"We recently established the Millennium
Committee that will develop a
renewed consensus of our values, priorities, and
opportunities for excellence."
By M.R.C. Greenwood
Celebrate UC Santa Cruz was the campus's theme for a myriad
of public events held in May. In addition to presenting concerts, lectures,
performances, film screenings, and exhibitions, we honored the investiture
of the co-holders of the Neufeld-Levin Holocaust Endowed Chair; announced
the naming of our first professional school, the Jack Baskin School of Engineering;
and officially dedicated our stunning Music Center and adjacent Kretschmer
Plaza. Another highlight, and certainly a personal pinnacle, was the campus's
inauguration celebration.
These special occasions provided an excellent showcase of the campus for
our local community and for visitors from around the state and the country--and
they underscored that the true distinctions of UC Santa Cruz are the accomplishments
of the faculty, students, and alumni, and the generous service and contributions
of our friends and benefactors. Literally hundreds of campus members worked
to make these recent events so successful--and I am pleased to extend my
personal and most heartfelt thanks to each of them.
At the meeting of the UCSC Academic Senate last
October, I posed four priorities,
and at the final senate meeting of the year in late May, I was gratified
to report significant progress. These working priorities include increasing
the effective presentation of the UC Santa Cruz story, both inside and outside
the university; continually strengthening the quality and effectiveness
of teaching, research, and management; building internal and external partnerships;
and increasing assets and resources.
This publication features examples of the campus's progress toward achieving
these priorities. The progress is indeed laudable, and it demonstrates that
UC Santa Cruz is at the leading edge in many ways. Yet we can--and will--do
even more to serve our students and our extended community. We recently
established the Millennium Committee, a task force comprising faculty, staff,
and students of diverse backgrounds and perspectives from across the campus,
and including the president of the UC Santa Cruz Foundation. With input
from other members of the extended campus community, the committee will
develop a renewed consensus of our values, priorities, and opportunities
for excellence that will guide us into the new century.
In closing, I want to thank everyone who helped make my first year as chancellor
both exciting and rewarding. At this threshold of my second year here, I
reiterate my commitment to work together as we continue to build the legend
of UC Santa Cruz.
