January 29, 2007
One of my goals at UC San Diego is to help build a stronger sense of community among students, staff, faculty and friends of the university. We’re already heading in the right direction. The new University Center neighborhood, which is still under construction, will help with this effort. In addition, I’m thrilled to see the latest results of the Faculty-Staff campaign. Our employees have come together to raise an impressive amount toward our overall $1 billion campaign goal. Our campus is also uniting to celebrate diversity. February is Black History Month and staff, faculty, students and alumni have put together a month-long schedule of cultural events to enrich our educational experience and celebrate diversity as a positive and necessary element for growth and learning.
Celebrating Black History
During the month of February, a series
of events will be held on campus to enrich,
entertain and educate participants about
Black history. Events include film
screenings, concerts, lectures, book discussions
and more. The calendar of events
for UC San Diego’s celebration of
Black History Month is listed on the Diversity
Matters Web site.
On January 13, I was honored to be the co-grand
marshal of the Martin Luther King, Jr.
parade, along with UCSD Vice Chancellor
of Student Affairs Joe Watson. I’m
proud to note UC San Diego has been involved
with this annual event since its inception
27 years ago. Nearly 500 students,
staff, faculty and alumni turned out to
participate in the parade with us.
(Click here
to view pictures of the parade).
The remembrance of Dr. King’s life
and the impact he had on American society
is something to be celebrated every day.
Dr. King fought for equality, justice
and freedom – including equal access
to an excellent college education.
He challenged our values, our character
and propelled our society forward.
Thank you to all who participated in the parade and the fifth annual Martin Luther King Day of Service. About 40 UCSD volunteers and 10 Preuss students helped paint, refurbish and revitalize a San Diego Youth and Community Services teen homeless shelter. What a fabulous way to honor the legacy of Dr. King.
Lending a Hand
In addition to the Martin Luther King Day of Service, many of our UC San Diego students, staff and faculty volunteer on a regular basis. There are currently nearly 100 UCSD students serving as tutors at the Preuss School. The tutors work in the classrooms to support the teachers and provide extra individual attention to students. Many tutors also work with the students after hours and on weekends to help with class assignments and projects. There are also 25 UCSD undergraduate and graduate students serving as mentors at Preuss. Each mentor is paired with one student, with whom they meet once a week. The mentor provides guidance, support and friendship. In addition to the student volunteers, there also are 12 faculty and staff members who volunteer at Preuss.
UCSD health professional students, along with faculty volunteers, provide much-needed, free medical and preventive care for our community’s homeless and uninsured patients. The UCSD Student-Run Free Clinic Project has three clinic locations, in addition to specialty clinic sites in the community. Under supervision, many student volunteers spend a year or more, at least four hours a week, offering high quality, thorough, and compassionate medical care, health education, and access to social services. There are currently more than 200 medical students, 50 pharmacy students, 150 pre-dental, pre-medical, and pre-pharmacy volunteers, as well as 15 engineering students, involved in the free clinics.
Many UCSD students also partake in the “alternative” breaks offered by the university. Students travel to various countries and areas of the United States to perform a community service project for the week. More than 100 students are gearing up for their “alternative” spring break in March.
These are just a few of the volunteer projects at UCSD. To learn more about student, staff and faculty volunteer opportunities at UCSD, click here.
Supporting UC San Diego
Many UC San Diego staff and faculty volunteer as well, and now they’re giving back to the university too. Nearly 1,000 current and former faculty and staff have contributed more than $1 million to the university since the launch five months ago of the Faculty-Staff Campaign, a component of The Campaign for UCSD. In addition, many employees have taken upon themselves to spearhead grassroots’ fundraising efforts to encourage their colleagues and friends to support the university. I appreciate the dedication of all the contributors who aid in our mission of education and believe in all the great things happening here at UC San Diego. Your support enables us to continue recruiting top-quality faculty, staff and students, as well as conduct research, provide scholarships, and expand academic programs. UC San Diego has a reputation for innovative research and academic excellence, and we’ve been able to achieve our status as one of the top universities in the nation because of our strong university family and our supporters.
State Support
Private support is vital to this university
for many reasons including the fact that
only 12% of our budget comes from the
state of California. The governor’s
budget proposes to increase UC’s
state-funded operating budget by $192
million, or 6.2 percent, to $3.27 billion.
However, the recommended UC budget does
not propose a student fee “buyout”
in the 2007-08 year, as occurred in 2006-07.
As a result, under the current budget
proposal, undergrad tuition would increase
roughly seven percent and select professional
school fees would increase about 10 percent.
The State Legislature will consider the
governor’s budget and adopt a final
state budget in the summer. The
UC Office of the President says any fee
increase proposal from the University
of California Regents will be accompanied
by a proposed increase in financial aid
for needy low- and middle-income students
to preserve the affordability of attaining
a UC education.
Record Number of Applications Received
UC San Diego once again received a record number of applications for fall admission. In all, we received 45,054 freshmen applications. That’s the second highest application rate in the UC system. In addition, UC San Diego received 8,790 transfer applications, the third highest number of all the UC campuses.
As our UC San Diego family continues to grow, my hope is our sense of community will strengthen as well. Each student, faculty and staff member contributes to this university and creates an atmosphere of learning, growth and collaboration. By communicating and sharing our thoughts, our goals, our studies and our work, we can build strong partnerships and relationships that will lead to innovation and a sense of pride in being a part of this university.
With warm regards,
Marye Anne Fox
Chancellor
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