1951, the College of Letters and Science at Davis was formed as a full-fledged college in its own right under founding dean Herbert A. Young. Several service divisions became the new college's first departments and over 50 faculty members of the College of Agriculture became the faculty of the new college.