February 4, 2008

UC San Diego is not only going green, we’re leading the pack in environment and sustainability issues. We’re using the diversity of our academic programs to show the relevance of climate change in all aspects of our lives. Our campus recently took part in a nationwide program to focus educational institutions on climate change solutions. We’re also continuing to focus on the importance of student, staff and faculty diversity on our campus. This month, we will hold our 13th annual Diversity Awards and host a variety of campus activities to celebrate Black History Month. I’ll also host a Town Hall meeting for students, as I believe open and direct communication stimulates a healthy environment for learning, research and innovation.

Focus the Nation, Focus the University
UC San Diego has made important strides to evaluate and adopt strategies to reduce the university’s environmental footprint, and our work has just begun. We’re the first University of California campus to join the Chicago Climate Exchange. We’ve made a commitment to develop a comprehensive plan to be carbon-neutral and to assess our greenhouse gas emissions by registering with the California Climate Action Registry. And the Scripps Institution of Oceanography continues to lead the world in conducting cutting-edge climate change research.

At the end of January, UC San Diego took part in a nationwide program called “Focus the Nation” which rallied universities and other educational institutions to concentrate at least one day on climate change solutions.  This was an important effort to unite the UC San Diego community to take bold action and reduce the campus’ environmental footprint, and help raise awareness about climate change. 

We’ve already accomplished so much in our sustainability efforts.  We’re replacing our vehicle fleet with hybrid, bio-diesel and electric vehicles; we’re designing all future buildings on campus to meet the standards of the nationally recognized green building rating system called Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED); we’ve hired a new Sustainability Coordinator to lead our first-ever, comprehensive, campus-wide sustainability assessment; we’ve decreased our energy consumption on campus through facility retrofits, saving the university $12 million annually; and we’re working to secure diverse sources of renewable energy.  For these efforts, we’ve received five Best Practice Awards, three Excellence in Energy Efficiency Awards, and two Energy Education and Leadership Awards.

Among our remaining goals, we want to become the leading university site in the world for photovoltaic energy and ultra clean fuel cells; we want to become a global demonstration project for sea water cooling and a pioneer in the utilization of off-peak wind energy; we want to make UC San Diego a zero-waste campus by 2020; we want to gain more student and community involvement in our sustainability program; and we want to reduce the single-occupancy vehicle usage rate to 45 percent (we’re currently at 54 percent).  To read more about our current and future sustainability projects, click here.  There’s even a section on the webpage about how you can help.  I encourage you to get involved so that we can work together to stimulate creative thinking and come up with solutions to the growing climate challenges.  Together we can work toward a more sustainable future. 

Black History Month
I invite all students, staff, faculty and community members to participate in the university’s celebration of Black History Month throughout February.  We will host a variety of events on campus including film screenings, lectures, displays, a cooking class and a drumming workshop.  For a list of all of our Black History Month events, click here.

This year’s theme is Rethinking American Identity, a challenge issued to all Americans by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  By questioning our morals and our character, he changed our society forever, propelling us forward and showing us the importance of equality, freedom and diversity.  I was pleased to be able to celebrate Dr. King’s life and ideals at the MLK Day Parade on Jan. 19.  I would like to thank the nearly 500 UCSD students, staff and faculty, as well as Preuss School students, who marched alongside me, demonstrating our university’s commitment to diversity.  And I also want to recognize the 42 UCSD volunteers who took part in the Martin Luther King Day of Service “spring cleaning” project at St. Clare’s Home, which provides shelter and care for homeless women and children.

Diversity Awards
Recognizing people for their hard work is important and it’s one of the reasons we hold the annual Diversity Awards celebration.  This year we will honor several employees, departments and organizational units who have made an outstanding contribution in the areas of equal opportunity, affirmative action and diversity in the past year.  Among our recipients we have an employee who established two new internships for underprivileged high school students, another who increased the number of underrepresented student applicants for graduate studies, and a unit that promotes cultural awareness with year-round activities to celebrate UCSD’s diverse cultures.  We appreciate all that our recipients, and others on our campus, have done to ensure a welcoming environment for everyone in our UC San Diego family.  If you’d like to attend the Diversity Awards, the ceremony will be held on Feb. 14 at 2 p.m. in the Price Center Ballroom.

Town Hall Meeting for Students
I encourage all students to attend a special Town Hall meeting on Feb. 20 from 3 – 4 p.m. in the Student Services Center Multipurpose Room.  I will begin the meeting by giving an update on campus news and happenings.  This is also an opportunity for us to have an open dialogue, and for you to ask questions and discuss concerns.  And this is a great way to communicate directly with each other.  If you cannot attend the Town Hall, I encourage you to sign up for my walk-in office hours (click here to sign up).  These hours are available to students, staff and faculty. 

Open communication is important to me, and meeting new people on campus is one of my favorite things about being Chancellor.  I hope to see you at one of the aforementioned campus events in the next month or in my office during my walk-in hours.

With warm regards,

Marye Anne Fox
Chancellor