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Remarks and Writings

August 29, 2013
Dear faculty and staff:   Welcome to the new academic year! I hope you were able to catch up on rest and relaxation during the summer months, even as many folks continued conducting research, teaching and performing important administrative duties while school was officially out.   I’m excited to welcome our newest cadre of... Read More
July 1, 2013
Dear campus colleagues, The campus budget for fiscal year 2013-14 is now available for your review on the CROPS site. As mentioned in previous messages, one of my top priorities since joining UC Merced in 2011 has been to create and implement integrated budgeting and planning processes aligned with the university’s strategic priorities... Read More
June 12, 2013
Dear Colleague, I am very pleased to share some good news regarding the state budget with implications for the University of California and for our campus as it relates to the planned Classroom and Academic Office Building (CAOB). Over the past week, the two-house Budget Conference Committee finished its deliberations on the 2013-14... Read More
May 15, 2013
Dear Colleagues:   I am very pleased to report that the UC Board of Regents’ Committee on Grounds and Buildings approved our proposed amendment to the UC Merced 2009 Long-Range Development Plan at its meeting in Sacramento today.   As noted in previous messages to the campus community, this amendment is a vital step in the... Read More
April 24, 2013
Dear Colleagues,   How time flies! Another semester is almost over and soon we will be saying our goodbyes to graduating students.   We will be having two commencement ceremonies this year as a consequence of the steadily increasing number of graduates. We will also be holding these ceremonies in the morning to reduce exposure to... Read More
April 21, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013 San Francisco Chronicle UC Merced goes from shunned to popular Once-shunned campus now can’t expand fast enough to meet demand By Nanette Asimov   Merced --- Change is tough. People resist unfamiliar ideas, whether switching to a hybrid car or learning a new computer system. Even the ZIP code took... Read More
March 14, 2013
As mentioned in my most-recent campus update (Feb. 25), I requested a spot on the agenda of the UC Board of Regents meeting yesterday to make the regents aware of the urgent space needs of our growing campus and outline a path forward based on the recommendations of the Urban Land Institute.   Our goal, as noted in the ULI final report,... Read More
February 25, 2013
Dear Colleagues, I hope the spring semester is proving to be an eventful and productive time for you. The University of California—and indeed public higher education in general—is off to a good start in 2013 thanks to the passage of Proposition 30 in November and Gov. Jerry Brown’s recently released budget proposal for... Read More
January 22, 2013
Colleagues: If you have attended any of the open forums I host regularly or read my periodic campus updates, you know my firm belief that communicating about our work with our colleagues is one of the most important responsibilities each of us has. Whether it’s with colleagues in our immediate office or between divisions and/or schools, the... Read More
January 22, 2013
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... Read More

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