Welcome back from the winter break!
I hope each of you is returning invigorated and ready for an eventful semester.
Most administrators have been at work since early January while you were away. I have been busy with transitioning two new members of my leadership team: Provost Tom Peterson, our chief academic officer, and Dan Feitelberg, the vice chancellor for the newly formed Office of Planning and Budget. We are focused on exploring financing options to fund additional buildings without having to rely on the state for funding. As you well know, classrooms and laboratories are filled to the brim, and so we must build additional buildings sooner than later.
Meanwhile, current construction projects continue on schedule. Housing 4, which will accommodate 500 beds, will be ready by this fall. In addition, the first section of the Student Services Building, with medium-sized lecture halls, will be available for your use this fall.
When driving up Lake Road, you may have noticed a new building in the skyline, near the thermal water tower. The Science and Engineering Building 2—due to open in August 2014—will be a 102,000-square-foot building that provides critically needed space to support expanding instructional and research activities. It will include teaching and research laboratories and laboratory support space, faculty offices and administrative space to meet the growing student demand in quickly expanding disciplines including physical/analytical chemistry, experimental physics, synthetic/organic chemistry, biology, mechanical and electrical engineering, and bioengineering.
STUDENT DEMAND FOR UC MERCED
While construction of new buildings continues, we still cannot keep up with the demand for a UC Merced education. Last week, we announced yet another significant increase in applications for Fall 2013. Undergraduate applications reached 17,191 — a 14 percent jump over last year, according to admissions data released by the UC Office of the President. In addition, the 2013-14 graduate-student pool increased by 41 percent.
Our rate of application growth is among the highest in the UC system, indicating strong student interest in the UC Merced experience. We are making excellent progress in our mission to add critical capacity to the UC system, to conduct important research and to bring educational opportunity and economic investment to a long-neglected region of the state. All of us can be extremely proud of our rapid emergence as a vital component of the world’s leading public university system.
Having said that, I feel it’s imperative that we continue to moderate the growth in student enrollment until the construction of new facilities catches up. Doing so is critical to the quality of the student experience and the ability of faculty to conduct research and teach classes. As such, our student-enrollment goal for the coming fall will be 6,000, a net gain of only 300 students.
CAMPUS CLIMATE SURVEY
You may have heard the University of California is conducting the largest institutional climate survey in the country and is seeking your participation. Students, faculty and staff from all 10 UC campuses – as well as the Office of the President, five UC medical centers, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory and the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources – are invited to participate in the UC Campus Climate Study. The survey period for UC Merced will be Feb. 1 until Feb. 10, 2013.
The purpose of the survey is to gather information about the institutional climate at each campus and throughout the UC. The survey offers an opportunity for you to describe your own personal experiences and observations at UC Merced and to offer suggestions for improvement and change.
You will receive an email inviting you to participate in the important survey within a couple of weeks.
I wish you all a very productive and successful semester. Please remember that I hold office hours for students each month. If you want to meet with me, watch for the related Happenings announcements in your email in-box for signing up.
Sincerely,
Dorothy Leland
Chancellor
