When I became chancellor of UC San Diego in 2012, I initiated the university’s first-ever comprehensive strategic plan, developed with input from more than 10,000 members of our campus community. What emerged was a simple framework defined by eight words, five goals and four research themes. This framework has inspired, enabled and empowered every member of our campus community for the last decade.
Since the adoption of our plan, UC San Diego has forged a physical, cultural and intellectual transformation as a top-10 public research university and globally recognized leader in education, research, arts and culture, patient care and societal impact.
Impact Near and Far
The examples of impact driven by our 2014 strategic plan are many, and reflect the individual and shared commitment and effort of everyone in our campus community.
We increased the diversity of our faculty, most notably with a 43 percent increase in women faculty, 55 percent growth in Latinx/Chicanx faculty and 107 percent increase in Black faculty members. And, we grew our ladder-rank faculty by 21 percent during this period, adding more than 300 new positions, supported in part by our 100 percent increase in new endowed professorship funds from 178 to 369.
We enhanced student success with an 18 percent increase in four-year undergraduate graduation rates from 56 percent to 74 percent and we increased graduate degree attainment by 43 percent. Our students were supported by 2,577 scholarships through the Chancellor’s Associates Scholars Program, and we established 315 new scholarship funds.
In addition, we grew our sponsored research portfolio by a staggering 62 percent to more than $1.76 billion. UC San Diego is fourth in the nation for total research output and was recently ranked seventh in the world for most highly cited researchers.
UC San Diego Health also grew in prestige and reputation for its world-class patient care, ranking among the top 20 health systems nationally and contributing more than $550 million to our region through community benefit programs.
Our physical campus also transformed with the addition of more than 10 million square feet of research, instructional and student support space, and more than 11,000 new residential beds to become third in the nation for on-campus student housing.
And, many of these initiatives were supported by the partnership and generosity of thousands in our community, by exceeding our $2 billion goal to raise more than $3 billion in our 10-Year Campaign for UC San Diego.
For a more comprehensive look at our university growth and transformation I encourage you to visit our By the Numbers page.
Bold Ideas and Get Involved
Building on this legacy of transformation, it’s time to refresh our strategic plan and challenge ourselves to look ahead to the next decade and beyond.
Last fall, deans, vice chancellors, Academic Senate leadership and my leadership cabinet refreshed our university mission and vision and updated seven strategic goals that reflect our commitment to push boundaries in all we do, striving always to make a meaningful, positive difference in our global community.
Just like in 2014, I am asking for your suggestions of bold new ideas and creative actions we can take to advance the prestige and distinction of UC San Diego.
In the coming weeks, you will have a variety of ways to participate in brainstorming discussions, surveys, IdeaWave prompts and other mechanisms to share your ideas. Facilitated gatherings will encourage open, respectful conversations to invite input and hear about new opportunities. Many of these sessions may have already been scheduled or may be incorporated into existing or recurring meetings with your leadership. We also plan to launch an IdeaWave campaign in mid-February to encourage input from members of our broad campus community who may not have been involved in a facilitated session. A link to the IdeaWave will be shared soon and we will notify the campus community as soon as it goes live.
With your input, we will articulate an ambitious set of priorities that expand access to world-class higher education and deliver a high-quality student experience, activate our campus for students, faculty, staff and community members, and anticipate and respond to regional and global challenges. These priorities will guide future resource allocations and fundraising priorities and will advance our commitments to research and discovery through strategic investments.
Thank You
To learn more about our strategic plan refresh process or the updated mission, vision and goals, please visit the plan refresh website.
I sincerely hope that you will join me in this collaborative effort. For our updated plan to represent the diverse voices and wide-ranging needs of our campus community, we cannot do this without your input.
UC San Diego will continue to be a world-leading research university because each member of our campus community will continue to drive us forward. The strategic plan refresh is an opportunity for you to shape the future of UC San Diego.
