January 7, 2008

Happy New Year and welcome back to campus. After a very successful year of teaching, collaboration, innovation and public service in 2007, we have much to look forward to in 2008.

Looking Ahead
I’m pleased that The Campaign for UCSD, our historic $1 billion fundraising achievement which wrapped up last year, is already having a direct and positive impact on our university.  Development funds are helping to support the best and brightest students through scholarships and fellowships, and helping UC San Diego recruit and retain stellar faculty.  Innovation funds, which support the university’s greatest needs, are enhancing the extraordinary activities happening in classrooms and labs across campus.  Campaign gifts also fund cutting-edge medical research and patient care, which will save and improve the lives of thousands of people in our community and our world.

Just as we added and renovated several buildings on campus last year — including the Student Services Center, the new graduate student housing complex, the Rady School of Management’s Otterson Hall and the UCSD Retirement Resource Center — this year we look forward to the completion of several construction projects on campus.  A couple of examples — the Price Center expansion will be completed this spring and the San Diego Supercomputer Center expansion will be done in the summer.  Many other projects still in the works on campus will be completed in 2009, such as the Prebys Music Center and the North Campus housing complex.

New Chief Diversity Officer
I’m pleased to welcome Dr. Sandra Daley as our new Associate Chancellor and Chief Diversity Officer (CDO).  She will serve as a liaison to the campus faculty, staff and students on various diversity efforts and issues.  She will be responsible for coordinating our efforts university-wide to enhance UC San Diego’s overall commitment to, and implementation of, diversity throughout the campus.  She succeeds Dr. Jorge Huerta, Professor of Theatre, who completed his three-year appointment as CDO in December.

Dr. Daley is currently the Assistant Dean of Diversity and Community Partnerships and Professor of Pediatrics at the UC San Diego School of Medicine. She received her medical degree from UCSD School of Medicine and did her training in pediatrics here.  She has played an active role in recruiting underrepresented students and faculty to UCSD.  As assistant dean of Diversity and Community Partnerships since 1995 and a member of the School of Medicine faculty since 1990, Daley has crafted and implemented a number of academic enrichment programs aimed at helping disadvantaged students pursue health and science careers.  As an educator and a physician, Dr. Daley has a comprehensive and intimate understanding of the changing demographics of our population and how these demographic trends impact medical practice and how we train physicians.  This expertise will facilitate her ability to develop innovative strategies for enhancing diversity at UCSD.  

I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Professor Jorge Huerta for his service as CDO.  Among his achievements, he strengthened UC San Diego’s connections with regional and national organizations that focus on diversity, and he was a founding member of the California Universities Consortium that worked to enhance graduate student and faculty diversity.  He co-chaired key campus-wide work groups that studied faculty diversity and services to the disabled, and he chaired the Yield Advisory Committee on increasing acceptance rates of underrepresented students.  He also initiated and conducted sessions with Academic Departments, in concert with Academic Affairs, to discuss faculty diversity in the wake of the passage of Proposition 209.  And he established the Diversity Matters website, a resource on diversity at UCSD.  He will return to the faculty in the Theatre and Dance Department, and we look forward to his continued involvement in our efforts to enhance diversity initiatives at UCSD.

Martin Luther King Jr. Parade and Day of Service
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is one of our nation’s most prominent civil rights leaders and he taught our nation to not only recognize and respect diversity, but also to appreciate and celebrate it.

Our UCSD community will honor Dr. King and show its support of his dreams at the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Parade held in downtown San Diego.  I invite all students, faculty and staff to join me on Jan. 19 so that we can march together, and show our community that diversity matters at UCSD and we support and appreciate the ideals of Dr. King.  Just as Dr. King challenged America’s character and challenged Americans to be better people, UCSD strives to help others, improve their lives, and be a resource for our community and world.  Transportation to and from the parade will be provided for all students.  Staff and faculty can join the UCSD delegation at the parade staging area. 

After the parade, I welcome you to join your fellow students and employees as a volunteer for the annual Day of Service in honor of Dr. King.  For more information on the parade or the Day of Service, click here.

Once again, welcome back to campus and warm wishes for the new year.

With warm regards,

Marye Anne Fox
Chancellor