February 2006

Friends and colleagues:

As engaged members of the UCSD community, you’re probably aware of recent media coverage of the UC system, and you’ve also read about my service on a number of boards. Because I take my multifaceted responsibilities as a chancellor very seriously indeed – including my obligation to be honest and open with you – I’d like to discuss that service in detail, and show how it helps enhance our university’s national and global reach.

One of my primary duties as UCSD’s Chancellor is to grow and maintain UCSD’s worldwide reputation as a leading research university. Promoting the achievements of our scientists, scholars, doctors, students, faculty and staff helps that effort, and is a major part of my job. To be more directly involved in enhancing the university’s national and international visibility, I choose to serve on both local and national boards – nonprofit, federal agency, industry, and foundation boards. Let me describe them and the benefits they accrue to UCSD.

Campus, Community, University of California, and Scientific Board Service

As UCSD Chancellor, I am an ex officio member of a variety of boards of directors that oversee various specialized areas of the university’s interactions with its donors and its community partners.  I hold these positions by virtue of my appointment as Chancellor.  These boards include the UCSD Foundation, which is our primary fundraising board and which holds a significant endowment for UCSD, and Children’s Hospital, which partners with UCSD Health Sciences to care for the children of our region. Other boards on which I serve as an ex officio member include the La Jolla Playhouse and the San Diego Science and Technology Council. 

I have agreed to serve on a variety of boards of directors for organizations that are vitally important to my vision of outreach to the greater San Diego community.  When asked to step up to the challenge that our community faces in assisting those less fortunate, I accepted an invitation to serve on the United Way board of directors.  In light of the major role that UCSD plays in the economic development of Southern California, I have agreed to serve as a member of the Board of Directors of the San Diego Economic Development Council. 

Our campus is one of the region’s key economic engines, as is evidenced by our ranking as sixth in the U.S. in federal funds that support research across the general campus, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, and Health Sciences.  Strengthening our partnerships with the local business community is vital to keeping our region dynamic and responsive to the changes in the economy.  Many of these businesses employ our students and alumni.

My board service isn’t limited to regional organizations.  As a colleague in the University of California system, I recently accepted President Bob Dynes’ request to serve on the executive committee of Los Alamos National Laboratory.  It’s an honor to serve in this capacity, and I am hopeful the service will lead to increased opportunities for our faculty to work collaboratively and across disciplines to secure research funding.  Similarly, when President Dynes asked for my service on the UC President’s Board on Science and Innovation, I again agreed because facilitating innovation is the key to the university’s future success.  Since my arrival, I have focused on facilitating innovation, strengthening our interdisciplinary opportunities, and expanding our international reach.

As a scientist, I have been asked to lend my expertise to a number of foundations whose policy decisions about funding of research are directly relevant to UCSD.  For example, on the Burroughs Wellcome Foundation board and the Henry and Camille Dreyfus Foundation board, I help to shape the standards by which research proposals are judged.  As an organic chemist who has remained active in research, I provide expertise valued by my board colleagues – expertise gained from my years as an academic, as a member of the National Academy of Sciences, and as a successful higher education administrator.

National and International Reach: A Chance to Bring our Issues to the Table

Throughout my career, I have been active in science and engineering policy at national and international levels.  For several years I served on the National Science Board, and I have held other leadership positions for federal research funding agencies.  From serving as co-chair of the National Academy’s Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable (GUIRR) to appointment to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), I have strongly valued the connections that can be made by participating on the national level.  Our campus goal to expand our reach on a global scale has prompted me to work as well with the Association of Pacific Rim Universities World Institute and the World University Network.

UCSD benefits from these associations.  When a legislative threat to Pell Grant funding was proposed last fall, I was able to bring the issue to the table at PCAST.  When universities throughout the U.S. encountered significant lag time in processing foreign student visa applications, my colleagues from MIT and other universities and I could speak first-hand about the delays.  Through the contacts I have made and my work on GUIRR, I was able to lead discussions with key Washington policy-makers, whom I know well, that led to a major project for funding homeland security.  UCSD has competed successfully for those funds.

My success as an organic chemist and as a leader of universities that place a strong emphasis on technology transfer has resulted in my appointment to a number of compensated corporate boards.  In this capacity, I assist industry in grappling with many of the issues that also face UC.  For example, in March, President Dynes will assemble leaders from all UC campuses for a daylong workshop that focuses on succession planning, a topic recently covered during my board service.  In another arena – accountability – I have gained first-hand knowledge of the challenges of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act and have increasingly seen those concepts shift from the private to the public sector. 

My board service – whether on a regional community service board or the board of a multi-billion dollar corporation – has sharpened my leadership, teamwork, and managerial skills.  It’s given me unique perspectives about the challenges of the business world and the issues that will face the future employers of our students.  And, it’s experience that I have gained over the many years that I have worked with these organizations, giving me expertise that I have found invaluable – and for which I use my personal time. 

I have stated in a letter to the editor of the Guardian that I serve on more boards than some of my peers.  Many of my colleagues have other obligations, or enjoy other pursuits, and their level of service suits their duties and their personal schedules.  I fervently enjoy being engaged, and believe firmly in the benefits of board service. 

All of my life I have been blessed with an energy and drive to work long hours.  Since my arrival at UCSD, it’s been my personal mission to reach out to the community both on and off campus.  From walk-in appointments for students, faculty and staff to my attendance at evening and weekend university and community events, I have committed to being accessible and visible to our campus and local community.

I am proud of the long hours I devote to UCSD, its daily operation and its long-term goals.  I pay particular attention that other duties do not detract from that focus.  And, I am meticulous about accounting for my time that is spent on non-UCSD work.  I have not – at any time during my tenure as UCSD Chancellor or, indeed, in the years in which I have served on these boards before joining UCSD – exceeded my available personal/vacation leave.

We at UCSD have very high standards and ambitious goals.  I am proud and willing to continue to work full time to meet those expectations.

With warm regards,

Marye Anne Fox