 Although designed as a liberal arts @-@ oriented university , UCSC quickly acquired a graduate @-@ level natural science research component with the appointment of plant physiologist Kenneth V. Thimann as the first provost of Crown College . Thimann developed UCSC 's early Division of Natural Sciences and recruited other well @-@ known science faculty and graduate students to the fledgling campus . Immediately upon its founding , UCSC was also granted administrative responsibility for the Lick Observatory , which established the campus as a major center for astronomy research . Founding members of the Social Science and Humanities faculty created the unique History of Consciousness graduate program in UCSC 's first year of operation . 
