UCSD Chancellor: Speeches

CHANCELLOR ROBERT C. DYNES
STATE-OF-THE-CAMPUS ADDRESS
MARCH 22, 2001

INTRO: BIG GROWTH, STRAIGHT TALK

There seems to be a tradition in the academic community that a state-of-the-campus speech must fulfill two requirements:
It must serve up an abundance of rhetoric.
And it must present a laundry list of all the great things that are going on in the campus.
I’d like to dispense with that. You can probably hear that or see that anywhere.
This state-of-the-campus address will focus on the fact that UCSD is starting a decade of unprecedented campus growth.
I’m sure you have mixed feelings about that. I know I do.
Sometimes I lie awake at night and feel terrified. Sometimes I lie awake at night and feel excited, and my mind races about the things that we can do. Either way, I lose sleep over this issue.
In an honest assessment of the state of our campus, I cannot tell you that growth is going to be wonderful. I can tell you that it’s going to be inevitable.
I can also tell you without hesitation that we – we, this community – have the collective intelligence to manage this growth wisely.
If we manage the growth wisely, UCSD will be a far stronger institution. We will reach new heights of academic excellence. We will have a more profound impact in the outside world, locally, nationally, and internationally.
But none of this can happen unless we have the desire and the determination to turn this growth surge into advantage.

MANAGING GROWTH: MISSION AND MANDATE

So my formal remarks will focus on two aspects of managing future growth.
First, UCSD must grow in ways that carry out our three-part mission: education, research and community service.
Secondly, UCSD must grow in ways that follow our mandate as a public university that is responsive to the citizens that support us.
Throughout these remarks, I will cite examples from many areas of campus life that illustrate the challenges and opportunities that are out there in front of us.
At the end of the remarks, as Linda said, I’ll open the floor for your questions and comments.

THE PEOPLE BEHIND THE MISSION

Behind UCSD’s mission, behind everything we do, you find knowledge. Behind knowledge, you find people.
People in the education arena convey knowledge. People in the research arena create and gather knowledge. People in the service arena use knowledge to benefit the public.
Any discussion of campus growth should begin with the people who will shoulder it: our faculty, our staff, and our students.
I’d like to begin by focusing on staff issues. I think it’s fair to say that without staff support, educators can’t teach, researchers can’t study, and students can’t learn.

STAFF (Business Affairs: BLINK, Training)

Two weeks ago, I sent out the first in a continuing series of internal communiqués on campus growth issues. I got a lot of interesting feedback.
One employee said, “Well, you talked about 10,000 additional students; you talked about 450 new faculty. But you never mentioned hiring staff. What about us?”
We don’t know yet how many new staff we will be hiring. The figure of 10,000 students comes from the demographics of California, the growth of California and the Office of the President. The figure of 450 faculty comes from 18.7-to-1 student-to-faculty ratio that is dictated by the state of California.
How many staff and where they will be placed and how we’re going to this is still a number I don’t know.
The Staff Retention and Support Steering Committee, which was appointed some time ago, is working out those figures right now. They’re also focusing most importantly on the need for all staff to have better tools, better operating systems, and better training.
In the area of business systems, I’m happy to report we are the first UC campus to create a Web-based business portal for staff. It’s called “Blink,” and the early feedback is good.
Employees tell us that Blink provides easy access to information on budgets, training, salary, benefits, you name it. Searches that used to take hours now take minutes.
Now that Blink is ready for use, staff will need training to learn how to use it. Without that training, Blink is just another acronym for another incomprehensible system. I’m seeing some nodding heads on that one.
We are now developing a range of options for staff training. Our employees have made it clear that they want training opportunities that are accessible and flexible, and I agree with them.
You need training to perform your jobs effectively. You need training to do the jobs we’ve asked you to do and also to enhance your professional advancement. This will have to be an institutional priority over the next decade.

STUDENTS (Student Affairs)

Let me talk about students. When we talk about our three-part mission, we always put education first. Educating students – turning children into adults – is the most important thing we do.
Our educational efforts focus, as they should, on academic excellence. But they also must address quality-of-student-life issues, and this will be a real challenge as the student numbers expand.
In the area of Student Affairs, I’m pleased to tell you that a committee of 19 student leaders has proposed a Campus Life Referendum to go before the students in the Spring quarter.
If that’s approved, the referendum will significantly increase funding for colleges, for student facilities, for sports and recreation, and for student organizations.
In addition, we are planning construction of a Student Service Facility to be built just over here to open in 2006. It will house Admissions, Outreach, Cashier, Registrar, and Financial Aid.

