The Graduate School was renamed after the Richard and Rhoda Goldman Fund donated $10 million in 1997.

The building was originally designed by Ernest Coxhead in 1893 as the Beta Theta Pi fraternity house.

The building underwent seismic strengthening and received a Preservation Award from the Berkeley Architectural Heritage Association (BAHA).

The main component of the school's graduate curriculum is the two-year Master of Public Policy (MPP) program.

The curriculum includes core courses that provide a foundation in subjects ranging from political elements of the decision-making process and legal analysis to such specific analytic tools and concepts as microeconomic theory and statistical modeling.