Staff and faculty from throughout the UC system are invited to a public memorial for UC president emeritus and former UC Berkeley chancellor Clark Kerr. The ceremony starts at 3 p.m. today in Berkeley's Zellerbach Hall.

Kerr's contributions as a scholar, labor negotiator and national higher education leader will be celebrated. Speakers will include UC President Robert Dynes; UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Berdahl; UCLA Chancellor Emeritus Chuck Young; Kerr's son, Clark E. Kerr; and a granddaughter and current UC Berkeley student, Amber Kerr.

Kerr, a towering figure in higher education, died Dec. 1, 2003, at the age of 92. As president of the University of California, he was chief architect of the master plan that guided California public higher education for four decades and is still a national model.

"Every student and every campus leader alive today owes Clark Kerr a great debt of gratitude -- for it was his vision and his bold determination that helped create the modern university, and the idea that students from all walks of life should have access to college," said David Ward, president of the American Council on Education, upon learning of Kerr's death.