STUDENTS (Undergraduate & Graduate)

Let me now talk about academic issues both for undergraduate and for graduate students.
We can take real pride in the undergraduate college system we have at UCSD. It’s quite unique. That system is expanding with the addition of Sixth College, and plans for a Seventh College are beginning.
Like the five other colleges, Sixth College focuses on a broad education. Its students will explore how art and culture intersect with technology.
This is our pattern at UCSD. Such cross-disciplinary emphasis is the key to building academic excellence on this campus.
I want to emphasize right here and now, though, in the strongest possible terms that UCSD is not a CalTech, it’s not an MIT. We are a university.
The social sciences, the arts and humanities are integral to our institutional maturity. They are what make us human. They are what make our lives livable. They give our lives meaning, and they give the so-called “hard sciences” real value.
On the graduate education front, we plan to increase enrollment from its current level of 13 percent of the student body to 18 percent by the year 2010.
Future growth also must allow for expanded professional and adult education, and I’ll come back to that shortly.

FACULTY (Academic Affairs)

Turning to issues affecting faculty, let me begin by saying – and many of you have heard me say this many times – you do not have a great university without great faculty.
UCSD is a first-rate institution because UCSD has first-rate scholars and teachers. As we grow through this decade, we will not merely maintain our present level of academic distinction. We have an opportunity to and we will raise it.
Every three years, beginning in 1997, Academic Affairs has undertaken a comprehensive planning framework that looks for ways to build on our strengths.
That framework is suitably titled, “Charting the Course.” It emphasizes interdisciplinary collaboration, and it links research excellence and teaching excellence.
We are now developing plans for the next three-year cycle. I’d like to briefly describe two curricular initiatives that will be major planks in the next three-year plan.
The first is “Bioinformatics.”
“Bioinformatics” will launch two programs – one undergraduate and one graduate program – that bring together faculty from biology, engineering, physical sciences and medicine to study the flow of information in living systems.
The second initiative that I’d like to briefly outline is something called “California Cultures in Comparative Perspective.”
“California Cultures” will unite scholars from Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities to explore issues related to the expansion of California’s native minority and immigrant populations.
Both of these initiatives will focus our scholarly attention on the extraordinary region that surrounds us.
“Bioinformatics” will focus on the impact that San Diego’s technology corridor has had – and will have – on the health and well-being of San Diego and California citizens.
“California Cultures” will focus on how our state’s rich multicultural heritage has infused every aspect of our public lives, from politics and economics to literature and art.
As scholars, we should not seek knowledge for its own sake. We should seek knowledge that has real value for us and for our community. “Charting the Course” aims to do just that.

RESOURCE MANAGEMENT

As I said earlier, I believe we have the collective intelligence to manage growth wisely, if we have the desire and the determination.
We also need the resources – the money. Substantial growth requires a substantial increase in operating funds and in new facilities.
We are working aggressively with the Office of the President to line up the necessary funding. The Governor and the Legislature appear to be very supportive. As long as the state’s economy holds up, we should get the money we need.
The state, of course, is under a lot of stress right now. We can only hope the Governor finds a way out of the power crisis.
However, I’d like to point out that only 20 percent of the budget for UCSD comes from the state of California. Private support is increasingly important to this campus.
Our fundraising efforts have been quite successful to date. But we’ll have to intensify those efforts as we grow, especially with regard to funding for capital projects.
We have an impressive list of capital projects in the queue, and you will be getting updates about that in our growth communiqué series as we communicate with you periodically from the various Vice Chancellors. Right now, let me just describe two of these capital projects.
The first is a research-driven one. We will construct an “fMRI, ” a functional Magnetic Resonance Imaging Center at the School of Medicine for research in cognitive sciences and neurosciences, again, a very strongly interdisciplinary program.
UCSD right now is a world leader in this very important scientific arena. If we’re going to maintain that leadership position, we have to invest in state-of-the-art technology for studying brain function and brain disorders and behavior.
The second initiative is construction which has already begun on Eleanor Roosevelt College. In terms of funding and square footage, this is the largest capital project in UCSD’s history.
I think it’s very fitting that the largest building project ever will contribute significantly to the quality of student life.
These and other new facilities will mean a lot of campus construction over the next five years. Be assured that we will update you regularly on the progress of construction projects and the potential impact that they’ll have on your and my life.

