SAN DIEGO: OFFICE OF THE CHANCELLOR
March 3, 1998
ALL AT UCSD
Dear Colleagues:
At President Atkinson's request, I am forwarding to you his statement about a major new initiative of the University of California aimed at redoubling outreach efforts to California's K-12 schools.
The Outreach Action Plan, recently approved by the UC Regents, calls on each campus to develop strategies for working with schools, families and community to increase the academic achievement of students in disadvantaged circumstances so that more will be eligible for admission to the university. As President Atkinson says in his letter, your help is needed in the effort to reach this goal.
At UCSD, the Center for Research on Educational Equity, Assessment and Teaching Excellence (CREATE) has been established to coordinate such efforts. Its activities will include research and assessment, outreach and recruitment, teacher education and professional development, a model school on campus, and, above all, partnerships with the public schools. If you want to help, please volunteer for one or more of these activities by contacting Paul Drake, who is the Interim Director of CREATE. He can be reached at the Dean's Office, Division of Social Sciences 0502, 534-6073, or pdrake@ucsd.edu.
Along with President Atkinson, I want to emphasize the importance of the Outreach Action Plan for the university and for our state. Please join us in working to accomplish the goals it sets forth.
Robert C. Dynes
Chancellor
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ATTACHMENT
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA
BERKELEY - DAVIS - IRVINE - LOS ANGELES - RIVERSIDE SAN DIEGO SAN FRANCISCO SANTA BARBARA - SANTA CRUZ
OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT
300 Lakeside Drive
Oakland, California 94612-3550
Phone: (510) 987-9074
Fax: (510) 987-9086 http://www.ucop.edu
February 1998
MEMBERS OF THE UNIVERSITY COMMUNITY
Dear Colleagues:
At the January meeting of the University's Board of Regents, I announced a major initiative, the Outreach Action Plan. This initiative represents my highest priority for the University and the next step in The Regents' mandate to develop new paths to diversity. I am writing to ask you to join me in implementing it.
In essence, the Outreach Action Plan calls on the University community to redouble its outreach efforts--that is, to work with the K-12 schools to prepare more students from throughout California's diverse society for admission to UC. As you know, in enacting new policies on graduate and undergraduate admissions in July 1995, The Regents called for a task force on outreach to help us develop new directions and increase funding for outreach. The Outreach Task Force has finished its work and The Regents have approved its recommendations. The Outreach Action Plan is UC's strategy for implementing these recommendations.
There are three elements to the Plan:
1. Provost King and I have asked Chancellor Emeritus Pister to coordinate the many activities coming out of the Task Force report.
The Task Force's recommendations focused on four principal opportunities for action:
Working in partnership with selected schools to improve their ability to educate and motivate students;
Increasing our activities to work directly with students to strengthen their academic preparation;
Providing better and more timely information about UC programs to students, families, teachers, and counselors; and
Expanding our research directed toward understanding the root causes of disparities in achievement, and how these disparities can be addressed.
In recent months the Office of the President, under the leadership of Provost King, has begun the work of implementing the Task Force recommendations, and campuses have established new programs and activities consistent with the Task Force report. Dr. Pister, reporting directly to the Provost and to me, will be responsible for seeing that UC's vast array of outreach activities is coordinated across the University, overseeing our strategies to acquire the funds needed to implement the Task Force recommendations, and assisting Provost King and me in accelerating work on all aspects of UC's outreach efforts, including implementation of the Task Force report's recommendations.
Dr. Pister's record of experience and achievement in outreach, and his thorough knowledge of the University, make him superbly qualified for this special assignment. In particular, he has earned widespread respect among the faculty, whose energy and enterprise are essential to this effort. Provost King and I are grateful to him for his willingness to serve UC in this important role.
2. We have defined a strategy to secure additional funding for the implementation of the Task Force recommendations.
The Outreach Task Force estimated that reaching its goals over the next five years would require an investment of new money totalling $60 million annually. This would roughly double the amount currently being spent on programs like those the Task Force recommends.
Funding this initiative should be a shared responsibility among the State, the Federal government, the K-12 system, and the University. We will work in partnership to secure the funds we need to achieve our common goals in outreach. In addition, we will seek private funding as a way of leveraging our support from public sources. I am committing an additional $2 million from University funds for outreach and school improvement programs. I am also pleased that Governor Wilson's proposed budget for next year includes a $5 million increase for the University's outreach efforts.
3. The University's strategies for achieving the goals of the Outreach Task Force report will involve not only the president and the chancellors but the entire UC community.
I invite the members of the UC community to contribute their energy, time, and ideas to our efforts to reach the goals set by the Outreach Task Force. If you wish to help, please get in touch with the individual designated to coordinate this effort at your campus or laboratory.
The specific aim of the Task Force's recommendations is to work with schools, students, and families to increase the number of students in disadvantaged circumstances who quality for admission to UC. But our efforts, if they are successful, will have a far broader impact. In raising the level of educational achievement in our schools, we expect to put college within the reach of many more California students of every background, whether they choose UC or some other institution. Our intent is to create opportunities to learn for many thousands of young people who would not otherwise-have them, and thus to change lives throughout this state.
The Task Force has proposed that we improve the educational experiences and preparation of California's young people on a scale never attempted before. This is an extraordinarily ambitious goal. Yet it is also entirely consistent with California's history and traditions. This has always been a state with bold aspirations for its citizens, especially the aspiration to offer the widest possible spectrum of educational opportunity. And if any university can succeed, it is the University of California, working with our partners in the schools, business, community organizations, and the State and Federal governments.
Of all the ways in which the University serves California, none is more important than our efforts to offer UC's outstanding education to young people of every race, ethnicity, gender, and socioeconomic background. The Task Force has given us a plan that can lead UC's outreach activities into the next century, and I look forward to working with all of you to accomplish its goals.
Sincerely,
Richard C. Atkinson
President