The UC Medical Department faculty had barely moved into their spacious new quarters on Parnassus in autumn of 1898 when it became apparent that the turn of the century would bring more than geographic change to the school. Former physiology professor Arnold D'Ancona became dean of the Medical Department in 1899 and immediately began working toward implementing

Artist's rendition of the completed Affiliated Colleges, 1896.

preclinical science instruction on a full-time academic basis. He found a willing ally in the new University President, Benjamin Ide Wheeler, a classics scholar who had taught at Cornell for thirteen years and developed a keen empathy for students. Already by the turn of the century, enrollment in San Francisco significantly balanced that on the main campus. When Wheeler first took office in 1899, there were 1,717 students at Berkeley enrolled in the colleges of letters, social sciences, natural sciences, commerce, agriculture, mechanics, mining, civil engineering, and chemistry.

Laying the Cornerstone ceremony, March 27, 1897.

In comparison, nearly 400 students were receiving professional instruction in art, medicine, pharmacy, dentistry, and veterinary medicine at the various affiliated units in San Francisco. The reforming efforts of Wheeler and D'Ancona were generously supported by UC Regent and benefactress, Mrs. Phoebe Hearst, who remained committed to improving UC's instructional facilities until her death in 1919.