ALL ACADEMICS, STAFF, AND STUDENTS AT UC SAN DIEGO, INCLUDING UC SAN DIEGO HEALTH
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Welcome Back, Tritons: A Message from Chancellor Khosla |
Happy New Year, and welcome to 2025! I hope you were able to rest, recharge and spend some quality time with family and friends these past couple of weeks.
A new year brings a fresh start along with a chance to set goals and recognize progress. As members of a world-renowned public research university, top-ranked health system, and strong and flourishing Triton community, we have much to celebrate. I wanted to take a moment to welcome you all back to campus, mention some of my favorite highlights from 2024, look ahead to our winter quarter and thank you all for your contributions.
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In 2024, we marked a major milestone: the 10 year anniversary of our inaugural Strategic Plan. This visionary plan has been instrumental in catalyzing our exceptional growth, informing our ongoing campus transformation and propelling our ascent in rankings, while fostering a culture of innovation, impactful research and global influence, as showcased below.
Last January, we began the process of refreshing the plan for the next decade. While not an entirely new plan, it is important to reflect upon what worked well and develop new strategies and areas of focus to guide us into an even more successful future. We sought wide-ranging input from all corners of our university community and are grateful for the ideas and feedback we have received. Through this process, we have updated our vision statement, emphasizing our campus as a destination public university that is student centered, research driven, patient dedicated and service oriented.
Thank you to all who participated in shaping the future of our great university. The refreshed plan is on track to be released next month.
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Campus Life and Student Experience
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Last fall, we enjoyed several of our most beloved campus traditions, including Homecoming and Triton Weeks of Welcome, and cheered on our Division I Triton athletics teams, who are now fully eligible for postseason competition in every sport. We also created new traditions, such as The Longest Table and Words of Welcome, which encouraged students to make new connections via shared experiences. We were treated to world-class arts and cultural performances and exhibitions at our beautiful venues like the Epstein Family Amphitheater and Mandeville Art Gallery. Cultivating community on campus is embedded in all we do, and it was wonderful to see so many students having fun and spending time with fellow Tritons all over campus.
We are proud to be known for our academic and research excellence, world-class health care, and opportunities for cultural and experiential engagement as a global destination campus. In affirming our reputation for excellence, we also prioritize making UC San Diego an inclusive place for all to learn, collaborate, celebrate and thrive. We are committed to fostering a vibrant, engaging and welcoming environment where everyone feels a sense of belonging and connection to the Triton community – and I’m proud of the progress we are making.
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In 2024, we continued to make significant progress in advancing our Strategic Plan for Inclusive Excellence. Through a series of hiring initiatives, we welcomed more underrepresented faculty members to our community, ensuring that our students see themselves represented in the faculty who teach and mentor them and that the learning experience is enhanced for everyone. We officially became an emerging Hispanic-Serving Institution, with more than 25% of Tritons identifying as Hispanic in Fall 2024. We also offered a wide array of cultural events and engagement opportunities. From our volunteer-led campus-wide heritage celebrations to a range of art events and performances, we have created a vibrant and inclusive environment that celebrates the diversity of Tritons everywhere. Our comprehensive work to support all students has resulted in consistent improvements in graduation rates over the last 10 years, with the latest annual report showing an overall four-year graduation rate improvement of 18.5% over a decade.
The 2024-2025 academic year marked the inaugural year of our Tritons Belong Initiative, a critical response to the experiences and concerns that we heard from you. Through a series of online and in-person events, we focused on “Understanding and Compassion During Challenging Times” and fostering a deeper sense of empathy and connection among the Triton community. From webinars and workshops, to art and cultural offerings, we created spaces for dialogue and growth for all members of our community.
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Campus Transformation and On-Campus Housing
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We also continued our comprehensive campus transformation with the grand opening of several new projects that support students and the wider community. We expanded our community-based living and learning neighborhoods, which are intentionally designed to encourage student engagement and a welcoming environment for the best possible student experience.