GROWTH AND OUR PUBLIC MANDATE

Let me now focus on managing growth in ways that follow our mandate as a public university.
I hope all of us feel a sense of ownership toward UCSD. We don’t merely work or study here. We inhabit this place, and we care about this place.
But the fact is, this isn’t just “our” campus. UCSD also “belongs” to the citizens of San Diego and of California. It is also “their” campus, and we can never lose sight of that.
Anyone who thinks UCSD doesn’t need to grow should spend a day in the Admissions Office fielding calls from applicants with 3.9 GPAs who have just received rejection letters.
I can tell you, talking to students and talking to parents, campus growth takes on a whole new significance when you see the disappointment and the anguish in their eyes.
I’d like to list now briefly areas where campus growth must follow our mandate to be responsive to the citizens who support us.

PRESERVING QUALITY OF LIFE (SIO)

During this era of growth, we must generate new knowledge and use it to preserve the quality of life in our region and on our planet.
Environmental research has been one of our strengths at UCSD. Before UCSD existed, the Scripps Institution of Oceanography started in 1903 in a wooden boathouse on Coronado.
Today, SIO is set to monitor all the oceans around the world on a continuous basis.
Its Argo project will send out a global array of 3,000 free-drifting floats to collect data on the upper 2,000 meters of the ocean.
This data will provide real-time reports of ocean states around the Earth and will allow modeling of our oceans and climate. That research could save lives in areas that are subject to severe weather fluctuations. It could save lives in California. It could save lives in San Diego.

STRENGTHENING THE REGIONAL ECONOMY

Closer to home, we have a responsibility to contribute to the quality of life and the economic health of the San Diego region.
UCSD has a strong record of civic leadership. We can take pride in our 250 community service programs and the enormous impact that UCSD CONNECT and San Diego Dialogue have had in the San Diego-Tijuana area.
UCSD also has helped fuel the regional economy. We are the proud parent and grandparent of 150 or more spin-off companies. Many UCSD alumni are leaders in the high-tech arena.
And our new California Institute of Science and Innovation, Cal(IT)˛, is an extraordinary public-private partnership. It will give our citizens hope that discovery and innovation are the keys to prosperity.
But I want to emphasize again that this institute has a far greater scope than science and technology. Faculty and students from all disciplines are shaping this new endeavor.
As we build Cal(IT)˛ from the ground up, we will consult with community leaders and rely on their input as well as our own input.
In feedback so far, they have emphasized one very important thing: Technological advances are of little use without social and ethical advances. Cal(IT)˛ must address the need for balance between the sciences and the humanities.

BUILDING PROFESSIONAL/ADULT EDUCATION

The citizens of San Diego are also looking to us to provide professional education in specific areas, like our new School of Pharmacy, in management and life-long adult education.
Each year at commencement, I tell the new graduates that learning does not stop when you pick up your diploma. We all have to take that message seriously. Life-long learning is the only way to stay competitive.
If our region and our country are to stay competitive, our citizens must continue to acquire knowledge.
Adult education is an important part of the educational mission of a public university. UCSD Extension has done an outstanding job on that front for the past 35 years.
But it must grow. Just as the number of undergraduate and graduate students increase this decade, the number of adult learners will increase. As change becomes a way of life, adults must continue to learn. And we must be prepared for that demand.

INCREASING DIVERSITY (K-12 OUTREACH)

One area of campus life is central to both our educational mission and our public mandate.
That area is cultural diversity. UCSD must build a diversity that reflects the rich pluralism of California.
Education isn’t just putting books in front of students. Education is teaching students how to live and work with people of different backgrounds and different perspectives.
We also have a responsibility to prepare future generations of San Diego and California leaders.
Right now, it is a fact, too many talented black, Latino, and Chicano teenagers from our community – your neighbors – are off to college in other parts of the country.
Students tend to locate where they matriculate. They meet people; they like the area; they stay there. If bright young San Diegans of color leave and don’t come back, this region will suffer a “brain drain” of talented and diverse leaders that we simply can’t afford.
UCSD has made some progress on this front, specifically with K-12 outreach programs like CREATE, with our campus Preuss School, and with the transfer recruitment programs like UniversityLink, which works with community colleges to create pipelines for the high schools and feeder schools for transfer students into UCSD.
We have a long way to go to achieve real diversity. This issue will remain on my front burner, and it should be on the front burner for everyone here at UCSD.
On April 3, the Diversity Council will hold a Town Hall meeting. The theme is “Embracing Diversity: A Campuswide Responsibility.” I encourage you all to attend this event.
I also hope everyone will participate in UCSD’s inaugural Cesar Chavez holiday celebrations next month. This is a unique opportunity to understand an important aspect of California’s rich history.

