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Update on Campus Planning

January 7, 2013

Dear Colleagues:

In my last campus-wide letter (Dec. 3), I mentioned that the final report from the Urban Land Institute would be available soon. As you’ll recall, we asked ULI to help us identify the most cost-efficient and programmatically effective means of expanding our physical space to accommodate as many as 10,000 students within the next eight to 10 years.

The ULI report is now available on my website. I encourage you to review it at your leisure with a couple of thoughts in mind:

1. The impetus for this initiative was a growing gap between strong student demand for admission to UC Merced – a testament to your stunning achievements in just a few short years – and our campus’s limited physical capacity to accommodate that demand. We simply don’t have enough space for research and teaching, student services, administrative and support staff and other vital functions, and we can’t rely nearly as much on state funding for capital development as initially anticipated when we broke ground 10 years ago. As a result, we need to find creative ways to add capacity rapidly, both on and off campus, at a lower cost than initially planned. The ULI report includes a set of recommendations and guiding principles designed to help us do just that.

2. This report focuses on the near-term goal of creating the capacity to serve 10,000 students. It does not address the longer-term goal, established even before the campus opened its doors to students, of an eventual campus build-out to accommodate 25,000 students. Further re-thinking of our long-range development plan, both short- and long-term, may be necessary as we adjust to whatever investment climate emerges in the coming years. It is already clear, however, that we’ll need to increase off-campus accommodations and make more efficient use of our original “golf course” plot. This might include converting existing parking lots into buildable land, designing taller structures with multiple uses, increasing efficiency of existing facilities, and clustering academic and research facilities more effectively while relocating the bulk of our administrative operations off campus.

3. While all of the ULI recommendations have merit, some are not directly related to strategies for accomplishing the near-term build-out of the campus to serve 10,000 students. For example, the report makes recommendations regarding campus sustainability efforts, brand identity, administrative structure and town-gown relationships. We will need to consider each of these recommendations carefully in the coming weeks and months, and I look forward to future conversations about the report in the context of town-hall meetings, brown-bag lunches and on other occasions.

In advance of receiving the final ULI report, we have been working with the UC Office of the President to explore avenues for moving forward with the most time-sensitive and critical recommendations shared with us at the conclusion of ULI’s visit to campus. Most importantly, ULI recommends that the university pursue a public-private partnership to deliver facilities on the remaining buildable space on our current 104-acre footprint. This will allow us to take advantage of the current availability of capital and other resources among potential private-development partners. The ULI report also recommends consolidating off-campus space currently in Merced and Merced County in downtown Merced.

As a result of conversations with UCOP, I expect soon to be able to share a positive path forward for the capital development of the campus to continue after current building projects near completion.

I’d like to thank all of you in advance for your patience and understanding as we work through these recommendations and come to agreement on the best way to accommodate growing demand for enrollment at UC Merced. We would not be in this position were it not for your laudable contributions to this campus and the increasing numbers of young men and women who choose to come here for a life-changing experience.

Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland Chancellor

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