We were excited to open not one, but two new student housing neighborhoods this year: Theatre District Living and Learning Neighborhood, home to our brand new Eighth College; and Pepper Canyon West, offering housing for transfer and upper division students in modern, single occupancy rooms adjacent to the UC San Diego Blue Line Trolley stop. Our next neighborhood, Ridge Walk North, is well underway and is projected to open in fall 2025. It will house 2,400 undergraduate students and feature new classrooms, dining facilities, and even a Glass Center to offer community space for all students and the public to create and exhibit their own glass art creations. We also are planning a 6,000-bed neighborhood estimated for completion in 2029, that will be known as the Pepper Canyon East District and will help us achieve our comprehensive housing vision.
We are proud to be the second largest on-campus housing provider in the country and are well on our way to becoming the largest. This is important because we know that an on-campus housing experience helps students thrive and build community, and also reduces costs of their university education. All of our on-campus housing is offered at least 20% below market rates, and housing students where they learn reduces demand on housing in surrounding neighborhoods, helping the larger community as well.
Construction continues on the forthcoming Triton Center. Situated in the heart of campus, Triton Center will serve as a central welcoming point to campus and feature an alumni center, a student health and well-being hub and staff and faculty care center, and a state-of-the-art modern art gallery when it opens in 2026.
Thank you all for your patience while we continue to transform our campus and provide our campus and regional community with the very best infrastructure, resources and support.
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This year marked the 15th consecutive year that UC San Diego has surpassed the $1 billion mark for sponsored research, with a total of $1.73 billion. This milestone represents a remarkable increase of more than 70% in sponsored research funding since 2010.
On the global stage, UC San Diego solidified our position as a leader in research and innovation. New world rankings by London’s Clarivate ranked UC San Diego #9 among all institutions worldwide and #1 among the UC campuses. We are proud to be the only UC campus to make the top 10 this year. Our researchers have made groundbreaking strides in various fields, from advancing our understanding of the world and leading the AI revolution to improving lives on a global scale. With 431 unique disclosures of viable inventions in FY2024, it is clear we are among the world’s top innovation universities.
Our research excellence continues to be recognized nationally and globally with UC San Diego earning top rankings from a wide variety of reputable organizations. We are proud to be ranked the #6 Best Public University in the nation by the 2025 U.S. News & World Report, and #3 among U.S. public universities in the 2024 Academic Ranking of World Universities (ARWU). Forbes also recognized us as #3 among best public universities in 2024-25.
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For the second year in a row, UC San Diego Health was named among the nation’s top 20 hospitals in the U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Hospitals” National Honor Roll. We also are proud to be ranked #1 in the San Diego region for six years running.
Our new UC San Diego Health East Campus Medical Center (formerly Alvarado Hospital); Infusion Clinic at Rancho Bernardo; Center for Airway, Voice and Swallowing at Genesee; and Obstetrics & Gynecological Procedures clinic are helping us meet the demand for quality health care across our region. Opening in July, our new McGrath Family Outpatient Pavilion on the Hillcrest campus will provide women’s health services, outpatient surgery, advanced imaging, subspecialty services and multidisciplinary cancer care. Services including infusion, radiation oncology and clinical trials will expand access to cancer services currently only offered in La Jolla. Along with the Viterbi Family Vision Research Center, opening later this year, we are pleased to provide expanded world-class diagnostic, treatment and surgical services along with expanded research to our region – and our global community.
In 2023, Student Health and Well-Being successfully initiated a new team known as the Triton Compassionate Response team, or Triton CORE. These specially trained, interdisciplinary mental health professionals work in cooperation with campus first responders to provide support to students in need of mental or behavioral health intervention without the need for police officer involvement. This team has been successful in supporting our campus community, and we are grateful for their compassion and expertise.
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Thank you and Happy New Year
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It is my privilege to be part of this exceptional Triton community, and I extend a hearty thank you to each of you for your tireless dedication to our university. Whether you’re a student, faculty or staff member, alumni, donor, patient, volunteer or community partner, your contributions are invaluable. As we welcome 2025, I wish you and your families health, happiness and prosperity. I look forward to continuing our pursuit of progress, innovation, discovery and excellence – with unwavering enthusiasm for the incredible difference we all make together.
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Pradeep K. Khosla
Chancellor
Joan and Irwin Jacobs Chancellor’s Endowed Chair
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University of California San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, CA, 92093 |
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