2012-13

Dear Colleagues:

As you may recall, UC Merced recently retained the Urban Land Institute to help us determine the most cost-effective and programmatically viable alternatives for expanding our physical capacity during a period of ongoing financial uncertainty at the state level. (The ULI is a nonprofit land-use and planning organization.)

We asked ULI to consider options, both on and off campus, for accommodating our projected enrollment of 10,000 students, along with the requisite numbers of faculty and staff, over the next eight to 10 years.

Dear Colleagues,

With the 10th anniversary of Founders Day just around the corner, I want to take a few moments to provide you with an update on various matters. But first, allow me to say a few words about Founders Day. This is the name given to the historic campus groundbreaking in October 2002 and the investiture of UC Merced’s first chancellor, Carol Tomlinson-Keasey.

Dear UC Merced Community,

Thanks to our student leaders and the staff who supported them, UC Merced had a very successful get-out-the-vote effort yesterday.

Many students, faculty and staff stopped by the campus polling site—2,000 at last count—to participate in an election with national and statewide import.

Dear Colleagues:

As the end of the semester draws near, I have several updates to share with you regarding administrative appointments, the budget outlook for the University of California and our campus, and the two-year goals I submitted recently to UC President Mark Yudof.

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.

Welcome back from the winter break!

I hope each of you is returning invigorated and ready for an eventful semester.

Dear UC Merced Colleagues:

I am very pleased to announce the appointment of Deidre "De" Acker as the campus ombudsperson, effective July 16, 2012. The position — a new one at our campus — will report to the Office of the Chancellor regarding administrative and budgetary matters. The position will serve as a resource, which provides confidential, neutral, informal and independent dispute resolution and mediation services to the campus community.

Dear Colleagues:

As I mentioned in my last update to the campus community, I have identified a strong, widely respected member of the UC Merced faculty to serve as interim provost upon the retirement June 30 of Keith Alley, who has served as executive vice chancellor and provost since 2006. Now that the UC Office of the President has approved my choice, I am very pleased to tell you who he is.

Dear UC Merced Colleagues:

Following an extensive nationwide search, I am delighted to announce the appointment of Thomas W. Peterson, assistant director of the Engineering Directorate at the National Science Foundation and former dean of the University of Arizona College of Engineering, to the position of provost and executive vice chancellor for UC Merced.

Dr. Peterson will join us officially on Dec. 3, though we hope to have him on campus several times before then.

Sam Traina will continue to hold the position on an interim basis until that time.

Urban Land Institute issues set of recommendations to guide expansion of UC Merced’s much-needed physical capacity over the next eight to 10 years

As announced in September, 2012, UC Merced retained the Urban Land Institute (ULI) to help identify the most cost-efficient and programmatically effective means of expanding the campus’s physical facilities to accommodate 10,000 students, along with associated faculty and staff, within the next eight to 10 years.