BUILDING EXTERNAL NETWORKS

As I mentioned earlier, UCSD belongs not just to us but to the citizens of California.
Here in San Diego County, too many citizens think UCSD is this elite La Jolla bastion that doesn’t care about them. I was in South County yesterday, I spent the day in South County yesterday, and that comes back to us all the time.
We are working hard to correct that impression. We have to do a better job building networks of allies, friends and advocates out in the community.
The UCSD trolley station will go a long way toward connecting this campus to its region. And, as an important side benefit, it will help ease traffic in and around campus.
We’re working hard and closely with MTDB and community leaders to get this trolley up I-5 and a station in place on this campus as soon as possible.
A final note on the External Relations front: I want to thank everyone who has participated or who will participate in our 40th anniversary celebration of “giving back to the community.” It really does make a difference.

HEALTH SCIENCES

Let me move to Health Sciences. Many San Diegans are chiefly connected to UCSD as patients of our faculty physicians and our medical staff.
I will deliver a second state-of-the-campus address on March 30 that will focus primarily on issues in our Health Science Division. I’ll do that down in Hillcrest.
There is quite a bit of good news on the Health Sciences front.
Talks with Children’s Hospital and our Department of Pediatrics, talks that have been going on for 25 years, they’re getting close, I mean, they’re really getting close. Trust me, they’re getting close.
The inaugural class of the School of Pharmacy will enter in 2002.
We are excited by the prospects for “bench-to-bedside” advances at the John & Becky Moores Cancer Center and the Shiley Eye Center.
As is always the case in the health care arena, it’s a constant battle; we’re grappling with challenges in cost containment and resource allocation.
But I’m happy to tell you right now – you never know, things happen that are outside our control – right now, our health care system is in very strong financial shape.

CONCLUSION: NEW WEBSITE, NEW DIALOGUE

I want to conclude by emphasizing how committed I am to the idea that this new era of campus growth will be shaped by a campus community dialogue. If you don’t know what’s going on, you usually think the worst.
We can manage growth wisely to carry out our mission and follow our mandate if we manage it together. Two-way communication is a key to that stewardship.
Today’s state-of-the-campus speech and the inaugural growth communiqué I sent out on March 9 are just two steps in what I regard as a continuous process.
All the Vice Chancellors will participate in the series of campus growth communiqués to you. Each will have an opportunity to describe the impact of campus growth on her or his area.
Last but not least – this is the most tenuous part, listen carefully to this one – I want to invite you all to visit the newly reconstructed Office of the Chancellor Web site.
It’s not there yet; it will be there next week. I clicked on it today; it still says, “Under Construction.” I’ve been assured that it will be up next week.
When it opens for business, my office will send out a notice inviting all of you to log on.
When you visit my Web site, I hope you’ll take special note of a “Letters to the Chancellor” link on the “News” page.
I receive an awful lot of e-mail, some from you – a lot from you probably, as I look around the audience. I read every one of them, even when I get 50 that say exactly the same thing.
I read them all. I cannot respond to all of them personally, but I read them all, and I learn something from each and every one of them.
I would like to share with you these insights from you. I envision my Web site as an ongoing town forum with a wide cross-section of your views and perspectives so that you can see some of the e-mail that I receive.
Some of it will drive you crazy. Some of it you’ll agree with. Some of it will stimulate creative thoughts on your own. I regard that as healthy. I certainly learn from all the e-mail you send me.
Now that you’ve listened to my reflections on the state-of-the-campus, it’s time for me to listen to you.
I appreciate your attention and collegiality. I hope you share my sense that, as we;ve had an exciting past here at UCSD, we look forward to an even more exciting future.
I hope you believe, as I do, that UCSD will grow in stature and in wisdom as it grows in size, and that the best is yet to come. Thank you.

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For more information contact dynesdesk@ucsd.edu