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August
2005
Dear Colleagues:
I hope you are enjoying the summer. It is my first summer
here in San Diego, and it is a pleasant change of weather
from North Carolina. The last year has included many significant
accomplishments and milestones for the University of California,
San Diego. I look forward to sharing some of my thoughts with
you over the next couple of months, as I begin to review our
achievements since I arrived last August.
As I mentioned
in my last letter, we had a very busy Commencement season,
but it was inspiring. I am grateful to be part of the journey
of so many young people. Their energy, commitment, and enthusiasm
are truly contagious.
Some
Major Highlights of 2004/2005
A few
of the major accomplishments in the past year include the
opening of the new state-of-the-art Rebecca and John Moores
UCSD Cancer Center, a $30 million gift to name and support
the new Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences,
and the enrollment of our inaugural class at the Rady School
of Management. Less tangible, but perhaps equally significant,
was the leadership role UCSD played in the stem cell research
initiative approved by voters last fall.
Our
Stellar Faculty
Our faculty
continued to break new ground last year in myriad ways, including
producing the first clear evidence of human-produced global
warming, discovering the genetic blueprint of amoeba that
will reveal clues to many human diseases, implementing the
first campus-based optical network, and building a biomedical
informatics research network. This and much more outstanding
research paved the way for UCSD's naming as the 24th best
university in the world by the London Times, as well
as a ranking of 13th best university in the world by China's
Shanghai Jaio Tong University.
An
Environmental Initiative
The Scripps
Institution of Oceanography's Director, Charlie Kennel, has
agreed to play a leading role in developing a campus-wide
initiative to address environmental sustainability. Thus,
he will step aside as SIO Director and Vice Chancellor for
Marine Sciences. As you may know, UCSD has considered an initiative
such as this for many years. I look forward to letting you
know more about this as plans firm up in the coming year.
A Special
Thank You
Since
I arrived as Chancellor in September of 2004, I have had the
pleasure of working closely with David Miller as the Acting
Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs. David stepped
into that position while Marsha Chandler was at Harvard over
the last year. David has been a wonderful person to work with,
a leader in academic affairs, a true support system to me
and my office, and a great friend. We are thrilled to have
Senior Vice Chancellor Marsha Chandler return on August 15,
and I am truly grateful for David Miller's time, commitment
and dedication to UCSD.
They had
told me that summers were a bit slower. Although we miss having
our full student body on campus, we are yet to slow down!
But I hope you are enjoying your time this summer, and I look
forward to working with you over the upcoming academic year.
Thank
you for your continued interest in the University of California,
San Diego.
With warm regards,
Marye Anne
Fox
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